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placed small offerings on the Son s altar for the dead man s sake.
Cazaril nearly drove his fingernails through his palms, watching Dondo dy
Jironal go through the motions of pious grief. Teidez was shocked and quiet,
regretting, Cazaril hoped, all the hot complaints he
 d heaped on his rigid but loyal secretary-tutor s head while he lived; his
offering was a notable heap of gold.
Iselle and Betriz, too, were quiet, both then and later. They passed little
comment upon the buzzing court gossip that surrounded the murder, except for
refusing invitations to go into town and finding excuses to check on Cazaril s
continued existence four or five times of an evening.
The court murmured over the mystery. New and more draconian punishments were
mooted for such dangerous, lowlife scum as cutpurses and footpads. Cazaril
said nothing. There was no mystery in dy Sanda s death to him, except how to
bring home its proof to the Jironals. He turned it over and over in his mind,
but the way defeated him. He dared not start the process until he had every
step laid clear to the end, or he might as well slit his own throat and be
done with it.
Unless, he decided, some luckless footpad or cutpurse was falsely accused.
Then he would . . .
what? What was his word worth now, after the misfired slander about his
flogging scars? Most of the court had been impressed by the testimony of the
crow some had not. Easy enough to tell which was which, by the way some
gentlemen drew aside their cloaks from Cazaril, or ladies recoiled from his
touch. But no sacrificial peasants were brought forth by the constable s
office, and the revived gaiety of the court closed over the unpleasant
incident like a scab over a wound.
Teidez was assigned a new secretary, hand-selected from the roya s own
Chancellery by the senior dy Jironal himself. He was a narrow-faced fellow,
altogether the chancellor s creature, and he made no move to make friends with
Cazaril. Dondo dy Jironal publicly undertook to distract the young royse from
his sorrow by providing him with the most delectable entertainments. Just how
delectable, Cazaril had all too good a view of, watching the drabs and ripe
comrades pass in and out of Teidez s chamber late at night. Once, Teidez
stumbled into Cazaril s room, apparently not able to tell one door from
another, and vomited about a quart of red wine at his feet. Cazaril guided
him, sick and blind, back to his servants for cleanup.
Cazaril s most troubled moment, however, was the evening his eye caught a
green glint on the hand of Teidez s guard captain, the man who had ridden with
them from Baocia. Who before riding out had sworn to mother and grandmother,
formally and on one knee, to guard both young people with his life
. . . Cazaril s hand snaked out to grab the captain s hand in passing,
bringing him up short. He gazed down at the familiar flat-cut stone.
 Nice ring, he said after a moment.
The captain pulled his hand back, frowning.  I thought so.
 I hope you didn t pay too much for it. I believe the stone is false.
 It is a true emerald, my lord!
 If I were you, I d have it to a gem-cutter, and check. It s a continuing
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source of amazement to me, the lies that men will tell these days for their
profit.
The captain covered one hand with the other.  It is a good ring.
 Compared to what you traded for it, I d say it is trash.
The captain s lips pressed closed. He shrugged away and stalked off.
If this is a siege
, thought Cazaril, we re losing
.
THE WEATHER TURNED CHILL AND RAINY, THE RIVERSswelling, as the Son s season
ran toward its close. At the musicale after supper one sodden evening, Orico
leaned over to his sister, and murmured,  Bring your people to the throne room
tomorrow at noon, and attend dy Jironal s investiture. I ll have some happy
announcements afterward to make to the whole court. And wear your most festive
raiment. Oh, and your pearls Lord Dondo was saying only last night, he never
sees you wear his pearls.
 I do not think they become me, Iselle replied. She glanced sideways at
Cazaril, seated nearby, and then down at her hands tightening in her lap.
 Nonsense, how can pearls not become any maiden? The roya sat back to applaud
the sprightly piece just ending. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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