The Red Wyvern - Katharine Kerr [27]
“I’ll be with you in a moment, Bevyan. I shan’t be able to talk while I’m doing this.”
“Of course. I’m in no hurry. Is it an herb bath, dear?”
Merodda gave her a brief smile for her only answer, then wrung out her cloth and began wiping her face with it. Every now and then she’d dip a corner of the rag back in the basin, but Bevyan noticed that she never let it get too wet and that she kept her lips tightly closed the while. No doubt the stuff tasted as bad as it smelled. When she finished, she laid the cloth at her windowsill to dry, then rinsed her hands with clean water from a crockery pitcher that stood on the floor.
“Now then,” Merodda said. “What did you wish to speak with me about?”
“Lilli told me about her betrothal last night.”
“Ah, did she? What do you think of Braemys?”
“He’s a very decent lad. A bit close kin, perhaps.”
“Oh, Burcan wanted a cousin marriage. It’s the lands, of course. With my sons dead, my poor dear Garedd’s lands came to Lilli. It’s a nice holding.”
“It is, indeed, and worth the Boar’s keeping.”
Merodda picked up a bone comb and began combing her hair, starkly gold in the sunlight. Another herb potion, or so Bevyan supposed, kept it that girlish color.
“I did foster the lass,” Bevyan said. “I’m not merely prying.”
“Of course not! And you did a fine job, I must say. Lilli’s turned out to be a lovely child with very courtly ways.”
“My thanks. I’m so glad you’re pleased.”
“And I am.” Merodda hesitated, glancing away. “I did the best I could for her, with this marriage. I hope you believe me about that. I did the best I could.”
“What? Of course I believe you! No doubt your brothers did the real deciding, anyway. I’m just so glad that Tibryn didn’t send her off to Nantyn to be beaten to death.”
“That was my worst fear.” Merodda looked at her again, and never had Bevyan seen a woman more sincere. “It truly was.”
“Then we can both thank the Goddess—and Burcan—that it didn’t happen.”
“Ah. Lilli told you about the way he intervened.”
“She did. It was very good of him.”
For a moment they considered each other.
“It was,” Merodda said at last. “But Braemys is a decent lad. Lilli will be very well provided for, and I’ll be able to keep her near me at court much of the time. She’s my last child, after all, the last one these wars have left me. I know that you can understand how I feel.”
“Unfortunately, I can. You know, dear, I’d never do anything that would ever harm Lilli.”
Merodda nodded, then hesitated, studying Bevyan’s face. It was a habit of hers, to peer at someone so intently you would have thought she was reading omens in their eyes. Bevyan had always assumed that she was nearsighted and nothing more, but this morning the scrutiny bothered her.
“I shouldn’t take up more of your time,” Bevyan said.
“Oh, Bevva, don’t be foolish! It’s good to see you. In fact, may I ask you a favor?”
“Of course.”
“Come with me on an errand. I’ve got to consult with the heralds on an odd matter. Unless perhaps you know: is there a clan named the Red Wyvern among the Usurper’s following?”
“I have no idea. I vaguely remember hearing the name once, years and years ago, but that’s all.”
“Then let me dress, and we’ll pay the heralds a visit.”
Merodda smiled; Bevyan smiled; the suspicions began their nattering again. And yet what was she to do, Bevva asked herself. Come right out and ask: Lilli is Burcan’s child, isn’t she? You’re marrying her off to her own brother, aren’t you?
In one of the side brochs the king’s heralds lived and had their scriptorium, where they copied over