Sixty Three: New Freedom

"You're telling me he's been holed up without me for days and nobody has stepped in for the foot-rubbing duty?"

The guard blinked in earnest confusion. "You rub Lord Harkenn's feet every evening?"

"What do you think he uses me for? An ornament? You can get ornaments that aren't an ongoing maintenance expense, you know." Nova stared boldly back. It was her fourth day of trying to get an audience with the lord, and she was starting to have a little too much fun with her reasons for wanting to get in. She had been refused admission without exception, supposedly on the lord's orders, though Yddris had confided that he'd not witnessed the lord make any such order. In fact, when she knocked, he seemed not to hear her at all.

If she could not get in today, then by tomorrow the lord was going to find that the entire barracks believed he ordered her assistance with his daily bathing. The lord had never required her assistance for the smallest things regarding his physical condition, and the staff weren't allowed anywhere near his washing room while he was in it. It would set rumours humming like insects through the castle corridors.

She was essentially being cornered into helping her tormentor of years – she had to get her recompense somewhere.

"Are you going to do it instead, then?" she asked, when the guard continued to look hopeless. "He likes to start with the toes, and..."

"You're not getting in," the other guard said. He was fighting a grin. "The instructions were very clear."

"Fine." Nova pretended affront and walked back to the stairs. "Don't say I didn't warn you. He gets terrible stocking fluff."

She left them, smirking as a loud guffaw sounded behind her, quickly stifled. Then her smile faded. She had tried, and as far as she saw it, she owed the lord nothing. She owed Shadow's Reach nothing, and if she found a way of getting free before the Caelumese sunk their claws in... Though it wouldn't make a difference, she knew. There wouldn't be a scrap of land between the borders of the Whispering Wall and the lodestones that her uncle would not ensure he had a tight grip on. She would be found eventually, no matter how good she got at hiding; either by a demon or by her uncle's scouts. And that was if anyone got that far; if the Unspoken sided with Harkenn until the end and Caelum couldn't bully or coerce an alliance from them, the Angels would only be a temporary threat before all the rune nets collapsed and demons won the battle that had raged in Nictaven since people arrived in it.

It was a bleak prospect. She just wished that the only way to avoid it didn't involve Harkenn staying alive.

"That's a dark look." Grace looked up from mopping the kitchen floor. She didn't look much lighter of spirit than Nova felt. "No luck again?"

"Of course not." Nova crossed her arms over her chest and drew closer to the hearth fire. With the encroachment of the light season the biting cold was lifting, but the castle corridors were still haunted by draughts and chill breezes and she was still dressed in a sacking shift. She startled as Grace draped a wool shawl over her shoulders. It was dyed deep burgundy red and had the softness of high quality weaving.

"Jordan sent it up with Nika this morning," Grace explained. "It's very warm. Not good for mopping in, though."

"One would almost think he was trying to make up for something," Nova mumbled, watching shapes flicker in the fire embers. Grace snorted.

"If he wants to do that, he can explain to me what the hell is going on. He can buy me all the clothes he wants, but without that he can consider himself unforgiven."

"And if he never does?"

Nova had turned to watch Grace work, so she didn't miss the hurt that flashed across Grace's face. "He will. He has to. He can't expect me to do all the work, finding everything out by accident." The next expression that occupied her face was a shrewd stare. "Unless you want to fill me in."

Nova hated it when Grace looked at her like that. It was getting harder and harder not to cave to it; she really was getting soft. "I'll make a deal with you. If he hasn't come clean by the Light Fayre, I'll tell you. I won't have all the details; the man who broke in to Yddris's home was unknown to me and I don't know what his part is in it, but I'll give you the gist. Is that fair?"

Grace thought about it, and then nodded. "Fair. We have a deal."

She knew she was going to regret that promise, but she didn't have any particular urge to take it back. She couldn't be there for Grace all the time. If Thorne thought he was keeping Grace safe by keeping her in the dark, he clearly had not been paying enough attention. It just left her open to exploitation, and already some of the Devils had tried.

"What did you get up to with Nika?" Nova asked, just to steer the conversation in a different direction. This one always lowered Grace's mood, and she seemed bleak enough already.

