Breath of Winter, A Read online

  The hunt was only half of it. “She has a taste for Araneaean flesh.”

  He scoffed. “You think she’s bribing me in the hopes I’ll indulge her addiction?”

  “She has her own agenda.” Gods only knew what it was. “She won’t help anyone for free.”

  “Is she so far gone?” He sounded doubtful. “Is there no hope she might be rehabilitated?”

  “None.”

  He shook his head. “We owe it to her to try.”

  Since pity seemed to be getting the better of him, I reiterated what I had told him earlier.

  “From all accounts, she doted on Hishima. He was her only child, her heir. Yet she murdered him with her bare hands. What sort of mother could do that and live with herself afterward?” None I knew. “Whatever is in that cage isn’t Lailah. It’s a twisted shell driven mad by hunger it can’t sate.”

  “I don’t doubt you believe what you’ve told me,” Henri said at last, “but I must see for myself that she’s beyond saving. If she had been captured sooner, when the infection was fresh, perhaps…”

  “Perhaps nothing.” To think Ghedi called me stubborn. Henri’s flat-footed refusal to hear reason flustered me. “You’re kind for wanting to help, just don’t let her help herself to you in the process.”

  “I didn’t know you cared.”

  “It’s my job to care,” seemed like the safest response. I’m not entirely sure he believed me if his soft chuckles were any indication. “If you die while under our protection, then our careers are over.”

  “Ah.” His voice lowered. “I wouldn’t want to tarnish your reputations.”

  I winced. “That was self-serving of me.”

  “You are a mercenary,” he reminded me, a habit that had begun to grate on my nerves.

  I was a mercenary by necessity, not choice.

  Strange I hadn’t noticed my aversion to the title until it fell from Henri’s lips.

  Before I formulated a retort, Henri hesitated at a large door with an inset handle that appeared to double as the lock. He hid the mechanism while he opened it, which made me wish I could peer over his shoulder. I had to settle for sitting back and allowing his secrets until he had cleared me to walk.

  He stepped back. “Be careful once we’re inside.”

  “I won’t touch anything.” I linked my fingers in my lap to keep them from wandering.

  “I don’t mind touching, as long as you use common sense.”

  I shot him a cocky grin. “Good to know.”

  Cheeks flushed, he set his shoulder against the door and shoved.

  Hinges groaned as he revealed his laboratory to me. The room was massive. Half the size of the stable, and it had been enormous. More of those odd lights twinkled across the ceiling, giving the illusion of full sunlight. Warmth pushed at my face when we entered. It was several degrees hotter in here than in my room. The length of one wall was dedicated to stout-looking storage cabinets, and the center of the room was a maze of tables and countertops, all scattered with peculiar implements.

  Each nook and cranny revealed the unexpected, the impressive or the remarkable. At the far end, I spied a glass house filled with lush plants. I recognized the cattail plant my brothers and I had used for sword fights when we were children. Then there were vivid, exotic blossoms the likes of which I had never seen in my travels. “Where did all those flowers come from?” The variety was staggering.

  “Friends who travel more than I do are kind enough to bring me back cuttings and seeds.”

  “And you coaxed them to bloom here?” Amazing.

  “I’m sure you noticed the excessive lighting. Each section of greenhouse mimics a plant’s native environment. It’s warm here in the main room, even with ventilation, but it gets blistering hot inside the portions representative of the southland. If you’d like, we can tour those sections later this week. You can decide if my samples are symbolic of your home. Perhaps suggest new additions.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “Good.” He sounded pleased. “I’ll warn you, I’m not the best housekeeper. I will be careful not to run you into anything. I meant to have those pallets unloaded by now, but I haven’t had time.”

  At first glance, I had been too awestruck to notice how the crates were stacked dangerously high in the corners or how piles of canvas had been left to gather dust beside stations they once sheltered.

  All around us, pots bubbled over delicate burners and chimes pinged. The air was thick with the scent of flowers, fresh sunlight and burnt grass. It was a heady fragrance that reminded me of home.

