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“Because I’m of the opinion that sometimes violenceisjustified,” Stollo said. “So I’d stop you if it came down to it.”
Pietro stifled a sound and dropped his head into his hands. He couldn’t tell if he wanted to laugh or moan or shout aloud with pure undifferentiated emotion. “I wouldn’t,” he said. “But I confess there are days I can understand why some people think there isn’t a choice. And that terrifies me as much as any realization I’ve ever had.”
The car came to a shuddering stop and all the riders looked up uneasily. “The track’s blocked,” the driver called out. “Everybody has to get out.”
The passengers muttered among themselves as they climbed off and looked around, trying to figure out where they were and how to get where they wanted to be. The road ahead was a tangle of downed cables and three of the tall poles that supported them. But up ahead, Pietro thought, the way looked clear and the wires were still solidly in place.
“What now?” Stollo asked.
“We walk,” Rovyn said. “It’s not that far.”
They set out after their guide. Cody, who had given up arguing with her, dropped behind their little procession, but stuck with them doggedly. Pietro could tell his own energy was ebbing; he had allowed himself to relax while they rode the transport, and now he could feel his muscles protesting as he forced them to work again. But if they found Aussen—if he could explain everything to Jayla—explain everything to Harlo—
He frowned. No. He couldn’t tell Harlo anything, not until he was certain he was right. If Harlo knew of Aussen’s existence, and Aussen couldn’t perform as Pietro expected, she would never be safe again.
Once they were clear of the twisted wires, Rovyn picked up the pace, and the rest of them hurried to keep up. Pietro glanced around, recognizing more and more of the houses they passed. This was Council Row, where the political families and the wealthy merchants and the successful bankers lived. He’d spent many evenings here with Harlo, back in a different life altogether.
Over a small rise, down a short cross street, onto another one of those wide, beautiful promenades. Pietro was concentrating on his feet, not the vista ahead, but he looked up when Cody cried out with alarm and took off past them at a run. Flooded with fresh anxiety, Pietro watched him dash to the open gate of the Alayne property, where a disorganized group of people formed a knot of agitation.
“What’s wrong?” Stollo asked.
Pietro shook his head and forced himself forward at a jog. He couldn’t even begin to guess what the news might be, except he knew that it would be terrible.
Chapter Thirty-four:
Madeleine
True to her word, Madeleine kept to her room for the whole of the morning. But it turned out silence and solitude were the wrong conditions for keeping her mind from endlessly replaying the sounds and images from the day before. Benito’s solemn face, his slow advance, his swift attack. Then a blur and a jumble, then chaos, then suddenly blood. Blood everywhere.
Someone had tried to kill her.
Someone had been killed on her behalf.
She could not entirely comprehend either of those truths.
She was not sure she would ever get the pictures out of her head.
By lunchtime, her own thoughts had put her in such a state that she had to go downstairs just to be around other living creatures. She consulted with the housekeeper on trivial matters, checked with Reese’s secretary to make sure he had everything he needed, and dropped into the kitchen pretending she wanted a snack.
“It looks like a fine sunny day outside,” Norrah said, when Madeleine had consumed a plateful of muffins and still didn’t budge from the table. “Why don’t you and Aussen go outside and play a game?”
Aussen was already on her feet. “I have a ball,” she offered. “Oh! And a little net! You catch the ball with it.”
Madeleine managed a smile for the cook. “Am I really so much in the way?”
Norrah smiled back. “A little exercise will be good for both of you.”
A few minutes later, Madeleine and Aussen were out on the wide green lawn, laughing and chasing after each other as they threw the ball around. Madeleine noticed that a few of Reese’s guards had drifted outside and were watching them—more out of amusement than a strict observance of duty—but she didn’t even care. Norrah was right. She already felt better.
“I’m going to catch you!” she called, putting on a menacing expression as she advanced on the little girl. “I’m going to get that ball!”
Aussen shrieked and hared off, running so hard that she tripped over her feet and somersaulted to the grass. Or—no—Madeleine felt her own legs tremble and give out, and she flung out an arm to break her fall as she came crashing down. The land roiled beneath her, as if some giant underground creature was reaching up with a massive claw, trying to scrape through to open air. It felt like the world was spinning out of control.
“Aussen!” she cried and crawled over to wrap herself around Aussen’s trembling body. Prone on the ground, they clung to each other through another set of tremors. Madeleine kept whispering, “It will be all right,” though she didn’t entirely believe it.
Aussen whispered back something unintelligible, and then repeated it in Cordish. “Zessaya is angry and she’s shaking the land.”
Zessaya—or Cordelan. And how did you placate a god? With blood . . . “It will be all right,” Madeleine repeated. She didn’t have anything else to offer.
