Casket of Souls

could have been a spider but he sensed a whiff of magic to it. Looking around the crowded room, he couldn’t find the source. It was gone as quickly as it came.
    “Is something wrong, Thero?” asked Elsbet.
    “No, I felt something odd, just now.”
    “Magic?”
    “Perhaps.”
    “Well, maybe someone is wearing a strong charm.” She gave him a twinkling smile. “Or maybe it’s the wine.”
    “You’re probably right.” But he spent some time wandering among the crowd afterward, without success.
    Kari took the exhausted younger children upstairs around midnight, but the party lasted most of the night. Lord Seregil kept an excellent cellar and the wine, ale, and Zengati brandy flowed very freely. The younger guests—and some of the more feckless older ones—overindulged, as was to be expected. Dawn was breaking when the last of the ambulatory ones were seen off, and the ones left snoring in a stupor on benches and under tables had been made comfortable with pillows and blankets.
    Seregil yawned and clapped Alec and Micum on theshoulder as he looked around the salon with satisfaction. “I always say it’s not a successful party unless someone pukes in the garden.”
    Alec gave him a wry look. “Then it was a rousing success. We should have set out buckets.”
    “I don’t envy your servants who have to clean up,” said Micum as he followed them upstairs, weaving a little. He paused as they reached the landing. Lowering his voice, he asked, “Did you hear any talk of Princess Klia tonight?”
    “No,” Seregil replied.
    “Malthus and Duchess Nerian were talking about the truce she made with Aurënen,” said Alec. “And she was on Kyrin’s list.”
    “List?” asked Micum.
    “I’ll explain when we’re sober,” Seregil told him.
    “Count Selin asked after Klia, knowing that Beka serves under her,” Micum told them. “I didn’t think much of it. Then I caught her name again when I was out for a stroll in the garden to clear my head. I passed Lord Areus and Lady Yrin whom I thought were doing the same.”
    “Their names were on that list, too,” said Alec.
    “They had their heads together and I caught Klia’s name and something about the succession,” Micum went on. “When they saw me, they started chatting with me about horses.”
    “Interesting,” said Seregil, and yawned again. “Not the sort of thing most people chance talking about in public, though. The succession. Not horses.”
    “They were well into their cups.”
    “Too bad you didn’t hear more of it.”
    “I managed to work Beka into the conversation. They didn’t know that she serves under Klia. Anyway, that didn’t go anywhere. I thought it was all a bit odd.”
    “I’ll have to sound them out, next chance—” Seregil said, and yawned until his jaw cracked.
    “Bed?” asked Alec.
    “Excellent idea!”
    Micum grinned. “Don’t expect to see me before supper tonight.”
    He went to the library first, though, and Alec paused by the open doorway, watching Micum lift Illia from the armchair where she’d fallen asleep. There was a burned-down candle on the stand by the chair, and a book on the carpet in front of her, where it had fallen. Micum laid her on the couch that had been prepared for her and pulled up the blankets, then gave Alec a wink and whispered, “Don’t tell her mother.”
    Alec nodded, and followed Seregil into their chamber.
    Seregil had tossed his coat in the general direction of the wardrobe, kicked off his shoes, and sprawled facedown across the bed.
    Alec closed their door and draped his coat over the back of a chair by the window to air.
    “I saw you talking to Selin finally,” Seregil said, his voice somewhat muffled by the bedclothes.
    Alec flopped down beside him. “I think Danos might be the one sending those coded dispatches to his father. He’s in Klia’s squadron.”
    “Spying on his own commander? That’s not very loyal. Did you get anything else out of Selin?”
    “He’s going to introduce us to Duke Reltheus, who happens to be a gambling man.”
    “Excellent! That should make things easier!” Seregil turned over and propped himself against the bolsters. “Did you enjoy your party?”
    “Of course I did, talí.” Alec moved around to rest his head on Seregil’s lean thigh. “I got Elsbet to dance, and I beat all the bakshi players in the dining room while you were cornered by those poets. What did you learn from that pack of leeches this time?”
    “Leeches in