A Time of Dread (Of Blood and Bone #1) - John Gwynne Page 0,155

darling,’ Dalmae said, crouching down beside Riv, stroking her face.

‘Nice to see you,’ Riv whispered, feeling an edge of delirium starting to fog her brain again.

‘It’s nice to see you, too,’ her mam said, a half-laugh. Riv was surprised to see tears in her mam’s eyes. She wasn’t much of a crier. Riv was also surprised to see that beneath her cloak her mam was dressed in her old White-Wing uniform, a short-sword hanging from her belt.

‘What’s going on?’ Riv asked, brow wrinkling, her sense for danger tingling, a faint echo in her head.

‘The fortress is on alert,’ Aphra said, her eyes flickering to their mam. ‘Word of a possible Kadoshim attack.’

‘I’d better—’ Riv started, struggling to rise, though too quickly, a new wave of dizziness and she blinked and found herself lying in her cot again.

Try again, slower this time.

‘Garidas is downstairs, asking for you,’ her mam said to Aphra. ‘He’s not alone. A score of his hundred in the barracks. More outside.’ There was meaning in the words that Riv didn’t understand.

‘What did you tell him?’ Aphra asked.

‘That he cannot see you. That you are indisposed at present.’

‘Do you think he will settle for that?’

The sound of footsteps on a stairwell. A knock at their door. A silence.

‘There’s your answer,’ Dalmae whispered.

‘Aphra. Aphra, it is I, Garidas. If you are in there, I must speak with you.’

A shared look between Aphra and her mam.

‘Enter,’ Aphra said, her mam slipping back into the shadows behind the door as it opened.

Garidas walked in, Riv, trying to sit up again, was abruptly aware that she had little in the way of clothes on. She pulled the woollen blanket higher, saw her clothes at the bottom of the bed.

Garidas’ eyes took in Riv, a look of concern. Genuine.

Riv liked Garidas. He had always seemed straight and kind, if a little pompous. She could see that kindness in his eyes now.

‘Are you well?’ he asked Riv.

‘No,’ Riv said, feeling honesty was more appropriate than politeness, and she didn’t have the energy for any social niceties, anyway.

‘I am sorry if I am interrupting something,’ Garidas said, looking to Aphra, ‘but I need to speak with you. It is most urgent.’

‘My sister is unwell,’ Aphra said. ‘This is not a good time.’ Her eyes glanced to the dark window, looking out, beyond, though all Riv could see was the blackness of night, hear the rattle of rain on stone and the wild gusts of wind through the great tree’s branches high above.

‘I will be quick,’ Garidas said, something about him making it clear he would not leave until he had said what he came to say.

‘Go on, then,’ Aphra said, a sigh, a hint of resignation in her voice.

‘You must leave Drassil,’ Garidas said. ‘Tonight. Now.’

Aphra did not answer, just stared at him. There was clearly more to come.

‘You’re in danger.’ He opened his mouth, closed it, pinched his nose. ‘You know I think highly of you. I hoped that one day …’

He paused, the words seeming to stick in his throat, and took a deep breath.

‘Kol is finished. His transgressions are uncovered. I know that you have been … involved with him, in the past. But not for many years. I would not see you torn down and destroyed with him in his ruin.’

A long silence, emotions playing across Aphra’s face.

Kol and Aphra, like Adonai and Estel! Riv felt as if she was experiencing it all through a veil, like a secret observer. As if it were all a dream, just another of the many lurid, irrational, sometimes insane dreams she’d experienced lately.

No, I am here. It is the fever in my body making it feel like this.

‘What do you mean, finished?’ Aphra said.

‘My men have taken Kol into custody, are taking him to Israfil as we speak.’

‘Who else knows?’ Aphra asked.

‘That does not matter,’ Garidas snapped. ‘The whole sordid tale will be spilling from Kol’s lips soon. His confession is only a formality. Israfil already knows, and he will carve a confession from him, if needs be. Go, now, before it is too late. Once this is settled and over, you will be able to return—’

‘That will be impossible,’ Aphra said. ‘Lorina? Does she know?’

‘Not of Kol’s arrest, no.’ Garidas scowled. ‘She is in league with him. Did you not know?’

‘I suspected,’ Aphra said.

‘We are wasting too much time. You have to leave, now, or it will be too late. I have horses ready for you, a wain if you need it. Come.’