Wolf's-own: Weregild Page 11

  "Fen can't see sense in the change of the seasons right now!” Umeia barked. “Fen sees his family and their safety, and that's all. If he sees you as a threat to them, Malick....” She shook her head, slumped against the door, and vaguely wondered if Lex had his ear pressed to the other side of it. “I'm getting them out. For your own good. That's my business with Judge Canti, since you're so keen to know. I'm doing it before you have the chance to use them as bait, and what's more, I'm getting papers for Fen too. There's a caravan that leaves for Heldesan at the turn of the week. Funny thing—the drover says he'll take an Untouchable for a little more koin, and isn't it ironic, because one has been haunting his wagons off and on for several weeks, trying to talk him into taking half payment for getting three others out when he goes.” No surprise on Malick's face. She should've known. She curled her lip, annoyed. “Judge Canti needed a little more time to get Fen's papers through. Asai's spies are watching, and he had to be careful. I'm going to pick them up now, and you're making me late.” She pushed away from the door and tried to bully past Malick, but he gripped her elbow, squeezed.

  "You're not taking Fen.” Calm and blunt, but his fingers dug into the tendon and sinew in the joint of Umeia's arm. “Take the other three, I could give a shit, but Fen stays."

  This was why she hadn't wanted him to know what she was up to. “They don't shun Untouchables in Heldesan, Malick, they don't treat them like animals. He'll be—"

  "He'll be right here with me, taking care of Asai."

  It made her pause, the coldness and command in his tone. “You'd really risk the one who rules your heart to avenge someone you used to love?” she asked him softly.

  His mouth tightened a little, but he didn't bother to negate it. “Ridding the world of Asai for good serves the Balance,” was all he said.

  She almost laughed, but she was afraid she'd end up either braying like a madwoman or weeping hysterically. “And whether you want to admit it or not,” she said instead, “what Asai proposes to do will set it for centuries to come."

  "A maijin ruling over both the Jin and the Adan will set the Balance?” He snorted. “I think you've been sampling the poppy a little too much."

  She wished she had been. “Think about it, Malick. When the Ancestors gave their magic to their children, it rocked the Balance. When Skel gave Asai his Blood, it rocked it back again. The only thing that'll set it for good is if the magic is taken away altogether, but if Wolf won't allow the Jin to be stamped out, what other solution is there but to control it?” She paused, pulled her arm out of Malick's looser grip, and took his hand. “Killing Asai only puts things back the way they were. Do you really think that's all Wolf wants of you now?” She stepped in, peered at him closely, watching, and dipped her voice low. “And do you really think Fen will thank you for making him watch while you do what you know has to be done?"

  Malick only stared at her for a long moment—too long—blank-faced and gaze frosted over, then he snapped his hand away from Umeia's, clamped down on her wrist, and dragged her in close. Teeth clenched, eyes on fire, he leaned down, right in her face. “Are you going to tell me that you want to allow Asai to do what he wants to do?"

  Umeia kept her own expression calm, but her heart was battering behind her breastbone, and it was suddenly hard to swallow. “Not with your Blood, no,” she answered evenly. “But we're not the only Temshiel in Ada. We're not the only ones who sense a convergence. You can't tell me you haven't felt them."

  He was looking at her like he had no idea who she was. Perhaps he didn't, if he thought she'd give him up like that, or just blindly go along with his plans for vengeance while he risked his own soul for a mortal—an Untouchable, of all people.

  "You'd set someone else in my place,” he said slowly, “hand Asai what he needs to completely enslave an entire people—Wolf's people—all to keep from having to leave the whorehouse you call home?"

  It sounded so selfish when he said it like that. And it hurt. “I would do what I must to keep the Balance and protect my own,” Umeia answered calmly. “You would see that, if you weren't being so blind. I wouldn't deliberately put another in your place, but I won't mourn if someone other than you is drawn into Asai's sight. We find ourselves in Ada, in Wolf's own Cycle, and if you were using your head, you'd see there was a reason for it. The Catalyst has done his part—pointed the way to setting the Balance—and Fen is now unnecessary, a risk we don't need. You should have killed him that first night, but since you didn't, I'll see that he and his family are safe, because I don't think you can. If I'd known the whole of it when you brought him to me, I wouldn't have sworn anyone oath at all.” She shook her head, sad and perhaps a little bit disappointed. “Bloody hell, little brother, you can't even be haunted by your own demons, you had to go and take on someone else's. You've done this entirely to yourself. I'm only fixing it."

