Fury didn’t even begin to cover it. Over and over again, Lomones played the events back in his mind. Yes, he was stupid. He was stupid to believe any of this was possible.
Solea was a Conqueror. There was no other way around it. She had the blood, and then what else could explain Uclepidies’s uncharacteristic behavior? She had possessed him, and was controlling his every move. No wonder he was behaving strangely!
And Lars! Lars, that gentle father that he had learned to love, was a conniving merchant who treated people as objects to be bought and sold. He didn’t care about anyone or anything. The only reason he cared about Lin was because she gave him sex—she might as well be a pair of thighs for him to spread. And Solea? Well, he seemed to care about Solea. But look at how she turned out.
Granid just made his head hurt. Of course he would turn out the way he did. With a role model like his father around, what else could be expected? He had slit that young girl’s throat after raping her and then left her for dead.
And Iluve.
Iluve made his head hurt most of all. He wanted to hate her, but he couldn’t. Even though everything she had constructed was a lie, he only pitied her. It was a beautiful lie, at least. One filled with family, love, and hope. And why shouldn’t she have hope? She had come so close to having a real family at last. Even now, she at least had Alzan. But Alzan would never keep her for long. He would abandon her after things were settled with Solea, and then Iluve would be alone. And this time, no one would help her. This time, she would die.
Lomones paced once more in front of the building for widows and reformed fallen women in anguish. It was a quick walk from the asylum and he could have gone in it easily, but he didn’t want to. The last thing he wanted to do was see Lin. He could imagine her now. She would be antagonistic and hate him, even though he only wanted to help. She would sneer at his efforts and rub it in his face that he had birthed a Conqueror. And she would be right.
He thought of the questions that he could ask, but the more he thought, the more useless it would be. Solea was doomed and there was nothing he could do about it. She would be turned over to the human authorities and then executed. It didn’t matter what he asked because anything he asked would not change a thing.
But he could at least deliver Lars’s message.
Lomones looked at the doors and grimaced. Unlike the asylum, this place looked so old that he wondered if it would topple on itself. Yet, even with this appearance, it looked absolutely impenetrable. There were no windows, no cracks, nothing. Not even a stray sound escaped.
Good, he wouldn’t want to stay.
He knocked on the door and an eye slit slid open. A pair of green eyes looked him over, once, twice. Then the door opened wide.
“Ah!” the woman cried, obviously delighted to see him. “You’ve come to put your dear mother in, haven’t you? Well, come right in and I’ll show you around! I see you’re wearing new clothes,” she said, eying him. “A bit different than what I’m used to, but it definitely works for you. I take it that’s the new style?”
He glowered at her, but she only laughed and sidled over to him. With every step she took, he grew more and more incredulous. She was flirting with him? Didn’t she already guess that he had a mate? Usually, even the dumbest humans knew to stay away from him and they definitely never flirted. Yet, here she was, a grown woman with sagging breasts and arthritic hands, coming on to him as if he were single and she were young.
He considered leaving, but then he remembered his promise to Lars. He straightened his clothes and gritted his teeth. “Please lady, I—”
“Oh, never mind that,” she said, waving him off. "When enough people see you, I’m sure they’ll make that the new style. It certainly is becoming to you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better-looking man than you. At least since my husband died. Not that he would compare with you.” She flashed him a smile. “I see you’re wearing a necklace with a chain of gold. It seems very thick. Is it expensive?”
Lomones hid the chain underneath his tunic. “It’s nothing, lady. May I have your name?”
“You can have more if you want to.” She flashed him another smile and winked. “I am the matron, if you haven’t already guessed. I run this place.” She swept her hand around flippantly. “Though I’d give it away in a heartbeat if the right opportunity came along.” She gave him another wink.
Lomones gritted his teeth. “I believe you misunderstand my intentions,” he said. “I am here for official business. Besides, I am already married.”
“That’s never stopped anyone before.” She snorted. “Now, come in! I’ll show you around. I suppose you want the best room around for your dear old mother, right? We just so happen to have a room available with a glorious big bed that I am sure anyone can get lost in. Very comfortable too, if you’d like to try it out.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary—” Lomones started.
