Traitor's Moon

grandson of his helps out around the place now.”
    Seregil shifted uncomfortably, guessing that his friend had meant the statement as more than a casual remark. The house was his last remaining tie in Rhíminee. Like Thryis, old Runcer had kept his master’s secrets and covered his tracks, enabling Seregil to come and go as he pleased without arousing suspicion.
    â€œWhere does he say we’ve been all this time?” he asked.
    â€œBy last report, you were at Ivywell, watching over Sir Alec’s interests and providing horses to the Skalan army,” Micum said, giving Alec a wink. Ivywell was the fictitious Mycenian estate bequeathed to Alec by his bucolic and equally fictitious father. This obscure squire had supposedly made Lord Seregil of Rhíminee the guardian of his only son. Seregil and Micum had concocted both tale and title over wine one night to explain Alec’s sudden appearance in Rhíminee. Given the insignificance of the title and locale, no one had ever questioned it.
    â€œWhat’s said of the Rhíminee Cat?” asked Seregil.
    Micum chuckled. “After six months or so, rumors began to go round that he must be dead. You may be the only nightrunner ever mourned by nobility. I gather there was a significant lapse of intrigues among that class in the wake of your disappearance.”
    Here was one more reason not to return. Seregil’s clandestine work as the Cat had made his fortune. His work as one of Nysander’s Watchers had given him purpose, while the public role he’d played as foppish Lord Seregil, the only one left him now, had become increasingly burdensome.
    â€œI suppose I should sell the place off, but I don’t have the heart to put Runcer out. It’s been more his home than mine. Perhaps I’ll deed the house over to your Elsbet when she finishes her training at the temple. She’d keep him on.”
    Micum patted Seregil’s hand. “It’s a kind thought, but won’t you be needing it again, one of these days?”
    Seregil looked down at the big freckled hand covering his own and shook his head. “You know that’s not going to happen.”
    â€œHow is everyone out at Watermead?” Alec asked.
    Micum sat back and tucked his hands under his belt. “Well enough, except for missing the pair of you.”
    â€œI’ve missed them, too,” Seregil admitted. Watermead had been a second home to him, Kari and her three daughters a second family. They’d claimed Alec as one of their own from the first day the boy had set foot in their house.
    â€œElsbet’s still in Rhíminee. She took sick in the plague that swept through last winter, but came through it whole,” Micum went on. “Temple life suits her. She’s thinking of becoming an initiate. Kari has her hands full with the two babes, but Illia’s old enough to help now. It’s a good thing, too. Ever since Gherin learned to walk he’s been trying to keep up with his foster brother. That Luthas has the gift of mischief. Kari found them halfway down to the river one morning.”
    Seregil smiled. “Shades of things to come, I’d say, with you for a father.”
    They chatted on for a while, exchanging news and stories as if this were some casual visit. Presently, however, Seregil turned to Beka.
    â€œI suppose you’d better tell me more. You say Klia’s in charge of this delegation?”
    â€œYes. Urgazhi Turma’s been assigned as her honor guard.”
    â€œBut why Klia?” Alec asked. “She’s the youngest.”
    â€œA cynical person might say that makes her the most expendable,” Micum remarked.
    â€œShe or Korathan would be whom I’d choose, in any case,” Seregil mused. “They’re the smartest of the pack, they’ve proventhemselves in battle, and they carry themselves with authority. I assume Torsin will go, along with a wizard or two?”
    â€œLord Torsin is in Aurënen already. As for wizards, they’re as hard to spare in the field as generals these days, so she’s taking only Thero,” Beka replied, and Seregil knew she was watching him for a reaction.
    And with good reason
, he thought. Thero had succeeded him as Nysander’s pupil after Seregil had failed in that capacity. They’d disliked one another on sight and bickered like jealous brothers for years. Yet they’d ended up in each other’s debt after