“I have no specific knowledge,” Kirra said, since she didn’t think she was authorized to repeat Sabina Gisseltess’s whispered words to Senneth. If they were even true. If the woman even knew who was allied with her husband and who was not. “I can tell you my impressions. Heffel Coravann feels much like my father does—he wants to stay neutral, and he seems to think he can. Eloise Kianlever would declare herself for the king—but some of her vassals could be convinced to put their loyalty elsewhere, and she may well have an uprising on her hands. Nocklyn would appear to be wholly given over to the Gisseltess connection—and yet Els is still alive, and Mayva was not happy at the chaos that churned in her house when Halchon Gisseltess came to call.”
“Yes, Darryn told me the whole tale,” Ariane replied. She sounded astonished still. “That Halchon had the nerve to travel when Baryn had confined him to his estates! Well, that alone should tell us the caliber of the man. I believe there is nothing he would stop at.”
“I believe you’re right. He spoke quite nakedly of his ambition when he confronted Senneth earlier this year. Have you heard that tale as well?” When Ariane shook her head, Kirra told the story. “Senneth and Kirra met him in Lochau recently. He all but came out and said he was ready to wrest the throne from Baryn’s hands, for Baryn is old and weak and has only one rather questionable heir. He also told Senneth he would be willing to forgo a war if Baryn would name him heir instead—”
“He would never repudiate Amalie that way!”
Kirra nodded. “
And
he thought the other eleven Houses would agree to this plan if he, Halchon, discarded his current wife and took a more politically powerful woman as his bride.” She waited expectantly.
Ariane was staring. “No. Did he—did he mean
Senneth
? She despises him! Oh, terrible as it is, I almost wish I’d been in the room to hear him make that proposal to her! What did she say?”
“I forget the exact words—or maybe Kirra never told me,” she added hastily. “Something along the lines of she’d rather see him dead. In any case, I don’t think that should be a contingency you consider as a real possibility. She’ll never marry him. But that isn’t going to keep him from pursuing the throne.”
Ariane sighed and passed a hand over her strong features. For a moment, she slumped on the sofa and appeared much more like a tired old woman than a formidable marlady. “And so we come back to war,” she said, and dropped her hand. “As does every conversation I have these days.”
“We could talk of something else,” Kirra said, because she thought Casserah would have. “Family and friends, for instance. I have met two of your sons during my most recent travels and I liked them both a great deal. How are your other children? And grandchildren? We could spend the next hour discussing them.”
Ariane sighed again and looked even more tired. “Unfortunately, we could,” she said. She glanced at Kirra, then stared blindly out the window at the bright sunlight. “I am most happy that you have come to Rappengrass, for I don’t believe I’ve ever had the chance to entertain you at Rappen Manor before, but I have to say, I was wishing Kirra would come as well. I would ask her—” She spread her hands and said nothing more.
Kirra waited till the silence had stretched out a few moments. “She was here a few months ago and you asked for nothing.”
“A few months ago my granddaughter had not fallen ill with red-horse fever. Now—now she is so sick they think she will die within the month. I am talking to you of uprisings and loyalties, but half my heart does not care at all if war comes to Gillengaria. Half my heart is up in that sickroom with Lyrie. I would sacrifice Baryn, I would sacrifice Rappengrass itself, to keep her alive.”
Kirra felt a bolt of melancholy strike dead center into her heart, already tender with losses of its own. “Red-horse fever,” she said. “I’ve heard of that. It’s—they say it cannot be cured.”
Ariane nodded. She was looking down at her hands. “That’s what they say. I’ve had all kinds of healers in—mystics and physicians—those trained in magic and those trained in science. No one has been able to do anything for her except ease her pain for a day or two. I thought that Kirra—well, she’s the best healer I’ve ever seen. I thought maybe she could do something that the others could not.”
Now Kirra was the one to sit for a minute in silence. She already knew she had no antidote for this particular illness; she already knew she could not rout this poison with her hands. It was pointless to speculate, to wonder how she might insert herself into the sickroom, to hope that this time, with this child, her magic might be more powerful than death. It was stupid to think she could defeat someone else’s despair even though she could not defeat her own.
“Casserah?” Ariane asked. “What did I say? I’m sorry—I did not mean to offend you. Of course I am happy that you are here. I was not saying that I preferred your sister. I was just—”
Impulsively, Kirra took hold of the marlady’s hands. “Ariane—I believe I can trust you. And the secret is not so terrible, really. It is just that I have been keeping it for many weeks now and had had no thought of revealing it, even to you.”
Ariane looked wholly bewildered. “But—what secret? Casserah, you do not have to tell me anything that you—”
Kirra squeezed her hands more tightly. “Kirra. I’m Kirra. I have traveled the circuit pretending to be my sister because my father thought Casserah should meet all the nobles. But she refused to leave Danalustrous, so I agreed to a masquerade of sorts—”
“You’re
Kirra
?” Ariane repeated, holding on to the one piece of information in that tumbling speech that made any sense to her. “But you—oh, this is just like you, it really is.”
Kirra laughed, and dropped the other woman’s hands. “Yes. But I don’t see any reason—I mean, by now I’ve met everyone Casserah was supposed to impress—why can’t I be Kirra from today on? We’ll say Casserah was called back home. A message from my father. I have come to take her place during the final ball of the summer season.
You
will not be offended. And I can throw off a disguise that, truthfully, has become a bit difficult to maintain.”
