Wolf's-own: Weregild (42 page)

Blunt and to the point. Husao had always liked the boy. He smiled again, sat back, gave Xari a slight lift of his eyebrow and a shrug. He was merely here to observe and wait for opportunity to present itself. Xari's business interested Husao only as much as it intersected with what remained of his.

A stir somewhere in the dark depths of Husao's perception. He noted it and shot a look to Xari, but she didn't look back, so he couldn't tell if she'd felt it too. Likely not. It was so light and subtle a touch that Husao wouldn't have felt it himself, had he not already been stretching his senses to keep sentinel for the probes of hunters. And he recognized the talent and technique. Kamen was keeping a close eye on those under his veil. Quite possibly unfortunate for Xari; she was still included in that number. Husao sat back and waited. He was only here to watch and wait, after all.

Xari leaned in, raven hair falling loose over her shoulder, the beaded tassels of her bright violet shawl chiming softly as she moved—not
quite
seductive, not yet, but not ruling out the possibility, either, should she need to fall back on it. “The Catalyst has today served the justice of the gods.” Her voice was smooth and honeyed. Nothing at all like the creaky-hinge sound when she wore her glamour. “The treachery of Asai has stood as mocking example for too long. Wolf is well-pleased."

Jacin-rei just kept staring, amber-shot gray eyes managing to burn from out of the hollow, dark-rung caves of their sockets. He didn't say a word, but Husao knew the boy, had made it his business to know the boy, and
I don't care
managed to ooze out from his blank-bored expression like a physical taste of bitter metal.

"We have come,” Xari continued then paused when Husao subtly cleared his throat. Her mouth tightened only slightly, but she merely went on, “
I
have come to offer retreat and safety to you and yours.” She smiled again, warm and almost sweet, directed at the brother, who seemed to be the better choice for charm. Trying to charm Jacin-rei right now would be like trying to seduce a stone. And as with all things, Husao knew—and so did Xari—the way to Jacin-rei was through those he loved and couldn't protect. “I can do what has already been promised to you,” Xari continued. “I can get you out. You seek now vengeance, and for that you cannot be blamed.” Her expression went sympathetic, kind. “Your grief is profound and just. What happened today was....” A soft sigh, and Xari shook her head, almost reached out but seemed to think better. “I can see that your sorrow is oceans deep. Today should not have happened, and were it not for Kamen's own desire for vengeance, it would not have done. He has used you, lad. You know this."

Wisely, she kept away from the subject of Asai, and how he'd used the boy in ways that were much deeper and far more destructive.

All through the little speech, Jacin-rei neither flinched nor looked away. He hadn't reacted at all. Now, he merely blinked, then shot a flat look up to his brother, who only shrugged. Jacin-rei turned back to Xari. “And?"

Xari frowned. “And he has used those you love to a horrible end. Not his intent, to be fair, but reality nonetheless. You have already been betrayed by Kamen's own Blood. Do not allow your grief to swottle you into allowing him to further that betrayal.” Again, she leaned in, beautiful face as close to sincerity as Husao had ever seen it. “He would use you still. He would set you against Yakuli, risk you and yours, and all so that he needs not risk his soul."

"He's sworn us oath,” the brother put in. He slid an uncertain glance at Jacin-rei, but when Jacin-rei didn't chide him, only kept staring, he turned back to Xari, who'd abruptly lost her smile. Husao understood why—Kamen had never sworn oath to another soul. Ever. “I won't defend him,” the boy went on boldly, “I don't much like him, but he's—"

"He has set aside the wishes of the gods for the obsession of his lust. He has—” Xari cut herself off, mouth pinched up tight, and she looked at Jacin-rei with such rueful sympathy that Husao almost believed her himself. “Forgive my audacity, lad, but Kamen's passion for you has set aside his reason. He would tie the world in knots if he thought they might bind you to him. He would not mean to harm your own, but he is both well-intentioned and merciless—it makes him dangerous."

Jacin-rei continued to look unimpressed. “And what is the advice of a maijin on the matter?"

Xari didn't hesitate. “Get you gone from here,” she told him, real urgency in her tone. “Leave the Adan and the Jin to their own misery. Leave Kamen to his machinations. Any
Temshiel
who must use mortals to achieve his ends cannot own the power necessary to hand you what you would wish. Asai has taught you that cruel lesson. I have no goal but to aid the Catalyst. My power is at your disposal."

