“That you can say so with a straight face and such sincerity is almost admirable! Everything I did here in Expedition was machinated by you.”
“Perhaps not quite everything. Things are not as simple as you believe they are. But this is not the place to discuss them.”
We crossed under the shadow of the gate and into the old city with its encircling stone walls, legacy of an earlier time. For generations, only families with Council ties and wealth were allowed to own property inside the walls, while newer districts were built outside the walls. When the Council still ruled, the gates were locked at dusk and even in the daytime any person entering the old city could be searched. Now the toughs swarmed right in after us, dogging our heels. Their presence heartened me.
I addressed Prince Caonabo. “Your Highness, did you know that the general believes I am to be the instrument of his death? That is why he conspired with your mother the honored cacica to have me permanently quarantined on Salt Island.”
“I want the truth,” said Caonabo.
We halted at the base of the wide steps that fronted Council Hall. I caught sight of Luce pushing through the crowd. Idiot girl! Rory gestured to warn her off.
The prince’s attendants unfolded the carriage steps.
Before any of us could alight from the carriage, a young man descended the steps of Council Hall with a mocking grin that I wanted to punch right off his face. His red-gold hair seemed to blaze like flame and his blue eyes to kindle with heat, or maybe those were sparks from his fire magic. Really, the last person I wanted to see in a situation like this was James Drake. I curled my left hand into a fist as he came up.
“Why, Cat, I’ve been waiting all night for you to show up.” As an afterthought, he acknowledged the prince with a careless wave. “Your Highness, my understanding of Taino law is that murderers are sentenced to labor in the cane fields for life. Or they are assigned as a catch-fire to a fire mage. We all know she’s responsible for the Exalted Queen’s death. Once she is convicted, I will be happy to take her off Taino hands. I could use a remarkably pretty catch-fire.”
Naturally Prince Caonabo had too much dignity to respond to this rude outburst.
But I didn’t!
“James Drake! Why are you standing here waiting for me like a lovesick but rejected suitor?”
The general pulled firmly on the rope to keep me on the seat. “Don’t be rash, Cat,” he murmured. “This is not the place or time for a pissing match.”
“I wasn’t waiting because I want you!” Drake’s gaze flicked around the crowd: the Taino soldiers, the crowd held at a prudent distance by wardens, Camjiata’s retinue of veterans, and the guards stationed at the Council Hall doors. He pitched his voice louder. “I hope you finally understand that I slept with you only to show the cold mage he wasn’t so high and mighty as he thought he was. Because there’s really nothing a man hates more than knowing his wife is a whore.”
The word stung. “You lied to me and got me drunk.”
“The ease with which I got you to have sex ought to give any man pause, knowing how easy it was to tip rum down your throat and coax the clothes off your admittedly attractive body. Still, it scarcely matters now. I’m a magnanimous man. I’d never turn away a pretty girl like you if you offered to warm my bed in exchange for better treatment after the standing inquiry condemns you as a murderer.”
My face was burning, and my heart was pounding. “Fortunately, I only had sexual congress with you twice. That’s all I needed, to know I needn’t bother if I want to take any pleasure from the act.”
People in the crowd sniggered.
The prince was literally blinking in astonishment, mouth agape.
Drake laughed derisively, but anyone could see he was furious. “You keep ruining the impression of your pretty face with that crass mouth of yours. Now that you’re an accused murderer, I’d be careful about antagonizing the only person in this city who might be persuaded to make your life more pleasant than it will be in the cane fields.”
When I shifted forward with fist cocked, the general tugged on the rope to pull me up short.
“I’d have to be dead before I’d let you touch me,” I said as the hemp scraped my neck.
“Strange you should phrase it in quite that way.” Drake smiled as might a man who is waiting to see your reaction when you realize the trap has closed over your foot.
“James, that is really enough,” Camjiata said without raising his voice.
“I will tell you what is enough! Enough is that my noble kinfolk stole my birthright and inheritance, and I let them because I was too young and powerless to fight. But I’m not powerless now. I want her as my catch-fire, so I’ll cursed well get her as my catch-fire. I’ll have the last word after all, won’t I?”