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also attended, and that he was helpful to me and my cousin at that party. I
never saw him before that night. I never saw him after, until today. I wanted
only to thank him again for his assistance my cousin became very drunk and
behaved badly, and he helped me get her out of the building without drawing
attention to her condition. Not the whole truth, but surely close enough.
The captain slid his hands into his pockets and leaned against his locker.
Then why did he faint when you spoke to him? I was under the impression that
you had attempted to coerce him into marriage.
Perhaps that you had threatened to claim assault on your maiden virtue unless
he capitulated.
Kait s shocked laughter erupted without warning. My maiden virtue
? Dear Captain, any assault on that was years in the past and is best left
buried there. She took a few deep breaths, giggled, shook her head
disbelievingly. My maiden virtue, if we re going to be so . . . polite, was
disposed of in a wholly voluntary and mutually agreeable manner and has not
troubled me since. Nor have I ever felt the need to bother the disposer of it
with threats; I am not yet ready to give up my autonomy to marriage and its
rule by committee. My freedom was too hard-won. The last of her amusement
died away, replaced by puzzlement. As for why Hasmal fainted . . . She
turned one hand palm up and shrugged slightly. You know at least as much as I
do.
They studied each other, looking for cues.
His reaction worried me, the captain said.
Worries me.
Of course. It shocked me. But I don t know what caused it.
Your appearance caused it.
Kait sighed. Unless he succumbed to poison at that exact instant which
seems unlikely I m inclined to agree with you. But I truly don t know why.
Draclas frowned suddenly. That . . . the manuscript you mentioned . . . you
say he was a dealer in antiquities?
So he told me at the party.
You didn t by chance . . .
buy it from him, did you?
No.
A dealer in antiquities . . . His frown deepened. He demonstrated his
smithing to me before I took him on. His skills were excellent. But he claimed
previous experience aboard ship. I had no reason to
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Diplomacy of Wolves doubt him . . . He stared down at his feet, speaking more
to himself than to her. When he looked up again, it was to ask her, Where did
you meet him?
Kait considered her answer for a moment. She didn t want to be too open about
her past her presence in Halles, if Draclas kept current on events, could
help him pinpoint who she really was. But lies were hard to control, and lying
about where she met Hasmal seemed risky, especially since she didn t know why
he d reacted the way he did when he saw her. In Halles, she said.
Halles? That s nowhere near the coast.
That s where I met him. He told me he worked with his father acquiring and
selling antiquities. That s all I knew about him, except that both he and his
father were named Hasmal.
Draclas settled onto the edge of his bunk and gave her a hard look. Halles.
Why did you pause so long before telling me that?
I m not sure how much I want you to know about me. I was trying to decide if
letting you know I was in Halles would tell you too much. I decided that it
didn t.
He snorted. That sounds honest enough, anyway.
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It is.
We re going to have a hard time being friends, you and I, if you don t trust
me.
Kait arched an eyebrow. If don t trust
I
you
? Captain, I suspect you have many more secrets than I do.
She glanced around the room, letting her gaze settle on the various treasures
casually displayed. I think that for now, at least, you and I would do well
to keep our own confidences; I don t think you ll be any more eager to tell me
your deepest secrets than I ll be to tell you mine.
She smiled when she said that, and he responded with a smile, but she didn t
miss the wariness that crept into his eyes. Certain she d hit her mark, she
rose. If we re finished here . . . ?
He rose, too. I d like to be your friend, Kait. You seem like you could use a
friend.
Perhaps I can. But not just yet. We ll be . . . associates . . . She tested
the weight of the word, and decided it suited her needs. Yes. Associates. For
a time, at least. We share common goals, and possibly a common outlook.
Friends, though . . . we ll see. Friendship takes time.
He opened the door of his cabin for her, and she stepped out on deck. She
walked to her own cabin, the pressure of his stare tickling along the back of
her neck until she let herself into the room and closed
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Diplomacy of Wolves and locked her door.
* * *
Hasmal crouched in his room, glaring at the Speaker who had come to his
summons. She s here.
Here.
You knew this would happen. You lied to me.
From within her wall of blue flames, the Speaker chuckled. My sister answered
your call, and she told you only the truth.
She told me that I could escape my doom.
No. She told you that you could try.
If I had stayed at home, I would have been safe. Instead, because of what she
told me, I traveled half the length of Ibera and ended up trapped on a ship
with the woman I tried so hard to avoid.
If you had done nothing you would have been safe. But your safety is
irrelevant to the larger scheme.
While you have been trying to hide from your destiny, and unintentionally
wrapping yourself deeper in it, whole worlds have stepped into the fray that
is building.
Hasmal clenched his hands into tight fists, but forced himself to breathe
slowly and to let his anger drain away. Why did your sister mislead me? Why
did she lead me to believe I needed to flee?
Because you have something to do, Hasmal rann Dorchan, that will change your
world, and affect ours, and perhaps even others more deeply embedded within
the Veil. If you escape your fate, these worlds will be the worse for it. You
matter, mortal, in a way that few ever matter and while no one and no thing
can force your actions along the right path, my sister could, and did, steer
you in a direction that seemed most beneficial to us at the time.
What am I expected to do?
That isn t the question. Your path is never cast in iron, your future never
certain. The question is, What may you do? And even that I cannot tell you,
not because I wish to taunt you, but because I do not know. I only see the
branching paths that mortal lives can take, and the ways they flow together
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and apart. I can see that you and Kait Galweigh, the woman you fear, have a
powerful future if you are together, and that the two of you may do great
good, or great evil, but that you will succeed at nothing if you are apart.
But she ll doom me and all I love.
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Diplomacy of Wolves
Your association with her leads to doom, and pain, and grief. Perhaps to
great victory . . . and perhaps to your death. But all men die, Hasmal, the
spirit said. Few ever live.
He sat in silence, watching the spirit disappear back into the Veil from which
he had summoned her, watching as the last traces of cold flame burning on the
surface of the mirror flickered out.
The coldness inside of him spread from his core from heart and gut and
spirit out to his fingers and toes. His flesh prickled, and he shivered,
though the air in his room was stuffy and hot. She had quoted Vincalis at him,
in what he was sure was an intentional paraphrase. The original speech had
been:
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