  “You should hire an assistant. Someone ought to care for the place if you won’t.”

  “I had one once.” He circled the chair and cleared me a path. “I set her to work one day, though it seemed to me the next day she quit. To hear Armand tell it, I had ignored the poor girl for weeks.”

  Sympathy made me shake my head. Henri could be too cool, too calm.

  He was just the sort of male who needed his feathers ruffled by a female who knew how.

  Lucky for him, ruffling feathers was my specialty.

  “She hoped taking the position would capture your attention.” I couldn’t say I blamed her.

  “So my brother said. I don’t know if that’s the truth, and it doesn’t matter if it was. I hired her to perform specific tasks. Had I been interested in her romantically, I would never have expected her to swelter through our courtship inside the laboratory.” He appeared to struggle to find the right words. “My work often portrays me as boorish and studious. Perhaps I do that to myself. Either way, it’s not the best light to have shined on oneself while trying to impress a female one is interested in wooing.”

  “Wooing.” I chuckled. “Yes, one must have the perfect lighting for such activities.”

  He remained serious. “Perception is everything.”

  “You’ve given this wooing business some thought since then.” It was clear to me he had.

  He resumed his position behind me. “If we learn from our mistakes, we won’t repeat them.”

  “Hmm. I suppose there is that.” As he pushed me down a narrow aisle, I traced the countertops’ edges with a finger. Rubbing two together, I tested the accumulation of grime. “Are you resolved not to hire a new assistant? Or is it that you’re hesitant to train another helper of the female persuasion?”

  His steps slowed. “I did say I wanted to ask your opinion on a specific matter.”

  “You did.” Though I hadn’t cared what he wanted as long as it got me out of my room.

  “Would you consider assuming the role of my temporary assistant?”

  “Ah.” I reined in my disappointment. “I appreciate you clarifying the point for me.”

  He circled around until we faced one another. “Which is?”

  “You don’t believe in mixing business with pleasure.” Ghedi would be thrilled. “Your attention has flattered me so that I neglected to consider I am most appealing when there are no competitors.”

  “Hundreds of females live in this nest.” He covered my hand with his. “None are your equal.”

  Equal in height…in weight…in temper… Without a qualifier, I was uncertain of his meaning.

  “You are quite the charmer.” There. Let him make what he would of my response.

  Unsure if he had been insulted, and that made two of us, Henri withdrew.

  He tried a different tact. “Your knowledge of harbingers and risers is invaluable to me.”

  “I…can’t.” Though it pained me to decline, what he meant to do… It was wrong.

  His lips quirked as though this was a familiar ploy. “I would pay you for your trouble.”

  Though the payoff tempted me, I held firm. “In this matter, my cooperation can’t be bought.”

  “That’s a pity.” He smoothed a hand down the front of his shirt.

  My hands tightened on my armrests. “Will you return me to my room now?”

  “Not unless you’re asking me to.�
�� He rounded my chair and grasped its handles. “Are you?”

  “No,” I answered slowly.

  “Good.” He angled me toward a door set into the easternmost corner, the one mirroring the one we entered the laboratory through. “I am not so petty that I would refuse you the tour I promised.”

  Once we reached it, the performance of his unlocking was more intricate, and I wondered at the extra security until I noticed two things were missing from his laboratory—our ward and my brothers.

  When he swung the hatch open, my eyes went wide. After all this, there was still one last chamber to explore, and this one teemed with familiar faces. Ghedi leaned his hip against the wall as his hands flew in the complicated gestures of the mkono. Kaleb replied with sharp signs of his own.

  Whatever the topic, neither seemed happy.

  But what drew my eye loomed beyond them. An enormous cage filled the back half of one wall. It was four times my height and four times that length and width. A tall door held a large locking mechanism that resembled the outer doors. That must be the reason Henri wanted to be present. I surmised he was the only one who had a key for any of those doors. For that I was relieved.

