"I think you've had too much brandy."
"You're probably right. I always become melancholy after the fifth glass. Are you ever melancholy, Jared?"
"No."
"Of course you're not. You never let yourself feel anything so mawkish. You allow yourself lust and an appreciation of beauty, a hunger for knowledge… even an affection for my humble self." He opened the stable door. "But nothing that would strike deep, no sentimental nonsense for you."
"Isn't that what you taught me?"
"No, I taught you only to be cautious. You built the other walls yourself. Sometime when I'm sober, I must have a talk with you about the danger of- What have we here?"
"Someone who belongs." Lani turned away from the stallion's stall and set the bucket of oats down on the ground. "As you do not. Isn't it enough that you injured Kanoa? Do you also intend to steal her horse?"
"I didn't injure her," Jared said, trying to keep his temper. "And we came only to look at the animal in the daylight. Were you thinking of riding out and going to your lover?"
"No, I was feeding him." She moved toward the door. "No one rides Kapu but Kanoa."
"What a pity," Bradford murmured as he eagerly moved toward the stall. "Jared, he's magnificent. Look at those lines… the shoulders." He reached a hand out to touch the white star between the stallion's eyes. "And he moves with-"
"Don't touch him!" Lani hurried forward and slapped his hand down.
"I wasn't going to hurt him."
"I know," Lani said grimly. "But I have no desire to bandage your hand after he savages you. Kapu doesn't like strangers."
"He apparently likes you." Bradford looked at her with interest before bowing low. "I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Bradford Tyndale Danemount."
"I know who you are. You're the uncle."
He sighed. "Such is my boring fate. The brother, the uncle, never Bradford Danemount the extraordinary, the bold knight, the wise sage, the-"
"Stay away from Kapu," Lani interrupted. "You have had too much to drink, and Kapu likes drunks."
"If that's the case, then we should get along splendidly."
Lani's smile gleamed white with wickedness. "But Kapu likes to see them dead. He trampled his former master until one could not tell he had ever had a face."
"Who was his master?" Jared asked as he stepped closer to the stallion.
"An Englishman who stopped here on his way to Australia. When he was drunk, he beat Kapu unmercifully. One day he grew careless and Kapu was equally unmerciful. The king tried to claim Kapu for his own, but he was too vicious. They were going to put him to death until Charles went to Kamehameha and begged him to sell the horse to him."
"Nothing I've learned about Deville indicates he has a fondness for horses," Jared said.
"But he has a fondness for Cassie, and she was in love with the stallion." She added caustically, "And this is the terrible man you wish to kill." She watched Jared move to stand before the stallion. "You're too close. I told you-" She broke off and stared in astonishment when Jared reached up and stroked the stallion's muzzle. Kapu nickered softly and pushed against his hand. "Magic."
"No." Jared gazed into the stallion's eyes. "We just understand each other."
"Jared is very good with horses," Bradford said.
"Kahuna," Lani muttered.
It was what Cassie had said on the shore, Jared remembered. She had looked at him with that expression of desperation and fear, and he had felt as if he had been cruel to a helpless child. The abrasive memory roughened his voice. "Nonsense."
Bradford chuckled. "He's definitely no priest. Though I've often thought he delves in sorcery when dealing with horses… and the gaming tables."
Jared shot him an amused glance. "Intelligence."
"Luck," Bradford replied.
Lani looked from one to the other and then shrugged. "Neither will do you any good here. This is a bad thing you seek to do to Charles, and God will not be with you." She moved toward the door. "Test how far your good fortune lasts, Your Grace. Let the drunken one stroke Kapu."
Bradford watched her leave the stable. "Unusual woman. I feel quite intoxicated." He laughed. "But then I felt intoxicated before I met her, so it's difficult to judge." He turned back to the stallion. "Magnificent."
"Yes."
"You want him."
"Oh, yes." Now that he had a closer look in full daylight, he wasn't sure even his Morgana could compare to the stallion. Another frustration to add to the mix.
"A difficult situation."
"Without the slightest doubt." He gave the stallion a final pat and backed away. "And probably going to grow more difficult as time goes on. I want you to go to the king and make discreet inquiries regarding Deville. Make sure the king knows we're staying here at Deville's cottage."
"If Deville is under his protection, then I may get a blow instead of an answer. He'll know by now that your intentions aren't friendly."
"I don't think there's any danger. He won't want to jeopardize the possibility of persuading me to furnish him weapons. Would you rather I go?"
"No, I'll do it. Braving the savages will make a fine story when we return to England. You're staying here to watch the girl?"
Jared nodded. "If Deville went to the trouble of pleading for that horse for his daughter, he must have some feeling for her. If he thinks she may be in danger, then he might come here."
"You're beginning to speak of him as if he possesses a few human qualities."
"I always knew he was human. There's usually a balance of good and evil in every man. When I was a boy, I found Deville quite amusing." A sudden memory of Charles Deville sprawled in the chair in that hidden little room at Danjuet came back to him, Deville's pencil moving rapidly on a sketch pad, his bearded face alive with humor as he joked with Jared. "That doesn't mean I don't realize what he is."
"But it makes it harder to execute a man who isn't a complete villain."
He smiled thinly. "Try me." He turned away and moved toward the door. "If you find out anything, let me know. Otherwise I'll expect you back here tomorrow evening."
Three
"Danemount was down at the stable looking at Kapu," Lani said as she brushed Cassie's hair. "He has quite an amazing way with horses."
Cassie stiffened. "He didn't try to ride him?"
"No, I said he was looking." She paused in midmotion to meet Cassie's gaze in the mirror. "You should not care for Kapu this much. He's only an animal. You cannot expect total loyalty from him."
"He is loyal. He knows he belongs to me."
"But he won't-" She broke off and shrugged. "Why should I argue? I'm wasting my breath."
Cassie reached up and took her hand. "Because you don't want me hurt. I won't be, Lani."
"Yes, you will. It is inevitable." Lani smiled. "But thank God you have the strength to heal yourself. It's a great gift." She squeezed Cassie's hand. "Now, how do you feel? Can you eat some supper?"
"Yes." Her brow wrinkled thoughtfully. "Is Clara having supper prepared for the Englishmen?"
Lani nodded. "Of course. A meal fit more for a king than a duke."
"Then I'll come to the table."
"You wish to eat with them? Why?"
She quickly looked away from Lani. "It will do us no good to have me cowering in my room all night. I may learn something that may help us. You can't defeat the enemy without knowing their strength. Where are the Englishmen now?"
"Having brandy on the veranda." She made a face. "The uncle drinks like a fish. Pity."
"Why is it a pity? Surely such a weakness is good for us."