Ariane still looked slightly dazed. “But you—why would you do this? I mean, I’m happy to have whichever sister from Danalustrous chooses to grace my court, but—”
“Because I do not dare pretend Casserah has any magic,” Kirra said, entirely sober now. “The fact that I am a mystic has done my father much harm—or would have, if he cared for anyone’s opinion but his own. I cannot let there be even the slightest suspicion that Casserah also carries such a taint. I cannot go to that sickroom as my sister and touch that child and bring even a small measure of relief to her body. I can’t do it. If I want to go to her, I have to go as myself. And Ariane, I don’t know if there is anything at all I can do for her, but I want to try.”
Ariane was trying not to cry. It was shocking to see tears on that strong, imperturbable face. “If you could do anything—anything at all—I would be so grateful—”
Kirra rose to her feet. “Give me an hour or two. It will take me that long to leave the Manor as Casserah and return as Kirra.”
Ariane stood beside her, looking just a little shaky. “No one would even have to see you leave,” she said. “None of the guards is watching for stray nobility on the way
out
of the gates. But you will have to come through the checkpoints like any other visitor or someone will grow suspicious.”
Kirra smiled, then leaned in quickly and kissed the older woman on the cheek. “I can manage this,” she said. “Be ready to receive me again in a couple of hours.”
SO it was that, solitary and on horseback, Casserah Danalustrous slipped out of the gates of Rappen Manor, and Kirra Danalustrous rode in. No one had stopped or questioned Casserah, who had been plainly dressed and not particularly notable; but Kirra had to explain to five different guards who she was and why she had chosen to visit. A half dozen nobles, coming and going on their own pursuits, witnessed her arrival. Those who knew her waved and called out greetings. Those who didn’t looked curious and pleased when they learned that Malcolm Danalustrous’s wildest daughter had chosen to come to Rappengrass for the summer ball.
The one gauntlet she had not expected to run unfolded just as she dismounted at the front doorway to introduce herself to yet another guard. “Can you send for Ralf ?” she finally demanded with some of Casserah’s haughtiness. “He knows me and will verify that I am allowed inside your doors.”
“Indeed, serra,” said the guard, respectful but unyielding. “The steward has been sent for.”
“I appreciate that,” she replied.
Their slight altercation had caught the interest of a lively party that had just stepped outside to tour the gardens. Kirra paid the group no attention until four people detached themselves from the larger mass and approached her.
“Kirra?” came Senneth’s voice. “I thought I recognized you! What are you doing in Rappengrass?”
Cursing inwardly, Kirra turned to greet Senneth, who was accompanied by Amalie, Valri and—something of a surprise—Cammon. She should have hunted up her friends before making her transformation; the explanations would have been much less awkward then. “Senneth! I had hoped you would still be here.” She dropped a curtsey. “Majesties.”
Senneth turned to Cammon, who was staring at Kirra uncertainly. “Cam, you remember Kirra, don’t you?” she said, malice in her voice.
“That’s—that’s Kirra?” he said faintly. “Oh! Of course it is! You look so much like your sister. Hello.”
Cammon always had trouble telling when someone was in disguise. She probably looked no different to him now than she had yesterday, when she was shaped like Casserah, or even when she was wearing the form of a mountain lion. Unless someone told him, he would have no idea how he should address her, what role she had assumed now.
“She looks nothing like Casserah!” Amalie exclaimed, coming forward to give Kirra her hand. “But how good to see you again! I don’t think we’ve met since I was a little girl. Everyone says such marvelous things about you. I have been hoping you would come back to Ghosenhall soon. I’m Amalie, if you don’t remember me.”
Kirra curtseyed again. “Your majesty is too gracious.”
“Have you come to join your sister for the ball?” Amalie asked.
“Yes, why are you here?” Senneth asked, obviously still enjoying herself. “I didn’t think your father would be able to spare both of you at the same time.”
“In fact, he can’t spare us both. Casserah has already left. I was a few hours behind the rider who came with a message from my father, asking her to return.”
“Oh, no! I hope nothing dreadful has happened?” Amalie cried.
“No, no. Actually, if you want the truth of it, I think Casserah wrote
him
earlier, begging him to allow her to come home,” Kirra said easily. She should have thought of a better story; she was improvising as she went. “In fact, I think she
threatened
to leave even if he didn’t give permission, so he told her she could come home but not till I could be sent on my way to replace her. And here I am.”
“I’ll miss your sister. We all will,” Valri said in her dark way. Kirra wondered if she could possibly be sincere. “I thought she was a very intelligent girl. Hard to sway. Not very impressionable.”
“Well,
that’s
all true,” Kirra said. “I hope she behaved with reasonable friendliness to all the important parties.”
“Indeed, she could hardly have been more charming,” Senneth said. “I thought she might make a match of it with Darryn Rappengrass, but she told me later she thought he was more your type. I never did really get a feel for the kind of man she might like.”
Kirra thought she might have to kill Senneth, right there in front of the guard. Fortunately, Ralf appeared in the doorway, bowing very low. “Serra Kirra,” he said. “Your sister told us that we should be expecting you. You will be staying in the room that had been reserved for her. The marlady asks that you come see her as soon as you’ve had a moment to freshen up.”
Now Senneth’s gray eyes were sharp as she realized there was more to this visit than a whim of Kirra’s. “Would you like me to show you to your room?” she asked. “It’s right down the hall from mine.”
“Not necessary,” Kirra replied. She tried to send a message of reassurance.
This is a private matter between Ariane and me. Do not be concerned.
“I’ll be by to see you as soon as I can. We’ll have a lot to catch up on.”