Agreed. See you tonight, Grozier thought, then he told Bartimus to break the link.
When he was certain the mental connection with his business partners and his wizard had been eliminated, he smiled and lit his pipe.
Tonight, he thought, is going to stun them all.
Emriana didn't know whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand, she was incensed that Uncle Dregaul had insisted that she remain in her rooms, with Jaleene to keep a watch on her, so that she wouldn't spoil any of the surprises for her party later that night. The girl was beside herself, wondering what Vambran had learned from Jithelle's mother. On the other hand, it was her sixteenth birthday, and the extravaganza being planned was making her almost wriggle in delight. She paced endlessly back and forth in her rooms, going from the patio to the foot of the bed and back again.
"Will you stop that?" Jaleene finally chided Emriana. "You're making me dizzy."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Em replied, full of exasperation. "I just can't stand all this waiting. And I hate being cooped up."
"It's no picnic being here with you, that's for sure," Jaleene muttered.
Emriana scowled at her maid, then she giggled.
"Come on," she said, "Give me some hints about what's going to happen tonight."
Jaleene shook her head vehemently.
"Please," Emriana begged, moving to sit down on the bed beside her companion. "Pretty please?"
"Mistress Emriana, even if I did know something-which I don't so quit asking-I wouldn't tell you. You get to be sixteen once in your life, and I'm not going to be the one who spoils anything for you. Trust me, you'll thank me later on."
"Highly doubtful," Emriana said, folding her arms beneath her breasts and pretending to pout.
She looked out of the corner of her eye to see if Jaleene was reacting, but the handmaiden was studiously ignoring her charge's attempts to guilt her into revealing tidbits.
"All I'm saying is you're going to be amazed," Jaleene said. "Don't you remember the big to-do for your brother when he turned sixteen?"
"Jaleene, I was nine. They made me go to bed halfway through the evening. You were the one who had to drag me back here, remember?"
Jaleene giggled in spite of herself.
"I tried to forget," she teased. "You were worse when you were that age than Quindy and Obiron are."
"Oh, be quiet," Emriana said playfully, then jumped up from the bed and began to pace again. "By Waukeen, I wish Vambran would get back here. I can hardly stand this."
"And what would you do if I never came back?" Vambran said, suddenly standing in the doorway off her patio.
"Vam!" Emriana shouted and jumped up to pull her brother inside.
Jaleene scowled and said, "Master Vambran, you shouldn't approach Milady's chambers unannounced. It's not proper."
Vambran gave the handmaiden a low bow. "Of course not," he said, "but I hope you will forgive me in this one instance. I had a feeling she would pop if I didn't come here immediately upon returning."
Jaleene rolled her eyes.
"You don't know the half of it," she muttered, but she dismissed his apology with a wave of her hand. "So long as you don't make a habit of it," she insisted, to which Vambran bowed again, more deeply.
"Oh, stop with the formalities and tell me what you found out!" Emriana demanded, guiding her brother to a single chair in the corner before moving to sit on the bed opposite him.
Vambran glanced sidelong at Jaleene, but Emriana shook her head.
"It's all right. She knows most of what you were doing already," the girl explained. "And besides, good luck getting her to leave. She's terrified I'm going to sneak out again."
"And shouldn't I be?" Jaleene retorted. Then the handmaiden grew serious. "Mistress Emriana, Master Vambran, I must tell you both that it makes me terribly nervous, what you're doing. If Master Dregaul finds out, there's going to be a firestorm in this house."
Vambran returned the woman's look with a grave one of his own.
"I understand," he said, "but do you know what it is we're trying to do? A woman was killed the night before last because some very powerful people wanted her out of the way. Just like that"-and he snapped his fingers-"because she was a commoner. I mean to see to it that they don't get away with it."
"I know, sir, and I admire that about you. You and Mistress Emriana, the whole Matrell family, have always been very good to me, and I respect my good fortune. I would just hate to see something awful happen to either one of you."
"There's always that risk," Vambran conceded. He set his jaw and continued, "But I am going to see this through to the end, and I think Em feels the same way."
Emriana nodded solemnly and said, "I have no intention of giving Denrick Pharaboldi any reason at all to think there's a future between us, but I want to know for sure just what he's guilty of before I tell him to his face."
"And you will. I promise," Vambran replied. "Tonight, I think."
"So, what did you find out?" Emriana asked, leaning forward. "Did you meet with Jithelle's mother?"
Vambran sighed.
"I did," he said. "It broke my heart, too. Did you know that Jithelle also had a sister?"
"No. Did you meet her, too?"
"I did. Her name is Mirolyn. I sat and talked with both of them for a good long time."
"And?" Emriana asked. "What did they say? Anything useful?"
"I don't know if I would call it useful, exactly, but I did learn one very important thing."
"Spit it out!" the girl insisted. Her brother's stalling was making her crazy.
"Jithelle was pregnant with Denrick's child," Vambran said.
Emriana sucked in her breath in shock when she heard her brother's words. It took her another moment to fully register them in her head, to make sure she understood what he was telling her. She finally let out a long, slow breath and clenched her hands together to keep them from shaking from her anger. She glanced over at Jaleene and saw that her handmaiden was crying, a single tear trickling down the woman's face from glassy eyes.
"We must make him pay," Emriana said finally. "It's more than just breaking off my relationship with him. He must understand how base he is, how utterly cowardly a person he really is."
"Assuming he was in on it," Vambran cautioned. "We don't know that for certain."
"Then we find out, once and for all, tonight," Emriana said. "At the party. It will be our best chance to confront him, when he's not hiding behind the guards on his estate."
"All right," Vambran said, nodding. "You will maneuver him into a private corner, and I will drop in on the pair of you and have a nice long, pointed conversation with the young man."
"I can do that," the girl said with conviction. "I can do that very easily."
Vambran walked with a purpose as he entered the barracks of the Sapphire Crescent, which were bustling with activity. It surprised him. It was obvious that troops were preparing to depart, packing gear and standing in groups, talking in that excited way when they know they're about to go on an assignment. Vambran frowned, wondering what might be up.
The lieutenant's steps were quick, his demeanor businesslike, but he still offered a wave or arm clasp for those men who knew him and greeted him as he went by. Those men were professional soldiers, but many of them, like Adyan and Horial, had become friends. He wondered if, put into a position of having to make a choice between doing their duty to the temple or following him out of personal loyalty, they would aid him. He hoped he wouldn't have to find out, but he feared that such a moment might be drawing near. If things came to a head with the conspirators behind the murders, Vambran might need men he could trust to fight for him. He prayed it wouldn't come to that, but he was smart enough to anticipate and plan for the worst.