  I was also impressed he had constructed this containment area in such a brief period of time. I hoped he would forgive the thought as it occurred to me, but enough gold really could buy anything.

  With their backs braced against the wall of the cavernous room, Tau and Malik kept watch.

  Tau’s eyes crinkled when he spotted me. He shoved Malik, whose quick smile was blinding. For a long moment, no one moved, then it was a rush to see which of my brothers reached me first. Their embraces were hard and jostled my chair, but I didn’t mind. I clutched them and let the tightness of their grips say what their words could not. They had been worried. They had missed me. They were relieved I was well and that I had come to see them. What else of importance was there to say?

  “What are you two squabbling about?” Kaleb was slow to anger, but Ghedi had him fuming.

  Kaleb cast Ghedi an expectant look over my head.

  “Braden asked for help with the ursus before you arrived.” Ghedi glared at him. “I volunteered.”

  “You hate ursus.” He hated anything bigger and meaner than he was. “What’s in it for you?”

  Kaleb kept on staring until Ghedi confessed, “The help he needs is aboveground.”

  “Jealous, Kaleb?” I taunted him. In answer, he transferred his scowl onto me.

  Rattling behind the solid wall made of my brothers forced me to crane my neck to see over their shoulders.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  Kaleb broke the huddle first. He strode toward the cage, pausing to snatch a club from the floor. Our ward loosed a high-pitched squeal, baring her teeth and hissing at him. When he kept coming, she did the only thing she could. She retreated out of his reach before he could rap her knuckles.

  It was the way she did it that stole my breath.

  Caught in that moment of fight or flight, she literally soared. Iridescent wings burst from her back. She leapt into the air, and they carried her up and away from danger. She hovered high and near the bars, well out of Kaleb’s range, taunting him with her superiority. Her speed was such, I marveled that we had ever captured her, and I prayed it never fell to us to perform that feat again.

  “She can’t stand when she isn’t the center of attention,” Ghedi said.

  Henri came to my side. “I wonder.”

  I glanced up at him. “What now?”

  “If it’s because you’re both female, if she views you as competition among so many males.”

  “It’s obvious we’re family.” I wrinkled my nose. “There’s no need to compete.”

  “She might be unable to tell.” Henri studied my face before glancing at each of my brothers.

  “Or she may not care.” That sounded more likely. “Besides, what difference does it make to her how many males are present or what their interest is in me? She’s dead. Her kind can’t reproduce.”

  Of course he had a theory of his own. “I’m not as certain as you seem to be that she is dead.”

  I groaned. “How did I know you were going to say that?”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You told me risers are dead bodies. She doesn’t look like a corpse to me. How long was the journey from Cathis to Erania? One week? Two? After several days of exposure to southland heat, your ward would have begun to decompose rapidly. Obviously, that’s not the case.” He shook his head. “Her wound, where you stabbed her, it’s healed. Only living flesh could mend the way hers has. What distinguishes a harbinger from a riser, I don’t know, not yet, but they aren’t bound by the plague in death. Therefore, she may very well be interested in procreation.”

  Henri was making far too much sense. “If harbingers can procreate, why infect living hosts?”

  “It’s one of many things I don’t know,” he said, “but you could help me find those answers.”

  “I can’t.” Not for curiosity’s sake. “Do what you will with our ward, leave the others alone.”

  “What distinguishes the two for you?” he pressed. “She was every bit as Araneaean as the risers were. What has she done to earn your spite that these other creatures haven’t? Help me understand.”

  A clacking sound distracted me from answering. Our ward clutched the bars, clicking her nails.

  She was far too intent on our conversation for my comfort.

  “Risers have been reduced to mindless, slavering beasts.” I met her gaze. “She chooses to kill.”

  If I had blinked, I would have missed her slow grin. A second later it was gone, and so was she. With a hop in her step, she retreated into the far corner of her cage and sat on the ground.