Husao only just managed to choke back a snort. Propping the power of a godless maijin against that of Wolf's
Temshiel
in his own Cycle—indeed. Had no one informed Xari that this Catalyst would know better? That Husao himself had taught him better? No, he supposed not. At least, Husao had never seen the need to inform Xari of anything but what he wanted her to know, and it appeared Kamen had been just as circumspect.

The brother's eyes had gone a bit wistful at the promise. Husao supposed he didn't blame the boy. After the tragedies of the day, he was likely ripe for any promise at all that would keep him from losing the rest of those he obviously loved, including his Catalyst twin, upon whose shoulder his hand had rested and now gripped tight. Jacin-rei's eyes, however, were sparking with anger, near-loathing.

"And this from a maijin,” Jacin-rei said, something dark and dangerous seething beneath the calm tone.

Husao could tell that Xari was treading very perilous ground, and by the way she stiffened just the slightest bit, he could tell she did too. Still, she had a great deal to lose, and Husao had seen her wend her way through much worse and come out bruised and a little battered, but victorious.

"A maijin,” Jacin-rei went on, “who scoffs at the ‘plots’ of a
Temshiel
, as though the very word isn't breath and bone to her, as though she herself has never—"

"A maijin,” Xari cut in, her tone going deep and imperious, “who can offer you what none other will—who
has
offered you what none other can.” Her hand fisted, went to her breastbone, and thumped once. “The mother of Asai offers you and yours safety and protection for the rest of your days."

That
got a reaction—from both brothers. The earth-bound heaved out a sharp little gasp and clutched even tighter at his brother's shoulder, but Jacin-rei went white, all color draining so quickly from his face it was like watching someone turn to wax.

Xari's mouth quirked up in a not-smile, careful to keep her mien sincere as she nodded. She shifted her chin a little to indicate Husao next to her. “The father of Skel, he that was betrayed by Asai, offers you his thanks."

Very carefully speaking only the truth, nothing Husao would move himself to negate, but in such a way that implied Husao was willing to offer much more. He didn't gainsay it. He merely dipped his head in acknowledgement, because it was true, he
was
grateful, and it was not up to him how Xari's words were to be interpreted by hopeful minds. He was, after all, only here to watch. Though, strangely, he was finding himself mildly pleased every time Jacin-rei balked at being maneuvered.

"
What
do you
want
?” Jacin-rei asked again, sharper this time, with more emotion whirling inside it than he would concede to show otherwise.

"But I've already told you.” Xari let her smile bloom again, though she kept the triumph out of it. “I want to take you away from here,” she said, earnest. “I want to reward you by doing what's been promised you over and over, and yet has never actually been granted."

Jacin-rei was silent for a while, thinking, then he jerked his chin up, brusque. “I have other matters I must see to. I cannot leave yet. And I no longer trust any other to take my kin from my sight."

All too reasonable, as far as Husao was concerned. Jacin-rei had never had to be taught a lesson twice.

Xari shook her head. “Do not allow your wish for vengeance to put your own into the very danger from which you wish to save them. I know who you seek, and I know what you will be up against, should you do what I see burning in your eyes.” She stood, then slipped down to her knees at Jacin-rei's feet. This time, she did reach out, laying a slender hand over the one curled into a tight fist over the hilt of a knife at Jacin-rei's belt. “Yakuli will come to his just end. I have seen it."

It was a lie—Husao knew she'd seen no such thing. His own sight was much deeper and far-reaching than Xari's, and he'd seen a very different possible future for Yakuli, now that Asai's machinations had come to an abrupt end and left Yakuli's ambition unchecked. With the army Asai had helped him build, and the host of mindless full-Bloods he'd both stolen and grown, Yakuli's potential for power was almost limitless. Only one future-possible remained beyond Husao's sight, and he was quite confident that the reason for his blindness was sitting right in front of him.

Jacin-rei couldn't possibly know all of this, but it didn't seem to matter. The anger that had been swelling in his gaze now flared bright into rage. And yet still, he kept himself motionless, that control Husao had watched him build like a suit of armor over the years, plate by torturous plate, now wrapped about him in unbending rule of Self.

"You've
seen
it,” Jacin-rei said quietly.

Xari seemed to know there was something lethal crouching inside it, but she didn't seem to know what. She kept herself still now too, only narrowing her eyes a little when Jacin-rei's head tipped to the side, questioning, and he subtly shifted his elbow until his brother angled himself behind the chair.

