t sharply and bury his fist as hard as he could in Erlein's belly.
As it was, he was only a fraction of a second ahead of Catriana on Erlein's other side. She had leaped to clap her hand over the wizard's mouth. The force of Devin's blow doubled Erlein over with a grunt of pain. This in turn had the unintended effect of throwing Catriana off balance and stumbling forward. To be smoothly caught and braced by Alienor.
The whole thing had taken perhaps three seconds.
Erlein sank to his knees on the opulent carpet. Devin knelt beside him. He heard Alienor dismissing her servants from the room.
"You are a fool!" Baerd snarled at the wizard.
"He certainly is," Alienor agreed in a rather different tone, all exaggerated petulance and flounce. "Why would anyone think I'd want the burden of knowing the true identity of a disguised Khardhu warrior?" She was still holding Catriana around the waist, quite unnecessarily. Now she let her go, with an amused expression at the girl's rapid retreat.
"You are an impetuous creature, aren't you?" she murmured silkily.
"Not especially," said Catriana hardily, stopping a few feet away.
Alienor's mouth quirked. She looked Catriana up and down with an expert eye. "I am horribly jealous of you," she pronounced at length. "And I would be, even if you had that hair chopped off and those eyes sewn shut. What magnificent men you are traveling with!"
"Are they?" Catriana's voice was indifferent, but her color was suddenly high.
"Are they?" Alienor echoed sharply. "You mean you haven't established that for yourself? Dear child, what have you been doing with your nights? Of course they are! Don't waste your youth, my dear."
Catriana looked at her levelly. "I don't think I am," she said. "But I doubt we'd have the same thoughts on that subject."
Devin winced, but Alienor's answer was mild. "Perhaps not," she agreed, unruffled. "But, in truth, I think the overlap would actually be greater than you imagine." She paused. "You may also find as you get older that ice is for deaths and endings, not for beginnings. Any kind of beginnings. On the other hand, I will ensure," she added, with a smile that was all kindness, "that you have a sufficiency of blankets to keep you warm tonight."
Erlein groaned, dragging Devin's attention away from the two women. He heard Catriana say, "I thank you for your solicitude," but he missed her expression. From the tone he could hazard a guess at what it would be.
He supported Erlein's head as the wizard labored to get his wind back. Alienor simply ignored them. She was greeting Baerd now with a friendly civility, a tone that was cheerfully matched, Devin noted instinctively, by Baerd's own manner towards her.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to Erlein. "I couldn't think of anything else."∮∮網∮文∮檔∮下∮載∮與∮在∮線∮閱∮讀∮
Erlein waved a feeble, still-unhealed hand. He'd insisted on removing the bandages before they'd entered the castle. "I'm sorry," he wheezed, surprising Devin considerably. "I forgot about the servants." He wiped his lips with the back of one hand. "I won't achieve much for myself if I get us all killed. Not my idea of freedom, that. Nor, frankly, is this posture my notion of middle-aged dignity. Since you knocked me down you can kindly help me up." For the first time Devin heard a faint note of amusement in the troubadour's voice. A survivor, Sandre had said.
As tactfully as he could he helped the other man stand.
"The extremely violent one," Alessan was saying drily, "is Devin d'Asoli. He also sings. If you are very good he may sing for you."
Devin turned away from Erlein, but perhaps because he'd been distracted by what had just happened he was quite unprepared to deal with the gaze he now encountered.
There is no possible way, he found himself thinking, that this woman is forty years old. He reflexively sketched the performer's bow Menico had taught him, to cover his confusion. She was almost forty and he knew it: Alienor had been widowed two years after she'd been wed, when Cornaro