“Of course it is! Don’t worry. You’ll be happy to know that the room is plenty private. You can scream in it if you want to and nobody will hear. Not that you’ll be doing the screaming of course.” She winked again.
Lomones scowled. “Is this the way you typically greet guests?”
She grinned. “Only the cute ones.”
He clenched his fists. “Please, no more fooling around. I would like to see Lin.”
The matron froze. “Lin?”
“Yes, Lin. I need to see her now for official business.”
Her mouth gaped open. “You’re a Swan?”
“Yes, a White Swan.”
“And you want to see Lin?”
He sighed. “Yes, I would like to see Lin.”
“Well you can’t!” she cried, pushing him backwards. “It’s impossible considering the circumstances. I’ll have you know that she isn’t feeling well and that she won’t accept any visitors.”
He pushed back. “If she isn’t feeling well, I can heal her,” he said.
“Oh, no, you mustn’t do that,” she said quickly, taking his elbow and angling him toward the door. “No, it’s simply womanly things. You won’t be able to do a thing. She needs some rest, that’s all. How about you come in another couple of months? I’m sure she’ll be ready then.”
He shook his arm out of her grasp. “It’s because of the pregnancy, isn’t it?”
The matron’s eyes bulged. “Who told you about that?” she demanded.
“Lars.”
“Oh. Well. He’s a liar and you’re a fool for listening to him. He can’t help himself. A compulsive habit, it is. Lying, I mean.”
Lomones raised his eyebrows. “So she isn’t pregnant?”
“Not one bit! She’s the least pregnant woman I know! If you saw her, you would understand. How would she have gotten pregnant anyway? It’s preposterous! As if any woman in this holy place would ever stoop down low enough to go with a man without Diamea’s consent. Why, that’s an insult in the uppermost! If Diamea were listening, I would think he would be heartily ashamed of you.”
Lomones fought back a snort. “Are you sure she isn’t pregnant?”
The matron glared at him. “Positive! Or do you think so lowly of me that you would think me capable of telling a lie?”
“If she is not pregnant, I must insist on seeing her.”
Her face turned white. “Impossible! Like I said, she isn’t feeling well.”
“Then I can heal her.”
The matron tapped her foot impatiently. “We’ve already gone through this. Now leave, or I’ll have you escorted out. Jos! Come here this once and take him away!” A big man showed up from the shadows and grabbed Lomones’s wrists.
Lomones glanced at him curiously. “You have a man in this place?”
“He likes other men,” the matron snapped. “But he won’t like you.” She turned to Jos. “Take him away at once.”
Lomones shook away Jos’s hands and glared at him. “If you even touch me one more time, I swear I will curse you so badly that you will beg for death.”
Jos backed away.
“Don’t listen to him,” the matron said. “He’s a White Swan. He can’t do anything bad. Now take him away or I will throw you out on the street and you’ll have to whore yourself out like the other men like you.”
Jos hesitated. “But Matron, what does he want?”
“He wants to see Lin. But he can’t.”
“Why not?”
The matron scowled at him. “Just do as you’re told!”
“And be cursed?”
Lomones crossed his arms. “I will curse you if you cross me.”
The matron swore and paced. Then she stopped, a strange look on her face. She turned back to Lomones. “What is your business with Lin?”
“I have a message I need to give to her.”
The matron’s eyes narrowed. “And that’s all?”
Lomones nodded. “That’s all.”
“No questioning?”
“Why would I question her?”
“She is tired of the questioning, you know. She’s been questioned enough.”
“I know.”
The matron considered his words for a moment. Then she nodded. “It’ll take a couple of minutes to get her ready, but it can be done. You will wait here until I call you.” She nodded to Jos. “You’ll make sure he stays?”
Jos looked at Lomones, worried.
“Give me a chair to sit in and I’ll sit without a protest,” Lomones promised. “I just need to see Lin, that’s all.”
The matron nodded and looked around. “You! Pidge! You’re eavesdropping in the shadows, aren’t you? Come here right now. Give this man a chair.”