"What else have you seen?” he asked, his raspy voice somehow curling sinister, though the tone hadn't changed. “Did you
see
what happened today?” His gray eyes snapped to Husao. “Did it serve your gods? Is that why you stood there and watched them fall?"

Husao was almost certain he was the only one who saw Xari flinch a little, but he wouldn't rule out the possibility that Jacin-rei had seen it too. The boy had grown a new canniness since Husao had seen him last.

"I have not the power,” Xari said, defensive now, “to pluck a child from the sky and bend the air about her.” She said it with just the right amount of contrition and accusation, leaving Jacin-rei free to draw the conclusion that Kamen had the power and yet had failed.

Jacin-rei didn't seem to be cooperating. “What power
do
you have? You make promises of protection, and yet admit you haven't the power.” With a curl of his lip, he knocked Xari's hand away from his, leaning forward in his chair until his nose was only inches away from hers. “
You
sent for Malick this morning.
You
drew him away.
You
made it possible for Asai to come here and do what he did."

Drawing all the wrong conclusions, but harboring all the right suspicions. Xari most certainly had not colluded with Asai, but she very well might collude with Yakuli—one or the other didn't really matter to Jacin-rei, and Husao saw no need to correct him.

"The cards had changed.” Xari had gone tense now. Husao could almost see the threads unraveling from her hand. “I sent for Kamen to warn him of the duplicity of his own."

"And by doing so allowed that duplicity to come to pass. The future is a chancy thing, and sometimes, the mere speaking of it can change it in ways that cannot be foreseen. One who deals in it should know that.” Husao recognized the words, could almost hear Asai's voice inside of them, and he suppressed a small shudder. Jacin-rei didn't notice, only kept glaring at Xari, then he shook his head. “Who is your god?"

Xari blinked, hesitated for only a second before she lied, “Dragon."

Husao understood her reluctance to admit she had no god and thus no power to carry through on what she was offering, but he thought it a mistake nonetheless. The jump in direction might have seemed like it came from scattered reasoning, but there was purpose beneath it, and it was never wise to bluff when one didn't have at least an informed guess as to what one's opponent held in his hand.

Jacin-rei's gray gaze settled on Husao, still burning with that simmering rage, but leashed and held back tight. “And you?"

Husao merely shrugged. There seemed no need for hesitation or prevarication on his part. “Dragon."

A slow, bitter smirk curled at Jacin-rei's mouth, and he nodded. “So, you cannot touch Wolf's Catalyst,” he said, his hoarse voice low and quiet, but still managing to ooze menace and derision. “And yet you need Wolf's Catalyst gone from Ada. Away from Yakuli.” He sat back, his hand coming out from behind his back and going without obvious thought to cover that of his brother's still on his shoulder, a chunky ring Husao recognized right away flashing in the watery light through the window. “Care to tell me why?"

Husao had watched enough. And that ring told him things for which he needed no cards or stones or portents. Xari had just roundly lost, had lost before she'd even mounted the attic stair, and Husao had no wish to sit here and watch her try to recover the unrecoverable. Jacin-rei's suspicions, though wrong, were not going to be assuaged, certainly not by Xari.

With a sigh that was sincerely sympathetic, Husao patted Xari's arm, said, “Perhaps that question would be best answered by Kamen,” and he turned to look over his shoulder. Husao merely lifted an eyebrow when Kamen wavered into sight, as though he'd been standing there all along, but Xari went rigid and shot up from her crouch at Jacin-rei's feet. So she truly hadn't felt the stir before. No surprise, but Husao couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her—she was only doing what they all did. And it was certainly her right to look out for herself.

"Oh, I don't know,” Kamen said mildly as he sauntered around the back of the couch and hitched up beside Xari, setting his arm around her shoulders. “Fen seems to be doing fine on his own.” Anger rumbled beneath the blithe tone, and when he turned his eyes on Husao, only the knowledge that Kamen was much angrier with Xari than he could be with Husao kept Husao from tightening his shields. “But perhaps we should have
proper
introductions first, yeah?” A grin that most would probably perceive as charming, but Husao had seen the ruthless spite in that light-brown gaze before. “Why, Husao,” Kamen said, mock-ingenuous, “no reunion? No glad embraces for the one you nearly helped raise? Everyone's all dressed up for the occasion, not a glamour in sight. Surely you've nothing to hide from the Catalyst?"