“You are overset,” Maszny said. “Quite understandable.”
He poured a cup of wine for her, but she waved it away. “You have my official complaint, lodged by my man Kovács, and now you have mine. You know my wishes in this matter. Let me only add that I believe this attack was not entirely random.”
“Indeed?” He drank from his cup, now seemingly bored. “How so?”
Anna dropped her gaze and hesitated. “This is difficult for me to say, but… You know I came to Eddalyon to, to seek an old friend from Court.”
Maszny lifted an eyebrow. “An old friend?”
His tone was offensive, but Anna decided to ignore it. Best if she pretended embarrassment. “I hardly dare speak more plainly, Hêr Commander, but surely you understand me.”
A glance through her eyelashes showed Maszny smiling. “I believe I know your friend,” he said.
“Then you know that he, too, vanished suddenly, not far from the place those pirates attacked me and my guards. I believe they took him hostage.”
Maszny was silent a moment before he replied. “I understand your concern, but I see a few contradictions. Unlike your father, Lord Gerhart has no money, nor any family of high standing.”
Anna gave a careless shrug, as if these contradictions meant nothing to her. “Then he is a stupid man. Or perhaps this Koszenmarc believes all nobles to be as rich as my father.” She paused. “You are investigating Lord Gerhart’s disappearance?”
“Oh, we investigate everything, Lady Vrou. Do not trouble yourself about the matter.”
“I cannot help it, Hêr Commander. You understand why. If you would be so kind—”
“—to let you know the details of our findings?” Maszny laughed softly. “Would that comfort you, Lady Vrou? What if we discover your lordling did not survive his capture? What comfort might I offer you then?”
His voice was soft and husking. Anna abruptly stood at the insult. “None at all. I believe we are done here, Hêr Commander.”
Maszny unfolded himself and held out a hand. “The Lady Vrou is cruel.”
She ignored his hand. “Do your duty, Hêr Commander—”
“That I can easily promise, Lady Vrou. In spite of my disappointment.”
“—and you will let me know your findings, or I shall write to my father, and my father to the Emperor, to express our dissatisfaction.”
She stalked out the door before he could reply. Outside, the same young officer waited to escort Anna back to the gates. She hardly noticed. Maszny had proved useless. Surely he had obtained his rank and his position through intrigue or favors, if not by outright bribes.
Outside the garrison, her new guards gingerly handed her into the waiting sedan chair. Anna closed her eyes and rubbed her aching temples. I used to be a calm woman. My father always complimented me on my manners.
It was Eddalyon that had changed her. That and Lord Brun’s mission. She ought to have argued with him. He sometimes listened if she approached him the right way. But no, she knew his ambitions. He simply would have bought or hired another in her place, then handed Anna off to another household. She could picture the conversation: She’s young enough, pretty enough. She doesn’t make a fuss in bed.
A hard bump yanked her from her bitter thoughts. The sedan had stopped in the middle of the street. More chairs jostled around hers, and from not far ahead came the noise of others trapped in the chaos. Anna opened the shade and rapped on the door. “What is wrong?”
“A blockage in traffic, Lady Vrou,” said the leader for her chair. “May I suggest we take a different route?”
“Whatever you think best.” She rattled the shade closed and collapsed in a puddle of irritation. Gods-be-damned traffic. Gods-be-damned fops that bought their rank as officers in the Imperial Army. She wished, not for the first time, that she could vanish into some anonymous name and position, in a city far away from Duenne and its intrigues.
But it was Duenne and those same intrigues that guaranteed her freedom.
With some awkward maneuvering, the carriers threaded their way back and around to a side street. Anna drew the shade back a few inches. She could see little except the blank facades of several tall buildings. A few laborers passed by with baskets perched on their heads. Then no one. It was quiet here, and the streets were shadowed by overhanging buildings. She didn’t even see a member of the watch.
Without warning, the sedan chair tilted to one side. Anna yelped and flung her arms out. Before she could catch hold of anything, the chair tilted wildly in the opposite direction, then crashed to the ground.
Anna lay bruised and breathless in the wreckage. “Guards?” she croaked. She sucked down a breath and tried to remember their names. Then she recalled they had not mentioned their names, nor had she asked. “Guards?” she repeated.
No one answered.
Truly frightened now, she disentangled herself and climbed from the wreckage.
She was alone. Tall windowless buildings lined the shadowed street. Far below, down a series of steps, lay the avenue they had left behind. A scuff of boots against the pavement gave her scant warning. She pivoted about and found herself facing Andreas Koszenmarc.
“Vrou Iljana,” he said. “Good day.”
Anna resisted the urge to lick her dry lips. A dozen men poured from the alleys and doorways ahead. More footsteps sounded behind her. He had trapped her neatly.
“Don’t worry,” Koszenmarc said. “I shan’t kidnap you again. Even I can see there’s no profit in it.”
He’s guessing. He can’t know anything, Anna told herself.
But when Koszenmarc circled around her, she flinched.
“Ah, the lady breathes,” he said softly. “I had begun to think you were made of stone, like the statues of sea monsters that line the harbor. Have you seen them?”
“I have no interest in statues.”
Koszenmarc continued pacing around to face her once more. Though she kept her gaze upon him, Anna felt the presence of all the other pirates. It was precisely for accidents such as today that Lord Brun had insisted on those lessons in battle magic. Think, she told herself. There must be one spell that could drive them all away.
His mouth curled into a smile that did nothing to reassure her. “So. No statues. I wonder what does interest you. Lord Gerhart, for one. Magic, for another.” He waited a moment. When she didn’t answer, he shrugged. “They say those who come to the Eddalyon Islands are dissolute nobles, or the runaway sons and daughters of the same. You, you fit none of these categories, despite your efforts to pretend otherwise. Why are you here?”
He spoke softly, but she had not missed the sword at his belt, nor the dagger that suddenly appeared in his hand. Here was no foppish courtier. He would not hesitate to kill her. It made the choice to attack easier.
“I am here for my health,” she said evenly.
His teeth flashed bright against his dark brown skin. “Such bravado. Not that I would expect less from a vrou of the first rank.”
Now, she thought. While he believes he holds the advantage.
Swiftly she turned her focus inward, to the point between magic and the world, and called upon the gods. Ei rûf ane gôtter. Ei rûf ane viur. Lâzen alle liehten.
A wall of bright fire leapt up between her and Koszenmarc. He jerked backwards. Anna caught a glimpse of his face through the translucent flames, his golden eyes wide with astonishment. With another phrase and a sweep of her hand, she sent the fire billowing outward, forcing him and his men beyond the next intersection—a narrow lane between the two nearest