Vai had his back to me, so he did not see me pad up behind them. Such breeze as there was blew into my face, so Rory, sitting beside Vai, could not smell me. Vai was laughing at something Rory had just said. His sociable demeanor made him seem another man, the one I had gotten to know in Expedition, the one whose embraces I cherished, the one I loved.
“Show me the ice lenses again,” said Kehinde with a pleasant smile she had certainly not displayed earlier. “I’m amazed Chartji brought them all the way from Havery packed in straw and moss and they did not melt.”
He fished out three leather cords and pulled one off over his head, handing it to Kehinde. “This one is likely flawed, but the other two should work.”
“Does the mansa know about the ice lenses?” Bee asked sharply.
He glanced down, shoulders tensing. Rory nudged Vai with his knee.
“No, the mansa does not know,” said Vai stiffly.
“Are you going to tell him?” Bee pressed.
His chin came up, but remarkably his voice remained level. “Not yet. If I have to face James Drake, I will need the ice lens. And I plan to face him. All of you realize, don’t you, that allowing Catherine to go after him is a death sentence for her?”
“Having seen Cat in a fight—” began Brennan.
“Catherine can certainly take care of herself in a fight. Or against an ocean full of sharks, for that matter. You simply do not comprehend the dangers of dealing with a fully fledged fire mage. Drake almost killed her once. Lord of All, Beatrice. You ought to know better! You saw how she was burned.”
“It’s true,” Bee muttered.
Kehinde twirled the lens as she examined its icy gleam. “May I touch it, or will the warmth of my skin distort the lens?”
“That one is flawed, so it makes no matter if you touch it.”
She ran a finger along its curved face. “How do you keep them from melting? I can speculate on several mechanisms, but I am no cold mage.”
“I mean no offense by saying the secret belongs to those who remain silent.”
“In fact,” she replied with a touch of asperity as she handed it back to him, “Professora Alhamrai sent me a paper in which she detailed the manufacture and results of your experiments with ice lenses in detail.”
He slipped it back underneath his clothes. My hands twitched, wishing to follow its path along his chest. “It is still not my place to speak of it. I just want all of you to see that I am not withholding crucial information from you. Is Catherine not to join us for our meal?”
“We may all wish to say a few things to you before we invite Cat to join us,” said Kehinde.
“I certainly do,” remarked Bee with an ominous smile.
“Yes, I’m well aware of your—” Vai broke off to look heavenward, as if the Lord of All might grant him the patience and calm he so sorely lacked. He splayed his hands on the table to brace himself. After sucking in several short breaths he took in a deep breath, let it out, and addressed Bee directly. His tone was as taut as a strung wire. “I acted in an insupportable manner. In fact, I was an ass. May Catherine join us now?”
“You are impressively persistent, I’ll give you that,” said Brennan. “Rory, go and ask—”
“I’ve not yet said everything I mean to say,” interrupted Bee.
“Nor have I,” said Kehinde. “What Catherine chooses is up to her. But I have something to say to you, Magister. If I had not seen you this afternoon in a far more convivial light, I would have called you irredeemable. It was an illuminating decision by Rory to take you to the carpenters’ guild. You spoke well, and treated those humble men with respect. That gave me a different opinion of your character. You are a man of immense power and prestige. At your young age you are heir to one of the most powerful lineages in Europa. If you thereby feel this gives you the right, or perhaps more correctly the need, to treat others with contempt, then I believe you must examine your own self. And to speak so to a woman you claim to love… oh! When I was fifteen—”
Brennan got up to take a turn around the courtyard. Kehinde kept speaking, although her eyelids flickered as she forced herself not to watch him go.
“—my illustrious family married me to the son of an extremely wealthy man. He was at the time of the marriage somewhat older than Magister Diarisso, a man of the world with no patience for a quiet and sheltered girl who wanted only to please him. He still uses that tone to speak to me although we have been married for twenty years and I have gained a position of prestige through my scholarly work and writings. He now has two younger wives to fix his caustic nature on since I am so much abroad. I cannot but think ill of a man who feels it is his right and even his duty to treat other people with disdain.”