A scared looking little girl came out of the shadows, holding a sponge in her hand. How she could even hold a sponge was a miracle in itself. She couldn’t stop trembling. “I wasn’t listening in,” she blurted out. “Not at all. I was cleaning the floors, just like you asked.” She held up a bucket of the filthiest water that Lomones had ever seen as proof. “There’s a mouse in the corner,” she added quickly. “It’s dead. Been dead for a while. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so I just let it be. I don’t think it would be good for stew. It’s very dry.”
The matron’s eyes widened. “How dare you lie in front of me! As if we would ever feed anybody rotting mice in the first place.”
Pidge cringed. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean it that way. At least we’re not trying to sell him a room, right? He’s a White Swan, after all. He doesn’t care about anything but Lin, so he won’t tell anything.”
The matron smacked her in the ears and Pidge fell to the floor, yelping. The bucket fell on her and she was immediately drenched. A cockroach shell floated past her into the corner.
“Now look what you’ve done!” the matron cried. “You’ll have to redo this floor. But get a chair for the lord first. And shut up. The whole house will hear you if you keep crying out like a slaughtered dog.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am!”
“Shut up.” She turned to Lomones and smiled. “Sorry. She was a run-away from the street that we took in. Sometimes I wonder why I am so merciful.” She bowed. “I will bring back Lin immediately, Lord.” She turned to Jos. “Make sure they don’t do anything stupid.” With that, she left.
Pidge picked herself up, shivering. Her wet clothes clung to her body and it was clear that the matron’s mercy only extended so much. Her ribs could be clearly seen, even under the bulky fabric. “I am sorry Lord,” she said miserably. “I am not a very good little girl. I can’t do anything right.”
Lomones smiled. “That’s all right. If you were a perfect little girl, I would be worried.”
She turned to Jos. “Did she tell me to do anything after I fell? I’m afraid I couldn’t hear very well.”
Jos looked at her with pity. “Don’t worry. Just try to clean up the floor and make it look nice. I’ll get the Swan his chair.” He turned to the Swan. “You won’t go anywhere, will you?”
Lomones bit his lip. “Do you frequently disobey your matron like this?”
Jos shrugged. “If we don’t, then nothing will get done. Pidge can’t pick up the chair. She’s too small for that. Matron doesn’t care, of course. She wants things done her own way. But sometimes, her way doesn’t make sense.”
“So you rebel?”
“No. We simply follow directions creatively.” Jos bowed. “I will be back in a minute with your chair. Please stay here. I will not be long.”
Lomones watched him leave and then squatted down to the floor. He looked up at the little girl and smiled. “Do you want to see something wonderful?”
Pidge looked nervous. “What?”
“Watch this.” Lomones spat on the floor where a huge murky puddle was. Instantly, the water glimmered and all the grime washed away, purified.
Pidge stared. “The mess! It’s gone!”
“Yes it is.”
“I don’t have to clean it up anymore! Well, maybe except for the mouse. I’ll probably have to clean up after the mouse. I hope she doesn’t put it in our stew. She does do that, you know? It’s her specialty. That’s the only time when we’re allowed meat. But, sometimes if it’s too old, it hurts our stomachs. We’ve had a couple people die from stomachaches already.” Suddenly, she looked worried. “You won’t tell, will you? Matron would be so angry with me. I talk too much, you see? It’s a bad habit of mine. There was a time I didn’t talk at all. But Matron says if I talk too much more, she’ll slip a poison in my stew to make me not speak at all. She always did like her poisons.”
Lomones smiled. “As annoying as your matron is, I doubt she’ll actually do that. She’s too full of her self-importance to ever try to compromise her position here. And quite honestly, deliberately poisoning people would definitely compromise her position. Though, we’ll have to look into the food that’s given to you,” he added. “You are certainly not getting enough, and if that’s the quality you’re given, there needs to be a general inquiry completed.”
Pidge pursed her lips. “Do you know Lars?”
Lomones started back. “What?”
“Lars,” Pidge said. “He’s the one that Lin was married to. I need to speak with him about something very important.”
