'You've seen to the guards?' Palatyne was saying.
'Yes, my duke. There is only the slave, Seela.'
'And she won't object, if she knows what's good for her.' Palatyne gave a bark of angry laughter. 'How dare that little bitch ask for time? She means to refuse me, I know it. I could break her neck with my bare hands. One snap, like a chicken!'
'But that is not why you are going to her,' the Utlander warned.
Palatyne came to a stop and looked up. Piro recognised the private veranda that all Isolt's chambers opened onto.
'Do not fear, Utlander. I won't let my temper get the better of me. I will woo her with sweet words, tell her I cannot wait for our wedding day, that her beauty has enflamed my passion. And if that does not work, I will force myself on her. After one night in my arms she will wed me to avoid disgrace.' He gave a nasty grin. 'Who knows. She might even enjoy it!'
He took several steps back and the Utlander handed him a grappling hook and rope. Palatyne swung it expertly, letting it fly. It hooked over the balcony rail and held. He clambered effortlessly up two storeys and over the balustrades.
Piro woke, her heart pounding. Starlight cast long oblongs of light through the balcony doors.
With a certainty that went core-deep, she knew this was not a dream. Her Affinity was trying to warn her. Palatyne was about to break into Isolt's chamber.
Barefoot and terrified, Piro ran to open the door to Isolt's bedchamber. The shadow of a broad-shouldered man appeared on one of the balcony doors.
Piro scrambled onto the bed to shake the kingsdaughter, whispering fiercely, 'Isolt. Wake up. Palatyne's trying to force the balcony doors.'
'What?' Isolt was instantly alert. 'What trickery is this?'
'No trickery.' Piro pointed to the balcony, where Palatyne's form was silhouetted against the starlight. The catch rattled. Her breath caught in her throat.
Isolt gasped, rolled out of bed and ran through to the next room, with Piro at her heels. Isolt tugged on the door to the corridor. When it refused to open, she gave a little moan of fear and frustration.
'Locked!' She thumped the door. 'Guards!'
The guards did not respond.
Piro was not surprised. 'The Utlander said he'd dealt with them.'
The foenix raised his head to give a querying call, feathers ruffled, foreleg lifted to strike. But he was only a juvenile and his spurs hadn't grown yet.
'Oh, good boy.' Piro ran back and scooped him up. Under her hand his heart raced with fear.
A soft tinkle of broken glass told them Palatyne had given up trying to force the door and had broken the pane instead. The hinge on the balcony door squeaked.
Isolt cursed and glanced to Piro.
'Where can we hide?' Piro searched the room, illuminated by the faint glow of the banked fire. Behind the couch? Too obvious. Under the bed? Again too obvious.
'I know.' Isolt tugged her arm, dragging her over to the writing-table nook which was walled on three sides by bookshelves and illustrations.
Isolt swung a large framed map of the known world aside. Behind it was a waist-high dark gap. She shoved Piro forwards. With the foenix in her arms Piro was off balance and hit her toe on the bottom lip of the opening. Biting back a yelp of pain, she crawled on her knees into the darkness until her forehead hit the back wall. A bolt hole. Her mother had described such things in stories.
Piro turned around, pressing her back to the wall, hugging the foenix to her chest. He seemed to understand that they must be quiet. Isolt had climbed in after her and now pulled the map down, hiding them. It was dark, but for a faint glow which came through the map's fine vellum. Piro could see Isolt only as an outline as she sat hugging her knees.
Neither of them made a sound. They hardly dared to breathe. Piro's toe throbbed in time to her heart beat. If a stubbed toe was the worst she got out of this night, she'd count herself lucky.
There was no noise for such a long time, the temptation was to venture out.
After a while, they heard a muffled exclamation and a golden glow appeared on the other side of the map. Palatyne must have lit a branch of candles to search for Isolt. He strode around the room, slowly at first, his boots hardly making a sound, then more loudly as he realised the kingsdaughter wasn't present.
He left the room, returning to Isolt's bedchamber.
In the dimness, Piro felt for Isolt, her hand coming to rest on the kingsdaughter's knee. She squeezed. 'Don't move. It might be a trick.'
Isolt's hand covered hers to return the pressure.
They waited. Piro counted to twenty-five, then the glow came back. This time there were two sets of footsteps.
Isolt's eyes were dark pools of fear as she stared across as Piro. Who? she mouthed. But Piro had no time to reply. She tensed as she felt the foenix shiver with fear and hunch down even further in her arms.
'See? Empty. I told you I searched all Isolt's chambers. Where else could she be?' Palatyne demanded.
'The kingsdaughter must be here. My spies did not see her leave,' the Utlander insisted. 'She's hiding.'
Isolt's hand closed tightly over Piro's.
'I've looked,' Palatyne snarled. 'By the fires of Mulcibar, why couldn't the little bitch agree to marry me!'
'She'll agree quick enough once you've had her. Now hold your tongue and give me the candles,' the Utlander snapped. 'I'll soon find her.'
Mouth dry, Piro met Isolt's eyes. She felt sick to her stomach. The Utlander was sure to find them using his Affinity. And then Palatyne would rape Isolt, claiming her for his own. It was the way of the Utlands, and the spars weren't much better.
Silence stretched. The air grew heavy and oppressive with Affinity. Piro's teeth ached.
'Well?' Palatyne demanded.
'She's here somewhere, all right. Her essence is still on the air.' The Utlander was hatefully pleased with himself.
Piro caught her breath, then remembered to let it out silently. The glow grew stronger as the renegade Power-worker walked slowly across the room, drawing nearer.
The Utlander must not find us Piro prayed. He must not. It became a litany in her head. She remembered hiding in the loft over the stables while Byren and Fyn looked for her last midsummer. They never found her, not even when they glanced into the loft. She'd willed herself unremarkable.
The glow grew brighter and, for a heartbeat, she saw the Utlander's thin arm silhouetted against the vellum. In her mind's eye she saw him triumphantly pull the map aside, saw Palatyne drag Isolt out by her hair.
No. It would not happen.
It would be just like in the stable. They would pass over her. Piro concentrated all her will, harnessing her Affinity as she stroked the foenix. She and Isolt weren't even here. They were hiding in the stable back home.
'Well?' Palatyne repeated.
The Utlander sniffed. 'Strange, I smell horses.'
'Horses in a royal bedroom? Your Affinity's playing up.'
'More like someone else's Affinity is playing tricks on mine,' the Utlander muttered. 'A curse on Dunstany. I cannot sense her at all now. He's put some sort of protective ward over the kingsdaughter.'
'Dunstany is on the other side of Merofynia at his estates. He could not know I planned to seduce Isolt tonight. No one but you and I know.'
'Someone with Affinity has warned her. The bird has flown the coop.'
'I thought you said you sensed her essence,' Palatyne countered.
'Well now all I sense is horse shit!' The Utlander snapped. 'We've been out-manoeuvred. Someone knows about us. They could be on their way right now, or… worse. I don't recognise the style of this Power-worker. They may have left a trap.' His voice rose. 'We've got to get out of here, now!'
'A trap?' Palatyne echoed. Piro could hear the fear rising in his voice. 'I won't be tainted by Affinity. Come on.'