"He was teaching me demon basics, actually," Grace replied. She slopped more water across the floor and began to scrub vigorously, clearly with one foot still in the previous conversation. "He was shocked that I didn't know them already. Just the types and what to do when you come across them, you know. Very basic. And they're all worse than I thought."

"Clue's in the name."

"I asked him if Jordan had killed any, and he said yes." Grace leaned on the mop and shook her head. "My brother can fight demons. He wouldn't have said boo to a goose back home."

"I'm assuming that's one of your strange otherworld sayings." Nova smiled. "It has honestly never occurred to me to try and spook a goose."

Grace's answering smile was like a sun breaking through clouds. "Ah, you're missing out."

"You have?"

"No."

They both chuckled.

Heavy boots sounding outside made Nova's smile fade. The captain of the guard appeared in the kitchen doorway, severe as ever and looking for her. When they met eyes, he gestured and then withdrew to the corridor outside.

"I'll see you tonight," Grace murmured, and she squeezed Nova's thigh on her way past. She glared back playfully through an intense wash of longing for night to come sooner.

The captain didn't speak when she stepped out, only gestured her further down the corridor, out of earshot of the door.

"You need to get in to see the lord?" he asked in an undertone. Nova nodded.

"Did Yddris tell you?"

"Yddris has alerted me that there is a security risk I've not been made aware of, and that he has not allowed you in his presence in recent days. It didn't take much to put it together."

Nova tried not to bristle at being regarded as part of the lord's security system, though she supposed she was. A cruel irony. "You have a plan?"

"The guards on the door will answer to me," the captain said. "I'm sure I can act convincingly hungover to have misunderstood an order. How long would you need to ascertain the risk, if you were removed again soon afterwards?"

"A minute or two at most." When he looked surprised, she offered him a dry smile. "I've spent ten years chained up in that office. I'm very familiar with him."

He cleared his throat and nodded. Sometimes Nova thought that people avoided talking to her in part because it forced them to look at what slavery really was. They could tell themselves whatever they liked if they didn't really see her as a person.

"I'll meet you here when the guard changes," he said. "I'll come and take you up there. I believe it will be around the time that the delegation normally retires."

Nova nodded, concealing her relief. The aspect of the plan she had dreaded most was being forced face to face with Cael again. It was bad enough knowing they were in the same building, but not seeing the other Angels at least made the prospect bearable. It was exhausting enough to try and guard her thoughts when there wasn't an active assault on them.

The captain came promptly at the time promised. Nova had been engrossed in reading and Grace had been studying from a book that Nika had set her, camped out near the fire. They had had to evacuate temporarily for the dinner preparations, but had both chosen to return. The conversations they hadn't had, and Grace's preoccupation with finding out what her brother was up to, had started to weigh uncomfortably on their time alone together. The next time she saw him in private, Nova intended to give Thorne a considerable nudge.

They climbed up the stairs to the study in subdued quiet. The captain's jaw was grimly set and Nova's heart pounded in her chest. Normally retires was not the same as always. She didn't feel strong enough to face Cael today. When the two guards at the door looked as if they might challenge them, the captain spoke a few low words to them and they stepped aside, though their hands still hovered near their sword hilts and their eyes followed Nova as she passed. She didn't return the look. She was too tense, unsure what she was about to find.

No Angels were present. She hadn't realised the depth of her fear until she found the study free of the Caelumese, but her relief was short lived. The others in the room were Yddris, Nika, and Lord Harkenn. Nika was inspecting the lord's eyes, even moving his lids with his thumb, and most shocking of all was that Harkenn was allowing it.

"Elandriel's balls," she murmured. Harkenn's head snapped up and he waved Nika away.

"Finally," he growled. "Where have you been instead of reporting to me?"

Nova frowned. "I've been trying to get an audience with you for days, my lord. I was told you had ordered me kept out."

Harkenn opened his mouth to snap a retort, and then his mouth went slack and he looked terribly confused for a moment. He looked at Yddris. "I don't remember giving such an order. Who has presumed to give my guards orders?"

"I couldn't say, my lord." Yddris's voice was carefully neutral, but Nova could see the bleakness he felt in his aura. Nika's was similarly troubled.

