She’d followed Ekhaas’s advice, apologized to Vounn, and what had it gained her? Maybe a shorter lecture at the watch station. The carriage ride back to Sentinel Tower had been utterly silent. Not a word had passed between her and her mentor. If Vounn wanted to cut into her now over the previous night’s misadventure, Ashi wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of going meekly before her. Vounn’s apartments were close. She could come deliver her lectures in person. Soon enough, she heard the outer door open and close again. Ashi turned to face Vounn as the lady seneschal advanced across the sitting room, her face like a storm cloud.
“What are you doing?” she demanded. “Get dressed!”
“I don’t think I will.” Ashi ripped a chunk from another roll. “Come out with it, Vounn. Tell me what you want to say about last night. I know there’s something.”
Vounn’s cheeks turned red. “Oh, there is,” she said, “but this isn’t the time for it. Tariic has asked for an early meeting. We can only keep him waiting so long.” She went to Ashi’s wardrobe and flung it open.
Ashi whirled and slammed it shut again. “Get out of there! I don’t care if Tariic wants an early meeting. Stop treating me like a child.”
“I’ll stop treating you like a child when you stop acting like one!” Vounn glared, so close that Ashi could feel the hot breath of her words. “You’re not a savage living in a swamp anymore. You have responsibilities now, and you are going to have to accept them.”
“I had responsibilities in the Bonetree,” Ashi growled back at her. “I was a hunter. I brought food to the clan. I defended my people.”
“And now you’re an heir of Deneith. You’ll bring wealth to the House and defend our honor with your behavior. Get dressed or I’ll call the House guards and drag you with me in your shift.” Vounn stepped back, crossing her arms. “You wouldn’t be leaving this room for a fortnight if Tariic hadn’t asked that you come with me this morning.”
Ashi had almost been ready to tackle Vounn and drag her down to the floor for a beating that would have earned cheers among the Bonetree, but the other woman’s final words made her stop. “He what?” she asked, a faint hint of curiosity filtering through the red haze that clouded her mind.
Vounn raised an eyebrow. “When I said we can only keep Tariic waiting so long, I meant it. Tariic requested a meeting with both me and you.” She looked down her nose. “Trust me, I wouldn’t be taking you if I didn’t think I had to.”
“Why would he want to see both of us?”
“I don’t know, but I imagine it has something to do with last night. Are you going to get dressed, or do you want to try strangling me first?”
Ashi looked down at her hands. Her fingers were curled and tensed. She would happily have strangled Vounn, but now she also wanted to know what Tariic wanted with her. She forced her hands to relax and reached instead for the pitcher of warm water the maid had brought.
“Don’t think this is over,” she told Vounn.
“Don’t worry,” said the lady seneschal.
A short time later, they were walking down one of the corridors that led from the inner halls of Sentinel Tower to its middle zone. Ashi’s face and hair were still damp, and the motion of their swift passage was cool on her skin.
“This is what I expect will happen,” Vounn said as they walked. “Tariic will thank us for coming and apologize for requesting a meeting at such an early hour and outside of the usual agenda. I’ll accept, of course. We’ll exchange the usual pleasantries, then Tariic will get to the reason for the meeting: a further apology for last night. It was one of his people who actually started the chain of events, so it’s on him to make amends.”
Vounn sounded exceptionally pleased with herself. “He gave us words last night, so if he wants to make a greater gesture today, he’ll need to raise the stakes. We’ll be in an excellent position to put more of what we want in front of him. A better price per head for Darguul mercenaries. More elite fighters, I think-a few units of tiger cavalry would find high demand. Tariic might even agree to put us in touch with the Silent Clans-”
Ashi felt as though she wasn’t even there. “The what?” she said, forcing her way into Vounn’s conversation with herself.
The lady seneschal looked back at her as if the question had emerged from a block of particularly dense stone. “Goblin clans with lineages extending back into antiquity. There are two of them- the shaarat’khesh, the Silent Blades, and the taarka’khesh, the Silent Wolves. They’re scouts and shadow fighters, bred to stealth. Haruuc is on good terms with them, but they don’t align themselves with any faction in Darguun and will work for any clan willing to hire them. They have a lot in common with Deneith, actually. We could broker their services to Khorvaire at large.”
“They sound like assassins,” said Ashi.
“Remember your lessons,” Vounn said, her mouth tightening. “House Deneith doesn’t hire out assassins. The Silent Clans are scouts and shadow fighters.”
Ashi lifted one eyebrow. “Ah.” she said. “Scouts and shadow fighters. So what do you expect I’ll be doing in this meeting with Tariic?”
“I expect that you will be standing still and speaking only when spoken to. Even better, you’ll speak only when I give you leave to speak. We have Tariic in a corner. I don’t want to give him any excuse to slip out.”
Ashi raised her other eyebrow. “When you put an animal in a corner, it gets angry and dangerous.”
“That’s why once Tariic has made his offer, I’ll give him this as a token of good faith.”
Vounn unfolded one hand from the long, loose sleeve that had covered it and held up the gold and iron reliquary of Duural Rhuvet. Both of Ashi’s eyebrows went up together. “Rond betch! Do you-”
“Language, Ashi!”
Ashi bit into her words, then said through her teeth, “Do you know what that is, Vounn?”
“No,” the older woman admitted, “but does it matter? Clearly it’s something the Darguuls want. Thief and merchant both take your money, but a merchant gives you change and invites you to come back.”
They approached a door with House guards standing to each side, and Vounn slipped the reliquary back into her sleeve. “Remember,” she said, “speak when spoken to, and behave yourself.” She looked Ashi up and down. “Do this right and you might be forgiven-after all, if it wasn’t for your foolishness, we might not have this opportunity.”
“I’m so pleased I could help.”
One of the guards opened the door. Vounn and Ashi stepped through, and the door closed behind them.
The room on the other side was plain by the standards of House Deneith: dark-paneled walls with only a few trophies hung on them, a simple fireplace with only a few pieces of silver plate positioned on the mantle, and an ordinary heavy table with only a light pattern of fine Eldeen carvings twining up the legs. Four chairs had been drawn up to the table. In one of them sat Tariic. In the other, to Ashi’s surprise, sat Ekhaas. The duur’kala caught her eye, gave the slightest of nods, then looked away.
There were no guards-Deneith or Darguul-in the room. Tariic rose like a gentleman and held out one of the chairs for Vounn. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice, Lady Vounn,” he said as she seated herself. “I’m sorry for taking up your time outside the schedule of our official visit. I hope you’re well this morning.”
Vounn’s expression was gracious, but Ashi knew that on the inside she wore an expression as smug as a well-fed cat. “The schedule of an official visit seldom survives intact after the first meeting,” she said. “Please call me Vounn, Tariic. There’s no need for titles here. We’re not on parade.”