Gilded Latten Bones

44

I wakened in the middle of the night. A cool breeze came in the open window. The Windwalker, Furious Tide of Light sat cross-legged on the corner of the foot of my bed, on the side where my feet weren't. I was stretched out kitty-corner from top left to lower right. She looked far more the fairy princess than Tinnie ever could.

She looked like the queen of temptation, too.

She had turned the lamp up. There was light enough to reveal her flash of a smile when she saw that treacherous flicker in my eyes. She could have had me then. If she'd wanted.

But I sneezed.

She thought that was funny.

"I can't help it." I prayed she wouldn't turn on the heat.

I had seen her reduce an entire construction crew to drooling idiocy, not even doing it deliberately.

I'm a committed man. I told myself. I can't jump into these things. .

I sneezed again.

She produced a dainty handkerchief.

"Thanks." My head was full of stuff.

The bright side was, a man sneezing and clearing his head doesn't make that interesting a target for a vamp.

Still, I asked, "How about you get to business before I go crazy?"

Ghost of a smile. She was pleased. She had reassured herself. She was desirable.

She had serious issues but none connected to what we were into today.

"Business. Yes. I need that, too." She shut her eyes and made a conscious effort to become asexual. She wasn't entirely successful but it did get easier to consider something beyond the possibilities of our situation.

I blew my nose again.

She told me, "I visited Prince Rupert today."

"You sound glum. It didn't go well?"

"It went better than I expected, actually. It just didn't go the way I hoped. He named no names and pointed no fingers. He admitted that he's under pressure to stay away from the mess on the north side. He kept up a brave front but he's scared. I think the pressure comes from his brother."

"The King?" I sneezed. This cold could become ugly. The coughing couldn't be far away.

The King seemed an unlikely villain. Since peace broke out he had done little but party all night and sleep all day.

"I know. So, then, who has the power to move the King? I'm top ten and I don't. I can barely get in to see Rupert."

"Why would he go along?" I looked at her and tried to keep my gaze from roaming.

"Bless you."

Yeah. Bless the common cold. My honor saved by mucus.

I turned so I could look at anything but her.

She said, "One good thing came out today. I'm satisfied that Kevans isn't involved."

"I'm happy for you." I wasn't so sure. Her daughter had serious head problems that disconnected her from society and its rules.

"First proof is, nobody would cover for her like this is being covered up. And she has alibis for both nights when crazy things happened." She didn't sound happy about that.

She said she was estranged from both her father and daughter. Maybe her dad was Kevans' alibi.

Had to be. And that might not hold up.

The Windwalker really did not want to rely on her father anymore. She had pushed him out of the family mansion on the Hill.

Barate Algarda-who was, in every other way I'd ever seen, as exemplary a human being as you could hope to meet-had instilled in this daughter an insecurity so great she thought that her only real value could be as somebody's sex toy.

Which I was thinking when she said, "I'm one of the ten most powerful sorcerers in TunFaire." But the little girl inside didn't reckon her worth that way. "I know that here." She thunked her noggin with her fist.

"So the question would be, who scares Rupert more than you do?"

That drew a surprisingly adolescent grin. "Yep. But you need to remember that Rupert will still be his own man. Even if somebody has him wetting his pants. He's kind of like you, that way."

I felt a far, far sense of amusement.

She rambled on. "Without saying so he let me know he hopes I'll keep stirring the pot. He hinted that there are people on the margins who aren't likely to turn their backs because an authority doesn't want them nosing around."

That sounded like Rupert. He would conform to his instructions but would fail to notice insubordination. A toe tap here and there might encourage more noncompliance.

The Windwalker said, "I have to leave. I can't stand the distraction." She eased off the end of my bed, headed for the window more slowly than she could have done. I had no trouble sensing her willing me to stop her. I imagine she had no trouble sensing me wanting to do exactly that.

It didn't happen. It wasn't the time, even if it was fated.

She clambered out the window. A clumsy process, also slower than it had to be. But she turned divinely graceful once she started walking on moonlight.

She said, "There's something about you. . When your relationship with the redheaded woman falls apart, I'm coming for you. You'll be amazed. We'll be the talk of the town. We'll have the wedding of the year."

I gulped and gaped as she fluttered away, leaving no doubt that she meant every word. Hill folk do when they make a declarative statement. Even shy, socially inept Hill folk.

Which left me with extremely mixed emotions.

I lay back, sure I wouldn't sleep again for the rest of my life.