Page 22 of The Half King
“Do you mean your mother?” he asked.
“No, my father,” she told him.
The man made a noise of contemplation. “There’s something stronger in your blood than your Solon roots. But I don’t recognize it. The scent is…confusing.”
“Thatcould be my mother,” Cerise said. She and Mama bore such a strong resemblance to each other that they could easily pass for twins born in different generations. “My mother is common-born. She was adopted by a merchant when she was a baby, so we know nothing about her lineage.”
The old man waved her off. He didn’t seem to care about her story.
His enormous young companion, however,didseem to care. His eyebrows flattened into a slash, and he told Daerick, “You shouldn’t have brought her here.”
“Does it matter?” Daerick asked. He pulled a coin pouch from his pocket and jangled it in his palm. “I can vouch for her.”
“It matters,” the young man growled.
Suddenly, the elder man lunged toward Cerise and snatched her hand with a quickness and strength that surprised her. Before she could object, he reached beneath his cushion and retrieved a short, double-edged blade. She tried to pull away, but he held firm and pricked the pad of her index finger.
“Ow,” she cried. “Let go of me!”
Ignoring her, the man squeezed a fat bead of blood to the surface of her skin and sniffed at it. When that didn’t satisfy him, he took her finger inside his mouth and sucked it clean.
Disgusting!This wasnother idea of keeping an open mind!
He released her, and she yanked back her hand. She was so busy trying to wipe off the wetness from the old man’s mouth that she missed his initial reaction. When she glanced up at him, she found his gray eyebrows poised high above his sunken, skin-covered sockets.
“Umbra sangi,”he whispered to the younger man, who jerked his gaze to Cerise and stared at her as though she had sprouted horns and a tail.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
The old man spat her blood onto the floor and scrubbed a hand over his mouth. She looked to Daerick, who stared blankly ahead, his forehead wrinkled in confusion. It was the first time she had seen him perplexed.
Daerick asked the men,“Hara ‘umbra sangi’?”but they ignored him and began whispering urgently to each other.
Cerise felt a sense of foreboding, a sickening twist low in her stomach. She didn’t understand what was happening, but her instincts warned her to leave. Despite that, she remained pinned to the ground by her own curiosity.
“What does that mean?” she repeated. “What’s wrong with my blood? What do you know that you’re not telling me?”
“Nothing,” the old man blurted. “That’s the problem. Your blood has revealed nothing to me.”
“Why would that be a problem?”
“Because of his gift,” Daerick murmured to her. “He can sense the living history in blood the same way an oracle can See paths to the future.”
“And no blood has ever refused me.” The elder man wiped his lips again. “Not once in all of my many years. All veins have revealed their secrets to me, except for yours. I don’t know what exists beyond your Solon roots. You have confounded me.”
The flesh on Cerise’s arms prickled into bumps.You have confounded me.How many times had the Reverend Mother spoken those same words? How many Seers had complained that they couldn’t See the path in front of her? She had confounded them all, and now this man, too. What if she was so far removed from possessing the Sight that she blinded the inner eye of others? What if there was something truly wrong with her?
The large young man pointed at the door. “Leave,” he ordered, but in a softer voice than he had used before. “You’re not welcome here.”
The young giant knew something. She could tell from the change in his demeanor. He was still unfriendly toward her but no longer hostile. It seemed he either feared or respected her now, and she wanted to know why.
She locked eyes with the young man. “Tell me what you’re hiding.”
“Leave,” he repeated.
Daerick held up an index finger. “Please. Just answer one question for me, and then we’ll go.” He jangled his satchel of coin. “I promise to compensate you for your time.”
The elder man turned his face to Daerick. “I know your question, young Calatris. I’ve heard it on the lips of half of the nobles in the market. You want to know if the rumors about the king’s emissary are true.”
