JК
The Magehound :: Каннингем Элейн
Страница: 185 из 216"Our meetings were always at her instigation, and they wereboth unexpected and brief. I could not alert the authorities of something I could not anticipate."
"The girl always walked away from these meetings, unscathed and undeterred. How do you explain that?"
"How do the guards of a dozen cities explain it? Or Mbatu, the wemic warrior who serves as personal guard to the magehound Kiva? Tzigone is harder to hold than starlight. I am a humble counselor," Matteo said without a trace of irony. "It would be presumptuous to claim I could do what so many have attempted and failed."
"Humble!" The king's counselor sniffed. "That is probably the first time someone's listed that quality among your many virtues."
"Yet I owe my current position to my many failings," Matteo said wryly.
Cassia lifted one hand in the gesture of a fencer acknowledging a hit. "I am seldom wrong. Would you like to hear me admit that I misjudged you? Help me in this matter, and I will consider my error to be a fortunate thing."
He studied the woman's pale, serene face for signs of duplicity. "I was imprisoned in the same chamber as Tzigone. At your command?"
"Of course. The thief claimed that you had let her into the palace."
"I did not bolt my shutters," he said dryly. "Tzigone no doubt took that as an invitation. Let me rephrase my question. Would you be gratified to hear that Tzigone stole my medallion of office?"
Her intelligent black eyes narrowed as she tried to follow his meaning. "Not particularly. Speak plainly!"
Matteo took the message from his bag and handed it to her. As Cassia skimmed it, her lips thinned and her pale face turned nearly gray.
"You thought I sent this message to you, expecting that the girl would steal it?"
"A reasonable assumption," Matteo said.
"Entirely reasonable," she agreed. "Tell me, where is she now?"
"I do not know. She told me she planned to leave the city immediately."
Cassia's smile was mocking but brittle. "And you believed her? As a jordain, you are constrained to tell the truth. But surely you are not such a fool that you think everyone follows the same code?"
He met her mocking gaze and gave away nothing of what was in his heart. "No, my lady, I am not such a fool as that."
The second note from Cassia came late that night and was not such a surprise as the first. Matteo thanked the messenger and smoothed out the parchment. Written in the counselor's emerald ink was a brief message commanding that he come to her chambers at once.
Commanding. Matteo noted this turn of phrase with deep consternation.
"The girl always walked away from these meetings, unscathed and undeterred. How do you explain that?"
"How do the guards of a dozen cities explain it? Or Mbatu, the wemic warrior who serves as personal guard to the magehound Kiva? Tzigone is harder to hold than starlight. I am a humble counselor," Matteo said without a trace of irony. "It would be presumptuous to claim I could do what so many have attempted and failed."
"Humble!" The king's counselor sniffed. "That is probably the first time someone's listed that quality among your many virtues."
"Yet I owe my current position to my many failings," Matteo said wryly.
Cassia lifted one hand in the gesture of a fencer acknowledging a hit. "I am seldom wrong. Would you like to hear me admit that I misjudged you? Help me in this matter, and I will consider my error to be a fortunate thing."
He studied the woman's pale, serene face for signs of duplicity. "I was imprisoned in the same chamber as Tzigone. At your command?"
"Of course. The thief claimed that you had let her into the palace."
"I did not bolt my shutters," he said dryly. "Tzigone no doubt took that as an invitation. Let me rephrase my question. Would you be gratified to hear that Tzigone stole my medallion of office?"
Her intelligent black eyes narrowed as she tried to follow his meaning. "Not particularly. Speak plainly!"
Matteo took the message from his bag and handed it to her. As Cassia skimmed it, her lips thinned and her pale face turned nearly gray.
"You thought I sent this message to you, expecting that the girl would steal it?"
"A reasonable assumption," Matteo said.
"Entirely reasonable," she agreed. "Tell me, where is she now?"
"I do not know. She told me she planned to leave the city immediately."
Cassia's smile was mocking but brittle. "And you believed her? As a jordain, you are constrained to tell the truth. But surely you are not such a fool that you think everyone follows the same code?"
He met her mocking gaze and gave away nothing of what was in his heart. "No, my lady, I am not such a fool as that."
The second note from Cassia came late that night and was not such a surprise as the first. Matteo thanked the messenger and smoothed out the parchment. Written in the counselor's emerald ink was a brief message commanding that he come to her chambers at once.
Commanding. Matteo noted this turn of phrase with deep consternation.