"You seem well this evening, my lord," the captain said. Without the Angels present, there was no need for the ruse.

"What are you talking about? I haven't been ill." Harkenn frowned and looked at Yddris again. "Have I?"

Shaking off her shock, Nova refocused on the task she was up here to perform. The lord's aura was not as it had been, she could see immediately. It was pale and sickly, as most would be during serious illness. There were discordant notes in its feel and colour, as if someone was tying threads or removing pieces. But that would make no sense; no Angel she had ever known could go that far. Make thoughts foggy or vague, influence emotional response, even with considerable skill plant new thoughts – these were all things in the realm of possibility that she knew. All of those things would wear off if the perpetrator left the vicinity. Without Cael in the study, there should be no lasting astral damage, only confusion or lingering persuasion under the influence of whatever poison the lord had been dosed with.

Her thought process must have shown on her face in some degree.

"Why are you gawping like that?" Harkenn said. "Has Cael made any attempts on the girl?"

"Not on the girl, my lord," Nova said. The lord seemed days behind in his memory. "I don't think she was the target."

"Then who?"

She changed tack. He seemed vague enough that she could change the subject without punishments. "What is the day, my lord? I'm afraid I've quite lost track down in the kitchens."

"Sixthday," he snapped. "Is that relevant? And why are you two staring like that now?"

"It's three-day, my lord," Yddris murmured.

"Are you sure?"

"How long have the Caelumese been here?" Yddris pressed.

"Oh, um...." Harkenn frowned. "A week?"

He sat back in his chair at the desk. His aura flooded with confusion, then dread, and then anger. Nova guessed they were witnessing a moment of temporary lucidity and pounced with, "You need to allow the Heads of House back into the meetings, my lord."

His gaze tracked to hers. She kept her face blank. She couldn't deny the voice in her head rejoicing at seeing her owner brought low like this, and she wondered if Harkenn could see it. If he could, she hoped he also faced how much it cost her to help him, that it was from no loyalty to him that she did so. His gaze left hers. She couldn't tell whether she had communicated what she wanted to. He turned to his desk drawer and took out his royal seal and pressed it into Yddris's hands.

"The Heads will be at the next meeting," he said firmly, holding the Unspoken's wrist firm. There was, however, a tremor in his grip.

"Understood, my lord."

"And so will Anarabelle."

"Yes, my lord."

"Is there an issue here?"

Nova had sensed the soldier of the delegation coming up the corridor and gestured for quiet a moment before. She didn't have time to marvel that they all obeyed her. She sensed the Angel behind her, and then his hulking form passed her to stand beside the captain of the guard.

"Why would there be?" Harkenn replied, somewhat irritably. "Does your master need something, Varron?"

"He is fine, thank you," Varron replied stiffly. Despite the late hour he still had half his armour on. "I wished to ask permission for my men to use your training field tomorrow morning. They are getting fractious while confined to their guest wing, generous though it is."

"If you train at the same time as my soldiers do, and ensure that you do not outnumber them, I grant you that."

"Thank you."

"I am calling a meeting for fifthday," Harkenn continued. "Please inform Sir Cael. I hope to come a resolution soon. This has gone on for longer than I anticipated."

Nova thought it a much smarter idea not to inform Sir Cael of anything, but she supposed that raising the Angel's suspicions would only prompt him to double down on his plans, whatever they were. Yddris needed time to inform the heads of the meeting and set everything in place to ensure they weren't turned away when the time came.

"I will." Varron nodded and left, with a last shrewd glance at them all. His gaze lingered on Nova, who tightened her walls against him. A small frown still on his face, he turned and walked away.

The captain of the guard closed the door softly behind the Angel, visibly troubled. Harkenn sagged in his chair, looking suddenly decades older. Though he had always been death-pale, his skin had never looked so dull and blotchy. His eyes wandered around the study before fixing with some difficulty upon Nika. "Whisperer, I need you to find out what they've given me. Succeed and you can set your price."

"Yes, my lord. I am trying my hardest."

