She ignored the question. “Why do you want my father to come visit me at all?”
He sighed heavily. “Well, the answer to that question is complicated. Boiled down to its simplest form, it has to do with his position in Landover versus my own. I think his is slightly more elevated than necessary and mine is very much in need of improvement. If he comes to see you, he will of necessity have to see me, and I might be able to persuade him of the need for reassessment.”
“Reassessment?”
“Of our respective positions.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Princess, you had a falling-out with your parents and you ran away from home. Of that much, I am certain. Why you came here, I haven’t a clue. But I view it as a type of divine intervention. Higher powers than those to which I have access have sent you my way. I knew you at once for who you were; surely you realize that now, even if you didn’t before. You are too well known to pretend to be a village working girl. Nor was there any hope that Thom could pass you off as his sister. No, you were Princess Mistaya Holiday, and you were here to help me in my efforts to improve my fortunes and reinvent my future.”
Behind him, Rufus Pinch cleared his throat meaningfully. “Yes, yes, Mr. Pinch, and yours, as well,” Crabbit added wearily.
“I don’t see myself doing much to help you achieve that end,” she snapped at him. “You have made me a prisoner against my will. You have kept Thom in indentured servitude for years, an act that my father would never—”
“I did what?” His Eminence demanded, interrupting her. “Indentured servitude?” He looked sharply at Thom. “Is that what you told her? That I was holding you against your will?”
Mistaya was confused. She looked quickly at Thom, who was clearly uncomfortable with the attention. “I did,” the boy said simply.
“Goodness, no wonder the two of you got caught out! Co-conspirators, and you don’t even trust each other enough to reveal your true identities! Oh, this is really too much! Did she tell you who she is, Thom? She didn’t, did she? And you didn’t tell her who you are, either, did you? I will never understand young people. So, I ask you again, Princess. What was it you were doing back in the Stacks? And please don’t tell me you were looking for a lost piece of family jewelry.”
Mistaya tightened her lips. “I heard someone moaning. I was trying to find out who it was.”
His Eminence and Pinch exchanged another glance. “Someone moaning,” the former repeated. “Did you discover who that someone was?”
She shook her head. “It was too dark to see anything. And there was a wind of some sort that kept pulling at us. We were frightened and turned back.” She hesitated. “But then I went back into the Stacks again last night for another look. I thought I could find a way to get through the wind and the darkness. But I couldn’t.”
His Eminence smiled rather unpleasantly. “After standing toe-to-toe with the Witch of the Deep Fell five years ago and somehow besting her to the extent that she has not been seen since, you failed to find a way to get past some wind and darkness? Really, Princess?”
He came forward until he was standing right in front of her, looming over her like a big tree. “I don’t believe a word of it. I think you know exactly what we are doing here, and I think you have been trying to interfere with our efforts. I don’t know that you have succeeded, but I suspect you have worked some sort of mischief and I intend to find out what it is. Meanwhile, you will stay locked in this storeroom until your father comes to take you home. You and Andjen Thomlinson both. You are not going to be allowed to disrupt my plans further.”
He was grinning so hard that all his teeth were showing, and Mistaya stepped back despite herself.
“Now, I know something of magic, little girl,” the other continued softly. “In fact, I know a great deal more than you do. I have bound up your hands with a spell that you cannot undo without my help. That way, you won’t try something foolish. You and Thom will stay here as my guests for as long as I wish it. Thom owes me continued service under the terms of our bargain and you owe me some days in the stables. I intend to collect from both of you, on that and maybe more. I have a special use for you, Princess, one that requires you remain here awhile longer. Think on that and make of it what you will.”
He wheeled about. “Come along, Mr. Pinch. We are done here. Leave them fresh candles so that they can see each other’s faces while they confess the truths they keep trying to hide.”
Pinch grinned wolfishly at Mistaya and Thom. “You were warned, weren’t you? See what your disobedience has gotten you!”
He dumped a handful of candles on the pallet and followed His Eminence out of the room. The door slammed shut behind them with a bang, and its locks slid into place. The girl and the boy, standing next to each other, were left in blackness once more.
As soon as they were alone, Thom found and lit one of the candles. “What do you think he meant when he said he had a special use for you?”
Mistaya didn’t know, and right at the moment she didn’t particularly care. “Andjen Thomlinson?” she asked, giving him a stony look.
“My given names,” he admitted.
“You knew who I was all along, but after listening to His Eminence, I get the impression that maybe I don’t know everything about you. That doesn’t make me feel very good. It makes me feel a little foolish and a whole lot angry.”
“You have a right to be angry, but I was just protecting myself out of habit.” He sat down on the pallet, looking up at her. “I’ve been hiding my identity now for the entire three years I have been at Libiris. I don’t even think about it anymore. I’m always just Thom, the boy from the village. I’m Thom to everyone.”
She sat down next to him. “But it appears that you are actually someone else.”
Thom nodded. “I am. Thom was the name I took when I came to stay here. I was looking for a place to hide, and His Eminence offered me one. He said no one would ever think to look for me here. We agreed that I would be Thom, a boy from a distant village, come to work off an indenture. I wasn’t making something up on the spur of the moment when I told you that; I was just repeating what I told everyone. Actually, it’s not so far from the truth. I committed myself to serve His Eminence for five years for the privilege of hiding out here. He needed someone to take over the cataloging of the books, and I had the necessary skills.”
He paused. “At least, that’s what I thought when we made our bargain. Now I don’t know why he let me stay. It obviously doesn’t have anything to do with cleaning up the library.”
“You should have told me the truth,” she said quietly. “You should have trusted me.”
He shook his head slowly. “I think so, too, now. But when you first came, I was afraid that telling you the truth would be a very bad mistake. I was afraid it would make you hate me.”
“Why would you think that?” she demanded, suddenly angry all over again. “What did I do or say to make you think I wouldn’t like you if I knew who you were?”
“Nothing It isn’t you. It’s me. It’s the truth about who I am. I’m not some village boy. I came to Libiris to hide after my father died and one of my brothers murdered the other and banished my sisters to various places around the Greensward.”
He paused. “I came here to hide because Berwyn Laphroig is my brother.”
FROGS, DOGS, AND THROGS