‘What was that she said?’ Coultrie demanded.
No one spoke; perhaps no one else had made out her words. I had.
‘Your turn now.’
‘Well, that was unpleasant,’ Symphe muttered.
‘Blame yourself,’ Capra countered. ‘You created that moment. Releasing Beloved, lying to me. Allowing that sour-faced wretch to think she had the perspicacity of a White Prophet. You encouraged her to create this mess. I suppose I must be the one to set events back on their proper course.’
‘I will take charge of the child,’ Symphe announced.
I heard their voices as one might hear flies buzzing at a window. Dwalia was gone. Only her spattered and smeared blood remained. Vindeliar was gone. I was alone in this place they had brought me to. I stared up at the lovely woman. Pretty did not mean kind. She did not look at me.
‘That you shall not,’ Capra announced.
‘We should all have access to her, to determine her value,’ Fellowdy suggested.
Capra laughed low. ‘We know what value you would give her, Fellowdy. No.’
Coultrie spoke in a low voice. ‘Do away with the creature. Right now. It will only cause division among us, and we’ve had enough of that. Recall how Beloved’s return set us against one another.’ He frowned so severely that the cosmetics on his face flaked a sprinkling of powder.
‘“Never do that which you can’t undo, until you’ve perceived what you can’t do once you’ve done it.” That is among our oldest teachings, you idiot! We need to summon collators and search for any possible references to her.’ Symphe spoke smoothly.
‘That will take days!’ Coultrie objected.
‘As you are not the one who will be doing the work, why should you care?’ Fellowdy replied. In a quieter voice, he added, ‘As if you could understand the dreams, having never had any of your own.’
‘Do you think I am deaf?’ Coultrie demanded angrily, to which Fellowdy smiled and replied, ‘Of course not. You are merely blind to the futures.’
‘Enough!’ Capra snapped. She glanced at me and I looked away. I feared to have her look into my eyes. Something in her stare seemed to gloat, as if she kept to herself some bit of knowledge. ‘Symphe, I propose that we hold her in the upper cells. In safety. In health. Perhaps she is nothing but a blonde child stolen from scutwork in FitzChivalry’s home. Dwalia offered us no proof that she is otherwise. If she were truly of Beloved’s lineage, she would be dreaming by now, and Dwalia would have offered the records of her dreams to us as proof of her value. I suspect she is nothing but a ruse, an excuse for Dwalia’s losses.’
‘Then why not leave her with me?’ Symphe demanded. ‘I could use another maidservant.’
Capra’s look was deadly. ‘A ruse can be used more than once, dear girl. Dwalia claims Beloved is dead. She said nothing of FitzChivalry, his Catalyst. If this child is his or has value to him we may find that once more we deal with the Unexpected Son. The real one. The one who aided Beloved to thwart us. So, she needs to be confined until we determine if there is any truth at all to Dwalia’s tale. Until we have wrung the full truth from both Dwalia and that monster she has cultivated.’
‘I do not think that is necessary. What do you—’
Capra spoke over her. ‘Or I will have them all killed. As I should have done with Beloved.’
My heart was beating so hard at their words that I thought my whole body shook with it.
A silence fell. Coultrie spoke. ‘What right have you to dictate to us? There are four of us.’