"Yddris." A hand feebly gestured the Unspoken closer. "You are to keep Anarabelle and the otherworld girl at your home. They are not bold enough to break my embargo on city visits just yet, but if Anarabelle is compromised we are lost. Do you understand? Bring her to the meetings and take her away again after them. She will be protecting my thoughts during the negotiating, or at the least detecting when they are compromised. Set a signal system with Lady Kerrin." An orange eye fixed on Nova. "In return I will allow this folly with the Haverford girl." He sneered at the look on her face. "I am poisoned, Anarabelle, not blind or stupid. Do this for me and she is shielded from punishment. Fail, and Cael will take her. He has expressed interest." He nodded to himself, and his head wobbled on his neck as he returned his gaze to Yddris. "Your apprentice needs to find out what part the Devils play in this."

Nika's sharp intake of breath was the only sound that followed this pronouncement. The lord was already fading. His brow furrowed. He looked around at them all. "Have we had dinner yet?"

"If you are hungry, I'll have something sent up, my lord," Yddris murmured. Despair had flooded his aura, but Nova couldn't tell whether it was the state of Lord Harkenn or the blazing fury in Nika's stance and aura that caused it.

"Yes, I am."

"I'll send it up, my lord."

Yddris gestured, and Nova followed him out. The royal seal had already disappeared into some deep recess of his cloak. They didn't speak until they reached the foyer.

"That man is going to kill me," the Unspoken muttered. He turned towards the kitchens and Nova followed.

"Harkenn or Nika?"

"I think Nika will get there first. He already wanted to blame me for it, he just wasn't certain what it was."

"Until now."

A deep sigh escaped the darkness inside the cowl. "Aye. Until now. I think the boy might have a breakdown if there's a confrontation."

It wouldn't be the only confrontation he'd be faced with, Nova thought. The tension remained manageable during brief visits, but she couldn't imagine how the siblings could live together for the foreseeable future and not come to loggerheads over it. Then it dawned on her; she was going with Grace. She wouldn't be living in the castle anymore, not for an indeterminate time. She could wear real clothes – and shoes! Would Yddris allow her to wear shoes? It was not an escape opportunity – there was no mention of her shackles coming off, and Harkenn had not handed over the key for them. She was so distinctive that any guard patrol she came across would turn her right back around. If she vanished, the Caelumese would send their own searches for her. But it was the closest she had come to freedom in years, and it tasted sweet.

"You're coming back with me, girl," Yddris grunted. Grace looked up from her book in surprise.

"I thought Jordan was studying today."

"He is. He'll have to study with you there. I'll explain on the way. Do you have anything to pack?"

Grace blinked and met Nova's eye, a question in her gaze. Nova nodded encouragingly. "I...yeah. I'll go get it, shall I? It's not much."

Grace soon returned, joining them in the foyer with a single carry-bag over one shoulder. Nika hadn't emerged from the study and Yddris didn't seem inclined to wait for him. Almost as soon as Grace reached them he led on through the front doors.

"You're coming?" Grace hissed, looking around in surprise as Nova trailed out behind her.

"I'll explain later."

"Well, Yddris can explain now why he's about to walk you through the city with no shoes on." She hadn't said it quietly, and Nova couldn't help but grin as the Unspoken stopped in tracks and trudged back to them, distinctly sheepish. "You can borrow some of mine for now. And a shawl."

"Here." Yddris gently nudged Grace out of the way and deftly arranged the shawl around Nova to cover her face and rough clothing, even producing pins to keep it together in places. "Don't need to draw more attention to this than we can help."

"Didn't strike me as a tailor," Nova teased lightly from beneath the wool cover. It was the warmest she'd been in days.

"I wear my cloak full time," Yddris groused, needled. "Stupid not to know how to patch it up in a fix."

Nova only smiled, giddy with the novelty of getting away from the castle some other way besides being trussed up on the back of Harkenn's horse. If she focused only on the next step, and not on the chaos she left behind her and that she would have to return to, she could feel the first stirrings of joy. Only Grace had ever done that for her before. The city suddenly seemed a realm of possibility rather than a dank prison.

"We ready?" Yddris said. Both she and Grace nodded. Grace still looked confused, but smiled when Nova grinned at her. "Let's go and give your brother the shock of his life."

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Regards,

Elinor (S E Harrison)