The King's Blood

thing burned flat. Wound up with a concession on a salt cinder in the Inner Sea. Thank God I hadn’t paid for it yet.”
    “I remember that,” Cithrin said.
    “Do you now?” Komme said.
    Canl Daskellin’s gaze turned to her, and she realized how thin the ice was she’d just put herself on. If it came out she’d been living at the Vanai branch, it might come out why. If anyone looked into her age, there could be a great deal at stake.
    “Heard about it from Magister Imaniel,” she said without missing a beat. “It was done out of the Vanai branch, wasn’t it?”
    Komme Medean pursed his lips as if in thought.
    “I suppose it was, now you mention it,” he said. And another danger was stepped past.
    “This new regent of yours,” Paerin Clark said. “Geder Palliako. It’s not a name I’ve heard often. I’m surprised we didn’t see a more familiar man.”
    “I hope you aren’t looking at me,” Daskellin said. “No, Palliako’s father is a viscount. Unremarkable man. His son’s something different, though. He stopped the showfighters’ coup. He exposed Feldin Maas. There’s a strong case that this war is his private project from the start.”
    “What sort of man is he?” Chana asked, then winked broadly at Cithrin and said, “I hear he isn’t married.”
    They all laughed because it was expected.
    “He’s a strong man,” Daskellin said. “He comes almost from outside the court, and it makes him very independent. His own thoughts. His own plans.”
    “Ambitious?” Komme asked, cracking open a clam and pulling out the flesh.
    “He’d have to be,” Canl said. “People underestimated him at first. That’s happening less now. His unofficial patron is Dawson Kalliam, and I think he’s got the feeling of riding a tiger.”
    “Bad enemy to have,” Paerin said.
    “That,” Daskellin said, “is the regent in a phrase. Would someone pass me that wine? I seem to have finished mine.”
    “No,” Komme Medean said, feigning horror. “Never that.”
    The meal went on until well after dark. The conversation ranged over art and politics and the indignities of travel. Everyone was very casual, and traded jokes and stories. The wine was very good, and left Cithrin feeling a little above herself, warm and happy and more relaxed than was strictly wise. Before he left, Daskellin shook all the men’s hands and embraced Komme Medean like a brother. He also kissed Cithrin on the lips, so he might have been more than a bit tipsy himself.
    After he left, servants came in and cleared the table, bringing a stool for Komme’s bad leg. It had gotten visibly worse during the evening, but it was only now that he showed that it bothered him. The others took their seats, and so Cithrin did too.
    “Well?” Komme said, his voice perfectly sober and crisp. “What do we have?”
    “The regent’s unpredictable,” Chana said. “And Daskellin doesn’t like him.”
    “Fears him, though,” Paerin Clark said.
    “Do you think so?” Lauro said. “He seemed to speak well of him to me.”
    “No,” Cithrin said. “Fears him is right. And there was something else, I couldn’t make out. He’s uneasy about the war. Even though they’re winning it. Why is that?”
    It was eerie. All her childhood had been spent around a different table with Magister Imaniel and Cam and Besel having conversations much like this. Analysis, debate, discussion. Dissection. And now here she was in a strange place with different people and utterly at home.
    “Either he doesn’t think it’s going to end with Asterilhold or he expects the balance of power in court to shift because of it,” Chana said. “Did you see how nervous he looked when I joked about the regent not having a wife?”
    “You’re thinking there might be a political marriage with Asterilhold?” Komme said. “Unification?”
    “I think it’s on his mind and he doesn’t want it,” Chana said. “Does he have a daughter?”
    “Yes,” Paerin said. “And of the right age.”
    “Well then,” Chana said as if the matter were settled.
    “I’m not sure,” Komme said. “I think there was something more to it than that. How much do we know about Palliako’s allies?”
    “Very little,” Paerin said. “His reputation is as a scholar. And newly pious.”
    “Pious, eh? That may be an issue. King Tracian should send a group,” Komme said. “Sound out the court. This new war went awfully well for Antea. It’d be good to know if this Palliako’s