  She made to move away again, but this time, Malick took hold of her and slammed her back into the door, teeth bared. “Umeia?” came from the other side of it, Lex's voice with a good dose of worry, but he didn't try the knob. Umeia just kept staring into Malick's furious gaze, called, “It's all right, love, don't come out,” and tried not to wince at the strength and viciousness of Malick's grip on her arms.

  "Take the others,” Malick snarled, “I don't give a fuck. But you keep your traitorous claws off Fen."

  Umeia's eyes widened. She'd known Malick wouldn't like any of this, but... traitorous? “Malick, if you'd only—"

  "Stay away from him, understand? No more nursing, no more potions, because I no longer trust you not to poison him."

  Shocked, and she really shouldn't have been. It was only that it had been far too long since she'd had to be reminded how cold and cruel Malick could be. “I wouldn't bloody poison—"

  He slammed her into the door again. “My heart is what made me Wolf's, remember?—you keep telling me that. You've just broken it, Umeia. Well done, you.” Seething with rage, for all the words were sorrowful. “You've gone against your own kind, your own Blood, and I should kill you for it."

  Right now, she thought maybe he would.

  "I won't,” he said, though his hands tightened, almost forcing a yip from her, but she kept it in. “Not now, anyway. But you'll take Fen's family with you, and you'll go. You're done here. Perhaps I'll see you in another few lives."

  Umeia's stomach dropped, and her head went light. “This is my home,” she said, far too breathy and weak for her liking. “You can't—"

  "Watch me,” Malick growled. “I can't trust you now. I've no use for you."

  "Just because I see the merit in Asai's—"

  "There is no merit in Asai's plots. Not if they come from betraying one of our own. Not if the means go against Wolf's own laws."

  "The end would justify the means,” Umeia insisted, because surely Malick couldn't be this blind. He had to see—he was smarter than this.

  But Malick only shook his head, some of the anger leaching into weary grief as he peered at her like he couldn't believe any of it was really happening. “You know,” he told her flatly, “that was exactly the Jin's argument for using their magic against the Adan in the first place. And if I knew Skel, it was his too."

  Umeia flinched. “The Balance—"

  "The Balance will be served, and you will have no part in it.” Cold and detached. “A Temshiel who would allow... enable the murder of another—"

  "I wouldn't, you're deliberately misunderstanding, Malick."

  "When Skel went to the suns, you mourned just as deeply as I did, and you swore that one day Asai would—"

  "And he will!” Umeia cried. “Nothing's changed, damn it, why won't you see this? You act as though I've just ruined some grand scheme you've been plotting for decades, when in truth all you've been doing is lying back and pretending to watch. You've done only as much of Wolf's work as you had to, and that was only by happy coincidence.” Umeia sucked in a breath and tried to calm the slamming of her heart. She set a shaky hand
to Malick's arm. “Now is your chance to set your hand to the Balance, Malick. Let Asai do all the work, let him take all the risk, use whoever blunders through his sights if they're not smart enough to get out of his way. If he gets his Heart's Blood, he'll have set the Balance, but if he doesn't, he'll end the Cycle with no god. He'll be banpair, little brother, godless and vulnerable. He'll try to cast his lot with Snake next, of course, but in the in-between—when Wolf wanes and before Snake waxes—he won't be maijin anymore."

  She left the, And then you can kill him without risking your soul, just sitting there, all too obvious. But Malick's hard gaze hadn't softened, his grip on Umeia's arms hadn't relaxed.

  "You miss the point, sister dear,” he told her flatly. “A Temshiel who would hinge the Balance on the fulcrum of the murder of another, and place it in the hands of fucking Asai—"

  "Is that what you're really worried about, little brother?” Umeia kept her voice deliberately soft. “Or is it more that you no longer have any real reason to control the Untouchable? I'm about to take him out of your hands, and you can't stand it."