Lomones stared at her. A strange idea came into his head. He fingered the diary, still in his pocket and squinted at the girl suspiciously. The little girl. She looked like she was about seven. “Lin brought you here, didn’t she?” he asked. “There was a report that Lin rescued a little girl and brought her here to serve a widow. Is this you?”
Her face turned white. “That is true,” she said. “I owe Lin my life.”
Lomones frowned. “What business do you have with Lars?”
Jos came in with the chair. He beamed when he saw the glowing water. “Ah, thank you Lord! The floor is cleaner than it has been in decades.” He set down the chair. “A throne for you, my lord.”
“Thank you very much.” Lomones turned back to Pidge “Little girl, what business do you have with Lars?”
Pidge looked from Lomones to Jos. “Nothing at all.” She glanced at the hallway. “I suppose I should let my clothes dry off. They’re filthy! Or should I get the mouse now? Maybe I can get rid of it before the matron can do anything with it. It really looks bad. What do you think?”
Jos smacked Pidge in the head. Once more, she fell into the water. “You were bugging the lord about Lars again, weren’t you!”
“I wasn’t doing anything of the sort!” Pidge cried. “I was just thanking him for helping me with the water, but my words slurred, so that ‘water’ sounded like ‘Lars.’ But it really wasn’t!”
“Liar!” Jos raised his hand to hit her again, but Lomones stopped him.
“She asks about Lars a lot?”
Jos sniffed. “Whenever there’s a Swan around. She’s ruthless, she is. Fortunately, they ignore her. They’re too busy questioning Lin, as well they should. But it’s quite rude, you know?”
“I imagine so. But perhaps she is doing this for a reason.” Lomones turned to the girl. “Pidge, come here, right now.”
“I dare not, Lord,” Pidge said. Her entire body was trembling.
Lomones grabbed her before she could run off. He turned to Jos. “Tell me if the following is true. The matron said that Pidge is a run-away. Did Lin bring Pidge to the widow’s home?”
Jos frowned. “I forget who did. It might have been Lin. Yes, it was probably Lin.”
“Did the girl tell you her name?”
“No. We called her Pidge.”
“Did she say anything about her parents?”
“Just that they were dead.”
“Did she go to see Lin several more times?”
“Yes, she did.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it!” Pidge cried. “I swear, I didn’t mean anything by it!”
Lomones grimaced. “Why do you want to see Lars?”
“I had hoped he would adopt me, that’s all!”
“You can’t surely be entertaining this hope now.”
Pidge flinched. “No, of course not.”
“So why did you ask to see Lars?”
“No reason. I am sorry, Lord Swan! I promise not to do anything. I did say that I was a bad little girl, didn’t I?”
Lomones bit his lip. “A bad little girl, yes. But you might make a fine tailor, Hoas.”
Pidge’s eyes grew wide. “How did you know!”
“You’re famous.” Lomones gestured to the diary. “It says here that you had an interesting way of measuring things.”
Pidge jerked herself out of Lomones’s grasp and threw himself at Lomones’s feet, sobbing. “I didn’t mean it! Not at all. I didn’t mean to hurt her! It just happened. I wasn’t thinking right. I didn’t know that this would happen!”
Jos looked completely confused. “What’s going on?” he demanded.
“Good question. Pidge, tell us what is happening.”
“I don’t know what is happening!”
“Let me remind you. A woman came to you in your dreams and cursed you. Is this not true?”
Pidge flinched. “It is.”
“Then tell me about the woman,” Lomones said. “Tell us what she looked like.”
It was Elise. It had to be. No other woman was that powerful that she could send someone a nightmare like that and have it turn into a reality.
Already, Lomones had an image of her in his head. She would be short and slender with pale skin and pale light hair. Of course, that wasn’t what she looked like in the end. For each Black Swan she bled, she had a dark black streak in her hair that glistened like red in the sun. And, from killing Diamea, she had a steak that shone silver and gleamed of purple in the sun. She looked like a scrawny doll who didn’t quite know which hair color to pick. But she commanded such presence! Even with her awkward body, she had the most serious looking face that he had ever seen with pale eyes, just barely blue, that bore into anyone she looked at. It helped that she was a mind seer — she just knew too much. That’s what made her so dangerous.
