Page 27 of A Trade of Blood

He relaxed. “Of course. Ippeas is close to Castus, as is hisbetrothed. I did as you asked and summoned them. He should arrive soon, though his bride will surely be here first, though—she is a skilled rider. She…” He stopped to look over my shoulder. “Ah! She comes now!”

He nodded down the lane behind me. I turned to look.

—

To watch the girlriding down the lane to us was akin to glimpsing a fable of some storied champion bringing word of great threat. She did not merely sit in the destrier’s saddle, nor hold its reins, nor simply guide the beast: rather, the act of girl and steed were one, her long, lean body shifting with the pounding of the creature’s shimmering legs. Her black hair rippled behind her like a banner as they galloped, her dark eyes fierce and her shoulders tucked. The sight of her movement was so poised and immaculate, it made one imagine that if she ran out of land to ride upon, she might ride into the sky itself.

Despite her effortless grace, she was dressed as any drover, with high leather boots and a light leather shirt to shield her arms. A knife was sheathed at her side, and a lance was sheathed in the saddle on the other. Her face was fixed in worry as her destrier hurtled down the lane to us, its flanks muddied, its breath hot and fast. She dismounted in a flash, reined her steed to the post, and hurried over, her bright eyes fixed on Trikao.

“I’ve heard the news, Grandfather,” she said breathlessly. “It can’t all be true, can it? It…it reallycan’tbe…”

I did not introduce myself as we stood to greet her. In fact, I said nothing. I simply gazed into her face, open-mouthed. Not because it was a beautiful face—though it was a very beautiful face, truly—but because it was a face I recognized.

For it was almost my own, after all, in so many subtle ways.

“The worst is true, yes,” said Trikao to her. “This fellow is from the Iudex and seeks to understand it all. I hope you can help him, for I’ve few answers.”

The girl turned to look at me. She did a double take and froze, stunned and open-mouthed just as I was.

“I…what?” she said quietly. “Wait! No, I…”

I should have known,I thought. For Trikao Armenta himself had told me I looked familiar, so much so he’d thought we’d met before. And now, here she was.

“D…Din?” said the girl, shocked. “Din, is…is thatyou?”

“Eh?” said Trikao, puzzled.

I swallowed. My mouth was like sand, my throat a cauldron.

“Fotia?” I said uncertainly.

There was a long silence.

My sister stared at me, then pressed a hand to her face. “What are you doing here, Din?” she asked. “What inhellare you doing here?”

II

Fortune and Her Trail of Dead

Chapter 9

In countless odeons and poemsthere are tales of families separated by war, famine, titan, or contagion, and in these there always comes a moment when they are finally reunited. They spy one another, cry out each other’s names, and are overcome with delight, embracing and laughing and weeping as the years and leagues apart suddenly dissolve.

Yet now, as I gazed upon my sister Fotia who I had not seen in nearly six years, all those stories seemed a bitter joke. We did not run to each other, or grasp hands to confirm our flesh was true. We simply stared, as if we were strangers awkwardly forced into this encounter.

Which we were, I realized. I had never seen Fotia ride in all our childhood, and most definitely not like that. I had no idea how she’d come to learn such a thing—or how she’d come to be in this place, of all places, at all.

“Mm—what?” said Trikao. “What do you say there?”

Fotia took a step toward the table, squinting at me. “You…are gray,” she said.

“P-pardon?” I said. “I what?”

“Your skin. It’s gray. I’d heard some of your kind changed their skin, but…I didn’t think I’d…” She trailed off, then again said, “How are youhere,Din? Of all the people I imagined to find drinking wine with Grandfather Trikao, I never expected you.”

I gaped at her, but thought—Grandfather Trikao?

Trikao’s eyes shot back and forth below his huge white eyebrows. “I take it you two are…acquainted? No, no, I see it now…You arerelated? Is this so?”