  I turned a slow circle. “What is that chiming sound?”

  “I’ll get that.” Henri eased around us and opened the hatch.

  Braden stood in the lab, his thumbs hooked into his belt. He gave a nod to Henri then raised his brows in Ghedi’s direction. “Storm’s rolling in. Are you helping or aren’t you? We’re on our way up now.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny scroll with a wax seal on its lip. “This came for you.” He tossed it to Henri. “Came with dinner instead of a roll. I’ll be speaking to Edan about that.”

  “You do that.” Henri closed his fist over the paper. “Zuri, are you finished here?”

  I watched him pick absently at the seal with his thumbnail. “I suppose.”

  He grasped the handles on my chair. “Then I’ll escort you back to your room.”

  “All right.” I shifted in my seat. “Ghedi? If you do go, bring me back something to talk about.”

  His broad grin assured me nothing short of Kaleb latching on to his leg would stop his departure.

  “I’ll do that.” He hesitated. “You’ll be all right alone for a few hours?”

  I patted my armrests. “I’m sure I can find some way to occupy myself.”

  I had transportation and, thanks to Braden and the note he had delivered, I was chaperone free.

  Yes. I was quite sure I could find some way to occupy my time.

  Chapter Five

  Gods above, my shoulder hurt. Blood spotted my bandage and my gown. As I sipped a generous cup of tea, grateful I was alone with my agony, aware I had no one to blame but myself for the hours I had spent exploring the tunnels, I was thankful for Ghedi’s absence. With any luck, he would find me stretched out under the covers snoring and not looking the least bit guilty after my overexertion.

  At last I understood Ghedi’s quandary. There were tunnels aplenty for walking—or rolling—but they led nowhere. Several dead-ended, a few looped. None were as well lit as the stretch between the stables and Henri’s laboratory, so I’d stuck to that path while acquainting myself with the limitations of my new chair, which were surprisingly few, and mastering its use, which was surprisingly simple.

  After I removed the sling from my arm, that is. Thinking of it shot a fre
sh current of pain through my shoulder, and I polished off the last bit of my tea with a gulp. Setting the cup aside, I eased onto my back.

  When my eyes drifted shut, I drowsed until hearing shuffling footsteps outside my door.

  “Hold him down,” Braden yelled. “Don’t let him break loose.”

  “What happened?” Henri demanded. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He’s been bitten,” Braden snapped. “That’s what. Keep him still until I can tie him down.”

  “Bitten,” Henri echoed. “Bring him inside.”

  As abruptly as the scuffling began, the hall fell silent.

  Straining my ears, I picked up nothing but the pounding of my heart.

  Bitten. Who? By what? An ursus?

  Braden was accounted for. That left Asher…I swallowed hard…and Ghedi.

  “Hello?” I called.

  No answer. Not that I expected one.

  I slid on my hip down to the foot of the bed to where I’d left my chair. Experience had taught me the pitfalls of urgency. Though it pained me, I took the time to angle my chair so I set my good foot on the tile when I stood. Carefully, I reached behind me and grasped the armrests to steady the chair before sinking slowly onto the cushion. I exhaled when I sat without incident then hefted my cast into place on the support. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I wheeled myself nearer to the nightstand and poured myself another cup of tea. I tossed it back and coughed when it burned all the way down.

  Before the tea hit bottom, I was rolling toward the door. It was an awkward affair, twisting so I could turn the knob then angling so my leg got through without jostling it. In the end, I left without closing the bloody thing, but nothing in that room was worth stealing and none of it belonged to me.

  Cautiously, I wheeled myself into the tunnel. No one was there now. All was quiet. I had almost convinced myself I’d dreamed the exchange until spotting the blackish, viscous spatter on the hall tiles.

  A shiver swept up my spine. I glanced over my shoulder, but I was alone.

  I was also unarmed.

  Though my shoulder pain had ebbed to a pleasant throb, I pushed myself and reignited the burn.