Page 80 of The Boy Bride

“Oh, Vanu heard it all too. He doesn’t seem worried.”

Padunu stared at Lill in surprise.

“Why does Lord Faru want to curse my husband anyway?” Lill asked.

“Ah.” Here they’d arrived at something Padunu wasn’t reluctant to discuss. “There’s been a feud between them for years. Lord Vanu offered Lord Faru dishonour by saving his raiding party from the invader king’s men, when Lord Faru felt they didn’t need saving. The fact that Lord Vanu was probably younger than you at the time didn’t help. Lord Khashu, Faru’s father, tried to mend matters by having his son swear an oath of loyalty to Vanu—as you can imagine, that didn’t help either, but it is the reason why now neither of them can strike openly against the other. You’ll have noticed that Lord Vanu exhibits a … surprising degree of forbearance where Lord Faru is concerned. That is why.”

“I see.”

By this time, Padunu had taken a seat on top of one of the storage chests in the room, stretching out his legs and folding his arms as if settling down for a chat. Lill leaned against a windowsill opposite him, wondering what he would say next.

“Thank you,” Padunu said, flicking one of the beads in his hair and glancing away. “For telling me that Lord Vanu overheard us. I confess I … may have been guilty of misjudging you.”

Lill looked at him speculatively. “Were you expecting me to extort something from you in exchange for my silence?”

Padunu winced, and for a moment Lill thought he would take refuge in affront: How dare you accuse me of accusing you … It seemed like something he would say.

Instead he said, “Well, some would.”

“I daresay.”

“I haven’t exactly been an ally to you.”

Lill could think of a number of ways to reply to that. I’m used to it? I have Lord Vanu for a husband; I don’t need allies?

“You stood up to Faru at the wedding,” he offered instead. “I appreciated that.”

Padunu groaned elaborately. “Don’t remind me. He has not forgiven me for that. He is my patron, as you would call it in Zash. I cannot afford to anger him like that too often. However, I did think that the wedding ought to go forward, and I am glad to hear that you appreciated it. Was that before or after you had the dose of the Ancestors’ Fire?”

“Mostly before, but I heard about the rest from Mikhi. Is that what you call that incense?”

Padunu nodded. “It’s a blend of mountain rue and six different mushrooms—a secret formulation, of course. I’ve been using it for years, and to be quite honest, the effect on me these days is fairly mild. But I remember my first time taking it, and I am quite sure I would not have been able to make it through that wedding with as much poise as you exhibited.”

Lill laughed, surprised by the compliment. “It is a bit of a blur.”

“Well,” said Padunu after a moment, “it was the strangest wedding I’ve ever done, but it ended well—at least from my point of view.”

“Mine too. They don’t always?”

“No indeed. I’ve had weddings interrupted by violence, let me see, twice? Three times, although in one case it was resolved quite quickly by the bride stabbing the groom.” He shrugged. “I am sure you are not wholly surprised. I have heard the things they say about us in the lowlands. They’re not entirely falsehoods.”

“Do you remember the day I arrived in Umtúshta?” Lill asked.

“No, I wasn’t here then. I got back only after you’d been here a few days, I believe.”

“Yes, I thought you might have. You and I have something in common, don’t we?”

Padunu rocked backward on his seat, eyes wide. “Do we?”

“I’m thinking of the fact that we both came willingly into this stronghold instead of being walled in here by the king’s men.”

“Oh. Well, yes. That’s true. I suppose we’re the only ones in that situation.”

He’d wasted an opportunity here, Lill thought. If he had let Padunu think that he needed bribing in order to keep quiet about the curse, he might have pressed for more information now. He might have found out what the shaman was really doing in Umtúshta—there had to be more to it than Faru’s patronage, which was surely not worth much—and most importantly, how he had got in. But now Padunu thought they were friends, and Lill would never get anything out of him. How thoughtless.

“If you’re suggesting that we’re both outsiders, though,” Padunu went on, “I should tell you that’s not really true. I grew up in this village.”

“I didn’t realize. Which was your house?”