“I did the searching of some of those we killed,” she said precisely. “And of the others, I saw all you gleaned from their persons. None of them had those pretties on them. From where did they come and why did the sight of them so distress Shastro? What game are you playing and why were we not let into it?” From his comfortable sprawl on the couch Keelan seconded her words.
Hadrann looked bleak. “The first and last questions are easily answered. I added the trinkets to the bundle as I unrolled it. I did not mention them to you since I had no idea of using them until Shastro gave me the opportunity, and once I thought of it I had no chance to speak to you apart.” His tones grew harsher. “As for whence they came and what the game was, that is a long tale, but I can tell it in brief.” He poured them glasses of wine, drank deeply of his own, and refilled it.
“You know Shastro came from the city’s low quarter and there he had two cousins whom he loved deeply. The man was his best friend, and it was whispered that the girl was his lover. They vanished while traveling with a carriage and driver. Shastro searched. Indeed he all but had the city and land about it torn apart by his men in the year of the warhorse. Then he stopped, and it was as if they had never been. There was a rumor they had been found. Do you not recall, Keelan?”
“Vaguely. I was not at court that year. Kirion was though. It was after that he consolidated his power over Shastro.”
“Exactly.” He looked at them. “I was hunting the year after the cousins vanished, being sick of the court and fawning men. It was nigh a year and a half since the two were missed. I found a place where a carriage had been ambushed. Out of interest I tracked what had occurred. I found a body, bones by then, clearly found before me since foxes do not carry away weapons and coins, and there were signs another body had been removed. I was caught up in my hunt by then, so I tracked on. There were women’s clothes, shreds of them, in the wrecked and hidden carriage. What clothing was left after the weather and small creatures.”
“And you found her?” Aisling leaned forward. “It was she who had my trinket and the other one you used?”
“It was. I found her bones huddled deep into a small crack in the rock. It was early winter when they went missing. I fear she died of exposure, afraid to leave her shelter until she was too weak to struggle forth. She may also have suffered some injury, enough to weaken her before even the cold struck home. Those who searched had found the carriage, the driver, and a passenger. The passenger they had taken, for honorable burial I presume. The poor lady they had never found.
“I scraped a hole by the crack, wrapped her bones in my second-best cloak, and laid them inside. Then I rilled the grave with rocks and covered it with earth. I took from her the two charms she wore. I knew who she was by them. Her brother, Shastro’s cousin, was a skilled carver of such semiprecious stones. It was how he earned a living for them until Shastro rose in the world. The duke bragged to a group of us once and showed a charm he had that his cousin had carved.”
Aisling’s voice was soft and slow. “They were in a carriage and attacked, murdered by bandits. We were in a carriage and attacked by bandits. Shastro believes that her trinkets were found in the bandit’s possession, but I am sure it was Kirion who dispatched him on to ask questions of us. What questions will Shastro now ask of Kirion?”
Hadrann looked at her. “That passed through my mind when I saw he would demand to see what we had scavenged from them. For some time I have carried those trinkets in a secret pocket. One day I hoped to use them and now I have. The cousins were a strong influence for good on the duke, and I swear that he did love them deeply and honestly. By now he will know how little Kirion likes to have his own influence diluted. Shastro becomes more unstable and suspicious of those about him by the month. He will wonder about the deaths of his kin. He will think about it while the question eats at him.
“Did Kirion have our duke’s much-beloved cousins murdered? Was it done by the same men Shastro was asked to use for a raid into Estcarp? He won’t ask those questions of Kirion directly. He’ll seek out others to question. I think he will return to the site where they found the bodies but secretly. Among other questions, he will wonder most whether or not Kirion took the girl for his own purposes.
“Was she tortured, raped, slain quickly, or flung into some cesspit to die drowning in filth after being mind-emptied by Kirion? That question would haunt any man who loved. It will haunt Shastro, who knows his man’s ruthlessness. And, I saw Shastro grieve. If he has never loved or cared for any others, he loved his cousins with all his heart.”
Hadrann’s eyes were pitiless. “I am certain Kirion murdered my brother. Let him answer for these other deaths to his duke. I think sooner or later Shastro will ask questions, then let Kirion beware.”
XIII
Aisling murmured agreement, then looked at the two men.
“Something else occurs to me. We know Kirion was, shall we say, persuading those girls that Shastro wanted to love him, to get them to cooperate. But I’ve seen no signs of that since we arrived.
How willing will Shastro be to give up having the women he wants?”
Hadrann grunted thoughtfully. “Well, the last was young Jedena of Carmorskeep. Shastro wanted her. Jedena preferred a young man of the court, then seemed to change her mind and fall madly in love with our dear ruler. Everyone guessed that had to be Kirion’s influence. The girl lasted quite well, but Shastro tired of her a couple of weeks after you and Keelan got to court. You wouldn’t have noticed the girl much.”
“I haven’t noticed him with anyone.”
“Which, knowing Shastro, means that this time it’s someone willing. Likely some merchant’s daughter who thinks it an honor. He likes to flaunt the noble or unwilling ones far more.”
Keelan shrugged. “But his loves rarely last more than a few months. He’ll be looking for another very soon. What did happen to Jedena?”
“I don’t know. I’ll make inquiries.”
Aisling glanced up. “Leave that to me. I’m lunching with the Lady Varra. She’s the biggest gossip in Kars as we all know. I have only to get her onto the right subject to hear everything she has heard or suspects.” She grinned. “And if she doesn’t know about Jedena, then no one will. I’ll take her a fox fur and a pair of the hare furs. After that she’ll talk all day if I am prepared to sit and listen.”
She disappeared to change her garb and reappeared an hour later carrying the furs. She blew a kiss to both men and hurried out of the door. Her return was unnoticed some three hours later. Her companions were engaged in a hard-fought game of fox and geese. Ais-ling hung over them watching until the game resolved. Hadrann had beaten his friend, and they became lost in further discussion on strategy. Aisling waited, but when it showed no sign of abating, she coughed. They looked up.
“I think assassins are about to be hunting our dear duke again.” That brought swift concentrated attention from Hadrann and her brother.
“By whom?”
“Jedena’s father.”
Hadrann stared, then looked grim. “I can guess the rest. The girl’s killed herself. Where and how?”
“Varra only heard yesterday. From some relative who lives near Carmorskeep and knows the lord and his lady there. I think Varra writes to every relative she has. It’s no wonder she has a bevy of servants; she needs them to take all her letters,” Aisling added.
“Never mind Varra’s servants. What about Jedena?”
“Well, according to Varra the girl left court and went home once Shastro tired of her. Apparently they had a fight before she went, and the duke said that he never wanted to see her again; that she was a bore, and he was tired of her. The girl went back to her keep, poured out everything to her mother, then went up to her room, apparently to sleep for the night, and hanged herself instead.