  "You,” Malick said, low and deadly soft, “break my fucking heart. You're no better than Asai.” He shook his head, let go of Umeia like he couldn't stand to touch her for another second, and pushed himself back. “You're done here, Umeia. You've got two days. Best get your affairs in order."

  She'd been reeling back and forth between terrified and frustrated—now it all went numb. “Malick, you—"

  "It's Kamen to you,” he said coldly. “The others will be warned against you. I won't have the murder of one of our own on my soul."

  She couldn't believe he was actually saying this. Couldn't believe he actually meant it, but she couldn't not see the authenticity in the hard gaze. “You would see me shunned?” she asked faintly. “You would cast me out for an Untouchable who—"

  "Don't even pretend it's got a damned thing to do with Fen."

  And he really believed it too; that was what rose Umeia's own anger and blotted out a little of the grief. “You're going to break him,” she told Malick, voice a little less shaky than it had been. “You're going to fail Wolf, and you're going to break his Catalyst. You're going to end up dead by the hand of the one you won't cast out, and the Balance will be served with your Blood anyway."

  This time, Malick smiled—something cold and deadly that curled real fear in Umeia's gut, crawled up her backbone. “He won't break,” he told her, the cavalier tone only adding to her unease. “He'll submit. He's dying to. He doesn't know any other way. He's almost there already, and I'll have everything I need from the Ancestors themselves. I might even manage to sic him on Yakuli while I'm at it. Did you really think I didn't have a plan?” He took a step closer. Umeia was dismayed to find herself pressing back into the door again, caught in those dead eyes, that bitter smile. “The Balance will be served, Asai will be dead, and Fen will keep his mind, and all of this without touching your precious charges and risking your soul.” He shook his head, breathed a small laugh. “Now don't you wish you'd asked me before you betrayed me?"

  Umeia shut her eyes, clenching her teeth to keep from weeping. Perhaps she had underestimated him, perhaps she had been too worried about his heart and forgotten too easily that Wolf had chosen him for reasons that had been made all too clear to her in the past several terrible minutes. “Malick, please—"

  "Ah-ah."

  Still with that smile. She wanted to... she didn't know what she wanted to do—smack it off his face, throw herself at him and beg him to forgive her, warn him again that Asai had managed to bend someone as smart as Skel to his thinking, so what chance did Fen have against him? And what chance did Malick have against Fen when he refused to see what a danger Fen was to him?

  "Kamen,” she corrected, though it stuck in her throat. “Please. I only wanted—"

  "I know what you wanted,” Malick cut in. “And I know why. It's the only reason you're not already dead."

  Umeia flinched again. Because she knew he meant it. Bloody hell, how could she have forgotten what a cold-hearted bastard he could be?

  "Then you know I would never—"

  "Two days,” Malick told her. “Don't test my generosity."

  "Umeia-onna? Is that you?"

  The voice, so soft and tentative, made her jump. Her gaze snapped to the left, landed on Madi, standing in the hallway in a silken robe, sleep-tousled and frowning, his eyes drifting back and forth between her and Malick.

  "Madi.” Almost relief as Umeia reached up and ran shaking fingers through the wig. “Yes, it's me. What do you need, lad?"

  Madi looked between them, diffident. Umeia wasn't surprised. The tension was likely so thick, he could probably feel it. “Aki-seyh says he was too drunk last night to remember anything, and now he wants another round for free. He won't leave."

  An hour ago, it would have been a problem of the highest priority.

  "Go get Bone,” Umeia told him wearily. Let Bone handle it in any way he wanted to. Maybe seeing someone else beat to shit would make Umeia feel less alone.

  "Right,” said Madi, his gaze drifting to Malick, a soft, hesitant smile tilting at his mouth. “Hello, Malick. I've been looking for you."

  Didn't they all? Damn Malick, why couldn't he see?

  "I've been busy,” Malick said, but the way he said it.... Easy and charming and cavalier, like he hadn't just completely destroyed Umeia a minute ago, and that fucking smile that made her want to fall down on the floor and sob. “How've you been?” Genuinely interested—he bloody gave a shit about how Madi was, when she was standing here shattering.