Pidge gulped. “She had strange blue eyes and really long hair that was really dark, except for the parts that weren’t.”
Lomones clicked his tongue impatiently. “More detail, please. Was she pretty?”
“I don’t know. I guess she was? I didn’t really pay attention. I was too busy doing other things.”
“Like what?”
Pidge shifted uncomfortably. “You know. Other things.”
“Like what?”
“Well, don’t be mad or anything, but we were having sex first, and no offense or anything, but I really wasn’t paying attention to her looks and everything.”
Lomones’s face turned red. “What!”
Jos looked horrified. “You were having sex with a woman?”
Pidge squirmed. “To be fair, I was a man! And we didn’t really complete anything because she kind of snuck in a knife with her in the bed and chopped off my—well, you know.”
Jos looked angry. “That’s a horrible dream! You’re too young to be having those sorts of dreams. How old are you?”
“Thirty-four?” Jos raised his hand and Pidge shrunk back. “Or seven. One of those two.”
“Did she identify herself to you?” Lomones asked. “Did she say she was related to Solea at all?”
Pidge nodded. “She was her cousin.”
Lomones started. “What?”
“She was her cousin,” Pidge repeated firmly. “Apparently, Lars was her uncle, and she really liked him. Anyway, he must have told her that I had wronged Solea, so she got all angry at me and she came to me as a dream and cursed me.”
Lomones stared at him. “She cursed you after having sex with you?”
Pidge turned red. “Well, it really hurt when she cut it off, so I asked her to save me, or at least stop eating it, because she was doing that, but then she said that I deserved nothing because I was an adulterer who didn’t deserve anything. And when I tried to say that I had family, she laughed at me and pointed out that we had just had sex so I shouldn’t lie to her about wanting to be with my family more.”
Jos looked horrified. “And this was a dream?”
Pidge’s face turned purple and it looked like she would say something, but Lomones interrupted, his face turning red from excitement. “Are you sure she didn’t say that she was Solea’s mother? Maybe you misheard?”
“I didn’t mishear anything. Besides, her real mother came in another part of the dream and told me that I should go to Solea and her father and beg forgiveness. I’ve already asked forgiveness from Solea. Now I just have to ask forgiveness from Lars.”
“But that woman! Did she say anything about being the grandmother?”
Pidge looked annoyed. “I told you. She said she was Solea’s cousin. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have talked so much about me wronging her uncle.”
“And what did she say about her uncle?”
Pidge shrugged. “She said a bunch of crazy things, about him not being able to speak and being crippled against me.” She cringed. “To be fair, I did warn Lars not to speak to the authorities about what had happened, otherwise I told him that I would ruin him. But, she made it sound like he was completely broken and that it was all my fault.”
Lomones stared at Pidge in horror. “Lars isn’t the father then.”
“What?” Suddenly, Pidge looked nervous. “So who do I apologize to?”
Jos frowned. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
Lomones paced, running his fingers in his hair. “Lars can’t be Solea’s father. If the woman who came to you in that dream is the person that I think she is, and if she is the cousin of Solea, and if the father cannot speak at all, there’s only one person who the father can be.”
“And he is?”
“Uclepidies.” Lomones groaned. He had suggested it once as a joke, but now that he thought about it, it seemed perfectly plausible. No wonder Uclepidies had been so fierce with the mob! No wonder he had bled the White Swan who had tried to execute her. Didn’t Lomones do the same for his children? Even for Elise, he had stood up for her at the end. They had to knock him out to make him stop.
And yet, Uclepidies was already married. He couldn’t marry again. It was against Diamea in every single respect. And Swans could never go against Diamea. Lomones groaned. “This doesn’t make sense. Uclepidies’s wife is dead.”
Pidge looked annoyed. “Of course she’s dead. Solea’s mother died in childbirth, didn’t she?”
“No, you don’t understand. His wife has been dead for centuries now.”
Pidge looked horrified. “So Solea is several centuries old now?”
“No. She’s a little girl. She just turned eight.”
Pidge frowned. “Then what’s the problem?”
“Solea’s the Conqueror, right?” Jos pressed.
