Incarceron Part 43

"Who cares?"

He strode quickly past her.

"It probably sensed the Key."

She stared at his back, at the rich jerkin and the mane of hair he pushed so carelessly back.

Quietly, so he couldn't hear her, she said, "So why are you so scared?"

WHEN THE carriage dipped as he climbed in, Claudia sighed with relief.

"I thought you'd never come."

She turned from the window and the words died in her mouth.

"I'm touched," her father said dryly.

He pulled off one glove and flicked dust from the seat.

Then he laid his stick and a book beside him, and called, "Drive on.

The carriage creaked as the horses were whipped up. In a moment of jangling harness and the swaying turn in the inn-yard Claudia tried to stop herself falling into his trap. But the anxiety was too much.

"Where's Jared? I thought..."

"I asked him to travel with Alys in the third coach this morning. I felt we should talk."

It was an insult, of course, though Jared wouldn't care and Alys would be thrilled to have him to herself.

But to treat a Sapient like a servant... She was rigid with fury. Her father watched her a moment, then gazed out of the window, and she saw that he had allowed a little more gray into his beard, so that his look of grave distinction was stronger than ever.

He said, "Claudia, a few days ago you asked me about your mother."

If he had struck her, she couldn't have been more astonished.

Then, instantly, she was on the alert. It was just like him to take the initiative, to turn the game around, to attack. He was a master chess player at the Court. She was a p.a.w.n on his board, a p.a.w.n he would make a queen, despite everything.

Outside, a soft summer rain was drenching the fields. It smelled sweet and fresh.

She said, "Yes I did."

He gazed out at the countryside, his fingers playing with the black gloves. "It is very hard for me to speak about her, but today, on this journey toward everything I have always worked for, perhaps the time has come."

Claudia bit her lip. All she felt was fear.

And for a moment, just a fragment of time, something she had never felt before.

She felt sorry for him.

18.

We have paid the tribute of the dearest and best and now we await the outcome.

If it takes centuries, we will not forget.

Like wolves we will stand guard.

If revenge must be taken we will take it.

-The Steel Wolves ***

"I married in middle age." John Arlex watched the heavy foliage of summer shadow the interior of the coach with glints of sunlight.

"I was a wealthy man-our family has always been part of the Court-and the post of Warden had been mine from youth. A great responsibility, Claudia. You have no idea how great."

He sighed briefly. The coach jolted over stones.

In the pocket of her traveling coat, she felt the crystal Key tap against her knee, remembered Finns fear, his starved face. Were they all like that, the Prisoners her father watched over?

"Helena was a beautiful and elegant woman. Ours was not an arranged marriage, but a chance meeting at a winter ball at the Court. She was a Lady of the Chamber to the last Queen, Giles's mother, an orphan, the last of her line."

He paused, as if he wanted her to say something, but she didn't. She felt that if she spoke it would break the spell, that he might stop. He didn't look at her.

Softly he said, "I was very much in love with her."

Her hands were clenched together. She made them relax.

"After a short courtship we were married at Court. A quiet wedding, not like yours will be, but there was a discreet banquet later, and Helena sat at the head of my table and laughed. She looked very much like you, Claudia, if a little shorter. Her hair was fair and smooth. She always wore a black velvet ribbon around her neck, with a portrait of us both inside it."

He smoothed his knee absently.

"When she told me she was pregnant I was more happy than I can say. Perhaps I had thought the time was gone, that I would never have an heir. That the care of Incarceron would pa.s.s from the family, that the line of the Arlexi would die out with me. In any case, I took even greater care of her. She was strong, but the constraints of Protocol had to be observed."

He looked up. "We had so little time together."

Claudia took a breath. "She died."

"When the child was born." He looked away, out of the window. Leaf shadows flashed over his face. "We had a midwife and one of the most renowned of the Sapienti in attendance, but nothing could be done."

She had no idea what to say. Nothing had prepared her for this. He had never talked to her like this before. Her fingers were knotted back together.

She said, "I never saw her then."

"Never." His dark glance turned to her. "And afterward I could not bear to see her image. There was a portrait, but I had it locked away. Now there is only this."