  "All right,” Madi answered, leaning hip-shot on one leg, unconsciously seductive. “Missing you a little."

  Too late, she wanted to tell the boy. Start picking up the little bits of your heart now, because he's got what he's been wanting for too long, and he's not even going to notice he's broken you along the way to getting it.

  Malick grinned, stepping away from Umeia and toward Madi. “Only a little?” He laid a hand to Madi's shoulder then turned the grin on Umeia over his shoulder, a shark's grin, cold and hard, not a trace of the warmth directed at Madi only a second ago. “Two days, Umeia,” he said then turned back to Madi, gently prodding him down the hallway. “C'mon, let's go see if we can't charm Aki-seyh out of your room without bloodshed."

  Umeia watched them go, numb. Disbelieving. Because this couldn't be happening. Two days, but he'd come to his senses before then, surely. Not betrayal, because she couldn't betray him, she loved him, she'd followed him into immortality, and immortality was fucking hard, but she'd done it, and continued to do it for him—he'd remember all that, she just had to give him a little while to cool down and think about it all calmly.

  She wouldn't even make him apologize.

  "Umeia?” Cautious and low, from the other side of the door. Umeia only just had the wits to pull herself away from it before Lex swung it open behind her and sent her tumbling. He peered at her closely, frowning, concerned. “All right, love?"

  Umeia only stared, shook her head. “No,” she breathed, shaky and small.

  No, she wasn't all right. She'd just joined the ranks of all the shattered hearts Malick left behind him, all the more cutting because she'd always thought she'd be exempt in the end.

  "Come back to bed, love,” Lex said gently. He laid a hand on her arm and gave it a light tug. No demands for an explanation, no accusations, no hard stare that made her want to curl up in a ball. Just a soft gaze and real distress—for her—and the offer of whatever she wanted to take from him. Lex had always been so easy to be with.

  She was going to miss him.

  "Yes,” Umeia said, half-dazed, abruptly bone-tired and going a little weak in the knees. “Yes,” she repeated, and she let him tug her through the door, kept repeating it as he gently rid her body of its disguise and then rid her mind of everything else.

  * * * *

  Yori was loitering in the hall outside Fen's door, absently chattin
g with Caidi and pretending she wasn't waiting for Joori to emerge, when Malick plodded up the stairs. Head hanging, eyes bloodshot and rung with bruised half moons beneath, gaze inward, troubled, like Yori had never seen him. It gave her a nasty little turn. Malick didn't get troubled.

  Maybe it was the business with Yakuli. They'd had themselves a good look last night, just like Malick had ordered, stayed out of sight of all of the guards and keepers—far too many for comfort, so Yori had been just as happy, what with them being on their own and no Malick—and had come back with all of the information he'd wanted. They hadn't gotten themselves a look inside the manor but for what they could see through windows from a distance, but Shig had confirmed Fen's mother's presence in a way that made Yori want to know exactly how she knew, but hadn't dared question.

  It wasn't the only information they'd gathered, though. The knowledge that Yakuli had horses was what Malick had said led him to the Councilor—and again, Yori wanted to know how Malick had known but she hadn't asked—but saying the man had horses was like saying there was sand on the beach. Hundreds of them, running in loose herds in their fenced pastures that took up most of the swath of land on which the manor was sat. Secluded, ideal for a secret horse farm, farther outside the Gates than even Asai's lands, and too close to the camps for any “respectable” lord to want to venture there, though Yori hadn't really thought about why anyone would want to keep it a secret until she'd got a look at Samin's face.

  "Warhorses,” he'd breathed, staring, then cursed vilely, hands clenched, like it was all he could do to look and not act. “This isn't a farm,” he'd said, eyes scanning the perimeter, calculating, “it's a training camp."

  And Samin would know.

  He'd walked into Fen's room without announcement or a request for permission as soon as they'd gotten back, and unceremoniously ousted Joori. It was all right with Yori. It meant Joori had to cool his heels with her in the common room, and they'd had a nice... chat.