Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

forth between Rho to Leidolf and
     Lu Nuncio to Nokolai with no real difficulty. That’s no longer the case.”
    “You must have noticed,” Isen said, “that Rhos do not enter the clanhome of another
     clan often. If they must visit for some reason, they don’t linger.”
    “I thought that was a security thing. Or status. Or both.”
    “Certainly those are part of it. But neither the Vochi Rho nor the Laban Rho would
     have any security or status concerns about guesting here, at the Clanhome of their
     dominant. And yet they aren’t here.” He stopped and looked at her, waiting for her
     to work out what he meant.
    Isen could be annoying that way. Just like Grandmother. “Friar can’t eavesdrop here,”
     she said slowly, “for the same reason the Great Bitch can’t use her super-duper clairvoyance
     to watch what’s going on at Clanhome. Friar’s clairaudience Gift comes from
her,
and
her
magic doesn’t work here because clanhomes have some kind of connection to the mantles.”
     She considered that a moment. “Is it anything like a sidhe lord’s land-tie?”
    He smiled to congratulate her, but it was a weary thing, bereft of his usual mischief.
     “I don’t know enough about the land-tie to say for sure, but the differences seem
     to outweigh the similarities. Sidhe lords draw power from their land; I don’t. They
     are said to sense the lives contained on their lands. I don’t. But Nokolai claims
     this land. The mantle is part of that claiming. It reacts to certain kinds of power,
     which is how I would know if someone touched by
her
entered Clanhome.” He paused, looked at Rule, and finished softly, “Just as I know
     if the Rho of another clan is here.”
    “But we’ve been here since October!” Trouble pulled Lily’s shoulder muscles taut,
     as if she might need to punch someone. As if that could help. “What changed? Is it
     just because Rule used the Leidolf mantle to keep his heartbeat separate?”
    “That’s part of it.” Rule said that much, then stopped. He seemed to be hunting words,
     so she stayed quiet, giving him room. “You know about the agreement I made with Isen
     after the Leidolf mantle was forced on me.”
    She nodded. “Here at Clanhome you’re Lu Nuncio to Nokolai, not Rho to Leidolf.”
    “I haven’t had a problem holding to that agreement—until now.” His shoulders lifted
     in a small shrug. “Now the genie is out of the bottle, and I can’t get it to go back
     in.”
    “He means,” Isen said softly, “that he can no longer step outside of his role as Rho
     to Leidolf. Not because he used the mantle. Because it’s no longer a role.”
    A role happened in your head, not your heart, didn’t it? Somehow, tonight Rule became
     Leidolf in his heart or his gut or wherever identity is born. Somehow, that meant
     he was Rho all the time. She looked at him. “Does that mean that when you were out
     on the field and you ducked your head and said you were answering your Rho, you were
     only pretending to submit?”
    Rule snorted, but he didn’t look amused. “
Pretense
is the wrong word. I can no more pretend to submit than I can pretend to walk. Either
     I do it or I don’t. I’m still Nokolai, still Lu Nuncio, so I still submit to my Rho,
     but it was…I can no longer stop being Rho.”
    “And that’s a problem because of your agreement with Isen.”
    “Yes, though agreements can be renegotiated if both parties are willing. The real
     problem arises from one of the reasons for that agreement.” He ran both hands through
     his hair, then glanced at his father. “I don’t know what it feels like to you, but
     I feel as if I’m surrounded by a repeller field.”
    “Rather like having something lodged in my teeth that Ican’t, for all sorts of excellent reasons, even try to dislodge.”
    Lily took a sip of her coffee, puzzling through what they’d said. “The Nokolai and
     Leidolf mantles don’t like each other.”
    Isen gave her that tired smile that wasn’t like him. “Nothing so personal, nor is
     it proximity that’s the problem. The Nokolai and Leidolf mantles exist in very tight
     proximity in Rule, after all. But something about the link between mantle and clanhome
     makes it uncomfortable for one Rho to be in another’s demesne. Some believe the Lady
     did this on purpose, to discourage clans from settling too near each other, which
     would lead to fighting. Others think it’s an accidental byproduct. I lean toward the