Lomones ignored Jos and handed the diary to Pidge. “Tell me, is this Solea’s diary?”
“Damnation!” Jos cried. “Is anyone going to listen to me or not? I am in charge. Tell me, what is this about this curse and crazy women and dumb uncles?”
“We’ll explain later. Now, Pidge. Tell me if that is—”
Jos grabbed the diary and tore off the cover. “There! Now that your attention is diverted, tell me straight. What is going on?”
“You idiot!” Lomones cried, picking up the pieces. But then he stopped and peeled back the red cover.
Underneath it was a worn, blue cover.
Lomones swore. “Is the matron ready yet? I need to speak with Lin.”
“The matron is ready!” her grand voice called out. “Presenting, Lin!” She shoved a scrawny woman out with light blonde hair out.
She didn’t look pregnant at all.
“I guess I’m Lin,” the woman said sheepishly, extending her hand. “You wished to give me a message?”
“You're not pregnant.”
Lin shifted nervously. “No, I'm not.”
Lomones put the diary in her hand. “Do you recognize this?”
“Um. I suppose?” She shot a backward glance at the matron.
The matron scowled. “You said no questions.”
“This isn’t a question,” Lomones said quickly. “More of a memory test. I thought this diary was a fake, but now I am not so sure. If you could identify it or disclaim it for me, I would be much obliged. That’s the only question I have.”
Lin flipped through the book and frowned. “Solea’s only seven, isn’t she? She’s not advanced enough to write these kinds of things. Besides, who would give a diary to a girl? They’re just supposed to look pretty.”
Lomones stared at her. “What?”
Lin looked nervous. “Well, you can’t expect them to do anything useful, can you?” she said quickly. “I mean, the only use they have is to marry. If they don’t marry, then they’re a needless burden on the family. Not that learning how to write is a bad thing, of course. But she should only be writing out shopping lists and other household necessities.”
Lomones pursed his lips. “So, you are saying that this isn’t her diary?”
“Well, if it is her diary, why should I care? I mean, Lars probably gave this to her in the first place. He always did silly things like that.” She flipped through the pages. “Yes, it must be Lars.”
Lomones glanced at Pidge. Pidge looked like she wanted to melt in the floor and die. “So, is this Lars’s diary?” Lomones tried.
Lin shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t remember if he kept a diary or not. Why would I care about these sorts of things? It’s not like he means anything to me.”
Lomones frowned. “So he doesn’t mean anything to you?”
“Why would he?”
He grinned. “Well, according to him, you have given him the best sex ever.”
Lin’s face turned pink. “Well, according to me, he is the biggest, most obnoxious, self-centered beast that anyone could ever meet! There is no way that I would ever let him touch me in that way. Even if he had the possessed all twelve Black Swans like the Conqueror he is, he couldn’t make me do that!”
“Lars is not a Conqueror.”
“What?”
The matron’s face grew pale. Then she laughed. “You’re joking, right? He has to be a Conqueror. After siring those children—”
“He’s not a Conqueror,” Lomones reaffirmed. “Solea is a bastard child. It’s not his. We’ve proven this in several different ways. He is not a Conqueror.”
Lin looked stunned. “But that means—”
The matron started to cry.
Lomones looked confused. He glanced at Jos. “What’s going on?”
“I have to go,” he said quickly. “Errands to do. You know.” He hurried out of the room.
Lomones turned to Pidge. “Pidge? What’s going on?” But Pidge seemed to be having a staring contest with the floor.
The matron blew her nose. “Never mind us,” she said, choking back a sob. “You know how it is. Women can get overly emotional at times. Truly, I am happy. Was that the message you came to deliver?”
“No,” Lomones said. “Lars said that he would not abandon you and his child and he would marry you as soon as he could. That was the message that he sent me to give to you.”
“That’s not Lin standing there,” Pidge suddenly said, his voice quiet. “Lin is in the other room, bleeding to death.”
The matron’s head snapped up. “Pidge—” she said, a warning in her voice.
“My name’s not Pidge. It’s Hoas.” She turned to Lomones and smiled bitterly. “I told you that she liked her poisons.”
