Land of Night by Kirby Crow Read Free Book Online Page A

as a basin of water and a cake of soap could. But there were some things you could do in baths that were very pleasant. “Want some company?"
    The smile Liall gave him was distracted and—Scarlet fancied—a little false. “Not tonight, but I will return later this evening.” Liall hesitated. “Thank you for agreeing."
    "How late will...?” But Liall had already turned and walked out the door, calling for Nenos. Scarlet slumped back against the pillows. Well, fine: no one to talk to, nothing to see, not even a friendly taberna to pass the hours in. He could understand that Liall felt the need to shield him and that he was a liability to the prince, but if Liall thought his fears were going to pen Scarlet up in this big castle the way they had penned him in that tiny ship's cabin, Liall had another thought coming.

 
    3.
    A Bit of Light
    Lady Shikhoza was playing cards in one of the many salons adjoining the main hall that led to the queen's tier when Liall found her.
    "I would speak with you,” he said lowly.
    The fire popped and crackled and the noblewomen seated with Shikhoza tittered and hid their smiles behind fans of lacquered playing cards, their blue-painted eyes merry. A silent servant drew the heavy velvet draperies away from the casement panes, revealing a landscape of perpetual twilight and snow. Liall was still unused to seeing such a sight again, and glanced twice at the casement, as if he expected to see the brass orb of a Byzan sun hovering over an arid land.
    He had left Scarlet abruptly, perhaps too much so, and he was already feeling guilty over it. He knew Scarlet was not satisfied with his answers regarding his purposes here, a point certain not to escape the discerning pedlar, and it would not be long before Scarlet began to insist on knowing what was happening. Liall knew Scarlet well enough by now to realize his silences were either irritation or mere tolerance for Liall's “foreign strangeness", and that it would not be long before his beloved red-coat's fiercely inquisitive nature began to demand answers.
    There are so many undercurrents here, Liall worried. How well I remember. I can feel them in every glittering hall I pass through. So many plans and treacheries brewing. I cannot allow Scarlet to be involved in any way. He would be lost in the webs they spin here, food for the fat, ruthless spiders of a bored royal court.
    Shikhoza neatly laid a gilt-edged Prince card over her companion's Page card, drawing a round of sighs.
    "I win again,” Shikhoza smiled, laying down her playing hand on the embroidered cloth. She gazed pointedly at Liall's hand and would not rise until he gave it. Liall led her out of the salon gruffly, not liking the idea that there would be gossip now, and that it might reach Scarlet's ears.
    "There was no cause for that display,” he growled once they were in the wide hall and strolling towards the queen's tier, Shikhoza's hand still upon his.
    "What, helping me out of my chair?"
    "You know what I mean."
    "Ah. Perhaps I do,” she smiled. Shikhoza's long tarica—deep ruby-red and intricately sewn with blood-red garnets—flashed little sparks of crimson in the lamp light, and her skin was like poured honey. Shikhoza's pale golden hair, which would come down to her ankles when unpinned, was piled high on her head in an intricate pattern of braids, and her carved features were as perfect and composed as ever.
    Only Liall, who had known her as a girl, could see the changes in her: the small lines around her eyes, the firmness to her lips. They were both much older.
    "You must allow me my games, Nazheradei,” she was saying. “There is little else to occupy a discarded Lady in this court."
    "You were not discarded,” Liall answered snappishly, being drawn into her moods despite his vows not to be. “I was exiled. You were not. It is as simple as that. You could have married another."
    "Who would have me?” she answered lightly, bestowing a stunning smile on a