The Red Wyvern - Katharine Kerr [52]
“Cerrmor raiders, was it?” she whispered. “And there were Uncle Burcan and his men, riding in with Cerrmor shields.”
In the uproar no one heard her. She watched as Peddyc and Anasyn left the great hall with the king and his escort, with both the regent and the various gwerbretion in attendance, including Tibryn.
All afternoon Lilli hung around the great hall and fished for news. The rider who’d brought the message was one of Lord Camlyn’s. When Lady Bevyan and her escort had failed to arrive, Camlyn’s lady had sent out a search party, and they’d found the slaughter. Everyone was dead—every single man, even Bevyan’s little page, as if the raiders had meant to leave no witnesses to their treachery, though carelessly enough, they’d left two dropped and broken shields behind. When she learned this, Lilli’s certainty grew. Burcan wouldn’t have dared let even the page escape, for fear someone had recognized him.
Toward evening she found a maidservant who’d overheard Tieryn Peddyc’s plans. He’d gotten permission from the king to leave Dun Deverry in the morning with his men and go attend to the burying of his wife. He would then return and join the muster.
“And oh, how ever so angry he is!” the girl said, all wide-eyed. “Swearing and carrying on and saying no Cerrmor man will ever have quarter from him again! I’ll wager he kills ever so many this summer.”
“No doubt,” Lilli said. “Tell me somewhat. Yesterday morn, did the regent happen to go to my mother’s chambers?”
“He did, truly. Why?”
“Oh, I asked her to ask him a favor for me. But it can wait, what with all this trouble.”
With a nod, the maidservant hurried off about her chores. All at once Lilli realized that she wanted to scream in rage at everyone over everything—and nothing at all. She fled the unwelcome sight of other people and hurried to her chamber. She barred the door, then leaned against it and looked at the pieces of Braemys’s wedding shirt, lying on the wooden chest where she’d put them the day before. They were the last thing Bevva would ever give her.
“Why can’t I cry?”
The hatred seemed to have dried all her tears. She lay down on her bed to watch the evening darken beyond her window. The worst thing was that no one would ever suspect Burcan of this crime, or Merodda, either, who had put him up to it. Lilli was sure of that. Brour had always told her that one day she could read the omens for her own purposes, and she understood now what her dreams had brought her.
“I know the truth, and I’ll get revenge—oh don’t be silly! What can I do?”
At that she did weep, sobbing into her pillow until she fell asleep. She dreamt, but this time of armed men and vengeance. She woke abruptly to find the chamber dark except for pale moonlight falling through her slit of a window. Once again the omens had come to her for the reading. She was smiling as she got up and left her chamber.
Tieryn Peddyc and Anasyn still slept in Bevyan’s old suite. By the time Lilli reached it, her dream courage had faded like the moonlight. What if Peddyc refused to listen to her? What if her mother found out she’d been to see him? Silent, so silent in the corridor—Lilli crept terrified, certain that her breathing would bring every guard in Dun Deverry running. Four doors, five, and under the sixth a gleam of pale light—so, Peddyc did wake still.
She darted across the corridor and plastered herself against the wall beside the door. Dimly she could hear voices, masculine and unintelligible. She should knock on the door, but what if someone heard? In the dark corridor nothing moved, nothing made a sound. She forced herself to raise her fist, hesitated, felt sweat run down her back. She should turn away, run away, race back to the chamber before her mother found her gone. And what? Let Bevva lie unavenged? Lilli gulped once and slammed her fist against the wood.
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