Kushiel's Mercy

great depth and detail on the singular nature of this young woman for whom my lady’s only child was willing to take such great risks.”
    I smiled. “Oh, you reckon, do you?”
    “You owe me,” Leander said shrewdly. “I loaned you my face, I gave you the clothes off my back. I gave you my memories.”
    “She’s curious, isn’t she?” I asked.
    He grinned again. “Perishing.”
    I laughed. “All right. Let me have a word with my captain here.” I turned the Bastard over to Claude de Monluc and bade him have someone stable him. “You can put Leander’s things in my quarters,” I said. “I’ll not be needing them tonight.” I lowered my voice. “And have a discreet guard set on him. I want him watched while he’s here. I’ll want to know where he goes and whom he meets with.”
    “As you will.” Claude looked bemused. “He’s your mother’s spy, isn’t he?”
    “He is,” I said. “But he’s right. I owe him.”
    I rejoined Leander. We crossed the greensward, toward the sound of music and laughter.
    The servants were lighting the lamps, sunset’s glow giving way to blue twilight. The scent of thousands upon thousands of flower petals crushed underfoot and thousands more blossoms blooming hung in the air.
    “It’s beautiful,” Leander mused. “I’d forgotten.”
    “Imriel!” Sidonie came toward me, holding Lucius by the hand, her eyes sparkling.
    “Lucius has been telling me tales from your days in Tiberium. I knew about your dalliance with his sister, but you never told me you posed . . .” Her voice trailed off as she stared at my companion. “Leander Maignard,” she said in wonderment.
    Leander bowed. “Her highness Sidonie de la Courcel, I take it?”
    “Well met, messire.” She laughed. “Again, as it were.”
    He straightened. “The honor is a first for me, your highness. I offer my congratulations to you and Prince Imriel on this joyous day.”
    “He’s here to spy for my mother,” I informed her. “She’s perishing of curiosity.”
    “Well, he’s welcome here today. We wouldn’t be here if not for his aid.” Sidonie took Leander’s hands in hers. “Thank you, Messire Maignard,” she said gravely. “Terre d’Ange owes you a great debt. I owe you a great and personal debt.”
    “I didn’t—” Leander began in a modest tone.
    Sidonie reached up to tug his head down and kissed him. There was enough ardor in it that Leander flushed to the roots of his hair when she released him. “I didn’t, I just . . .”
    he stammered; then blew out his breath. “Um. Thank you.”
    I raised my brows at her. “Are you trying to unsettle him?”
    “Would I do such a thing?” She flashed me a wicked smile. “I reckon I owed the real Leander Maignard at least that much.” She kissed him again—lightly, on the cheek.
    “Enjoy yourself, messire. I’m sure we’ll speak more during your time here. Lucius, I would very much like to hear the end of your tale.”
    Leander stared after her.
    “She’s not what you expected,” I said to him. “She wasn’t in Carthage, either.”
    “No.” He gave himself a shake. Such a strange thing it was to be standing beside a man whose memories I shared, whose life I’d lived without his sharing in it. “No, I suppose she wasn’t. I guessed that much when Deimos returned and told us how you’d ended Astegal’s life together.” Leander gave me a sidelong glance. “Did she come to care for me?”
    “She did.” I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “And if you wish to know her better, I suggest you ask her to play a game of chess ere you depart.”
    “I’ll do that,” he said, bemused.
    I laughed. “Come. There are others you should meet.”
    I introduced him to Drustan and Ysandre, who received him with wary courtesy. To his distant kin in House Shahrizai, who regarded him with interest. To Kratos, who shook his head and marveled, remembering.
    To Phèdre and Joscelin.
    Leander gazed at Phèdre for a long, long time, as though he were seeking to memorize her features. At length, he sighed. “I have a message for you from her ladyship, my lady.”
    He beckoned her close and whispered in her ear. I saw Phèdre’s dart-stricken gaze shift, coming to rest on me. After a time, Leander drew back. “Have you any reply?”
    “Yes.” Phèdre smiled. “Tell her she’s welcome. Tell her it was my honor and my privilege.” She glanced at Joscelin, who smiled back at her with his wry half-smile. The saviors of my life,