The crowd gasped, and I did not know why or what I was to do, but their gasp turned to cheers and Grosbeak’s grin grew broad and wicked as he lifted his hands in victory and reared in the air.
“You must be joking,” I heard Coppertomb snarl from below.
But though I did not know what a Blind Man’s Jape was, I knew one thing for certain. Grosbeak was not joking. And he was claiming his right and that meant whatever this terrible fate he’d chosen for us was, we must endure it or fail utterly.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
“What is a Blind Man’s Jape?”Ki'e'iren snarled as Grosbeak turned to us. “None of this is what was promised to me. I was promised little contest, if any. I was promised the right of supremacy!”
“You’re trusting in promises now, faithless ally?” Grosbeak asked her wryly with a wink to me. He smiled like he was savoring this. “You were not content to stay in your old life. You had to crawl back to us little mousie mousie and you’ve landed in a trapsie. What else did you expect?”
She turned red. “You jest. When I was stolen by the Wittenbrand, that was a promise of power and riches to come. Or it should have been. Why should she inherit what was meant for me, merely because she’s the last?”
“Precisely,” Grosbeak said, his grin widening as he turned to me. “Why should she, indeed?”
“I’m the one he chose,” I said coolly. “Does a man not have the right to choose his own wife?”
“And that is why Izolda is here,” Grosbeak whispered confidentially to Ki'e'iren. “Because she lets other people do the choosing. You and I are better at seizing the reins, though if you win, it’s not like you’ll receive the power and riches you hope for. But that doesn’t matter, does it mousie? It only matters that you are here right now to play with us.”
“The Bramble King will wed me,” Ki'e'iren said with a dangerous smile.
Grosbeak’s laugh was delighted. “Did he promise you that? How delightful. I must admit that I’d enjoy the sight of him constantly humiliated by the presence of a mortal wife. So gauche. So terribly mortifying.”
“Bluebeard tookher,” Ki'e'iren reminded him.
“Yes, well, he’s mad even for a Wittenbrand,” Grosbeak said, waving a hand. “Coppertomb is far too sane to enjoy that.”
“We had an agreement,” she insisted through gritted teeth.
“But did he promise you exactly that?” Grosbeak asked, leaning in as if imparting a great secret. “Because I’m willing to bet that he did not. Despite all my posturing just now, he is not looking for a bride, mortal or immortal. He is only looking to win.”
Ki'e'iren’s eyes widened and her jaw stiffened and she shot me a look of death. “Don’t you have anything to say, usurper?”
I shrugged, trying to appear more detached than I was. In truth, my heart hammered and raced within me. I needed to stay sharp for whatever this contest would be.
“What is there to say, poisoner? You killed me once. You would kill me again. You would take from me all I hold dear for the entertainment of others. But I am not the mousie Grosbeak calls us. I will not scurry away in fear.”
“Ladies,” Grosbeak interrupted with a vicious smile, but he said the word slowly as if he wanted us to talk right over him. I shut my mouth with a snap. “We’ll blindfold you now, and tie your hands behind your backs. There’s to be no touching.”
Below us, the crowd had begun to grow noisy again. I wished I could see those directly under the platform. It would have been helpful to pick up any cues from my husband, but he was entirely out of sight.
“No touching what?” Ki'e'iren made her objection sound like an Imperial decree. “How can we fight with no eyes and no hands?”
“It’s a contest of skill,” Grosbeak said leering at her, and there was something about how he did it that reminded me of something. My eyes narrowed. What was it? Oh yes! The time he’d told me about his harem of mermaids under the sea, he’d had that exact same expression on his face. “The Blind Man’s Jape is as old and time-honored as a Three Day Bind. Did not Foinen the Terrible use the Blind Man’s Jape to humiliate his wife Issarra? Did not Horace of Hagglesphere declare a Blind Man’s Jape in his challenge to Surricus and win his entire wine store as the prize?”
“Can we get on with it?” Ki'e'iren asked testily.
She was remarkably irritating for one so lovely, though her white-haired beauty was so great that she nearly looked Wittenbrand. Perhaps she did fit this place better than I. Perhaps. But she would not win. I had fought for every inch of Wittenhame I’d tasted and I would fight for the rest of it, too.
“Let him tell his stories,” I said dryly. “They are all he has.”
Grosbeak offered a tiny bow in my direction and a nasty grin.
“The rules of the game are simple enough. Neither of you will leave the platform until a winner is chosen or that is a loss. You will not stop to eat or drink, or that is a loss. You will not remove the blindfold or free your hands or that is a loss.”
“And then when she dies it’s over?” Ki'e'iren pressed. “I do not object to killing my rival.”
“Clearly not, since you did it once already,” I agreed pointedly.
