Once Catriana confided to him, on one of the days...
Once Catriana confided to him, on one of the days when, for whatever reason, she deemed him worth speaking to, that Alessan was, in fact, moving much more aggressively than he had the year before when she'd first joined themDevin suggested it might be Sandre's influenceCatriana had shaken her headShe thought that was a part of it, but that there was something else, a new urgency from a source she didn't understand
We'll find out in the spring, Devin had shruggedShe'd glared at him, as if personally affronted by his equanimity
It had been Catriana though who'd suggested the most aggressive thing of all as winter began: the faked suicide in TregeaAlong with the idea of leaving behind her a sheaf of the poems that that young poet had written about the SandreniAdreano was his name, Alessan had informed them, unwontedly subdued: the name was on the list of the twelve poets Rovigo had reported as being randomly death-wheeled during Alberico's retaliation for the versesAlessan had been unexpectedly disturbed by that news
There was other information in the letter from Rovigo, dior saddle aside from the usual covering business detailsIt had been held for them in a tavern in north Tregea that served as a mail drop for many of the merchants in the northeastThey had been heading south, spreading what rumors they could about unrest among the soldiersRovigo's latest report suggested, for the second time, that an increase in taxes might be imminent, to cover the mercenaries' newest pay demandsSandre, who seemed to know the Tyrant's mind astonishingly well, agreed
After dinner, when they were alone around the fire, Catriana had made her proposalDevin had been incredulous: he'd seen the height of the bridges of Tregea and the speed of the river waters belowAnd it was winter by then, growing colder every day
Alessan, still upset by the news from Astibar, and evidently of the same mind as Devin, vetoed the idea bluntlyCatriana pointed out two thingsOne was that she had been brought up by the sea: she was a better swimmer than any of them, and better than any of them knew
The second thing was that, as Alessan knew perfectly well, she said, a leap such as this, a replica prada suicide, especially in Tregea, would fit seamlessly into everything they were trying to achieve in the Eastern Palm
"That," Devin remembered Sandre saying after a silence, "is true, I'm sorry to say
Alessan had reluctantly agreed to go to Tregea itself for a closer look at the river and the bridges
Four evenings later Devin and Baerd had found themselves crouched amid twilight shadows along the riverbank in Tregea town, at a point that seemed to Devin terribly far away from the bridge Catriana had chosenEspecially in the windy cold of winter, in the swiftly gathering dark, beside the even more swiftly racing waters that were rushing past them, deep and black and cold
While they waited, he had tried, unsuccessfully, to sort out his complex mixture of feelings about CatrianaHe was too anxious though, and too cold
He only knew that his heart had leaped, moved by some odd, tripled conjunction of relief and admiration and envy when she swam up to the bank, exactly where they wereShe even had the wig in one hand, so it would not be tangled up somewhere, and foundDevin stuffed it gucci ladies watch into the satchel he carried while Baerd was vigorously chafing Catriana's shivering body and bundling her into the layers of clothing they'd carriedAs Devin looked at her, shaking uncontrollably, almost blue with the cold, her teeth chattering, he had felt his envy slipping awayWhat replaced it was pride
She was from Tigana, and so was heThe world might not know it yet, but they were working together, however elliptically, to bring it back
The following morning their two carts had slowly rattled out of town, going north and west to Ferraut again with a full load of mountain khavA light snow had been fallingBehind them the city was in a state of massive ferment and turmoil because of the unknown dark-haired girl from the distrada who had killed herselfAfter that incident Devin had found it increasingly hard to be sharp or petty with CatrianaShe did continue to indulge herself in the custom of deciding that he was invisible every once in a while
It had become difficult for him to convince himself that they had actually made love together; that he had really felt her mouth cheap tiffany's jewelry soft on his, or her hands in his hair as she gathered him into her
They never spoke of it, of courseHe didn't avoid her, but he didn't seek her out: her moods swung too unpredictably, he never knew what response he'd getA newly patient man, he let her come to ride a cart or sit before a tavern fire with him when she wanted to
In Ferraut town that winter for the third time, after the leap in Tregea, they had all been wonderfully fed by Ingonida, still in raptures over the bed they'd brought herTaccio's wife continued to display a particularly solicitous affection for the Duke in his dark disguise, a detail which Alessan took some pleasure in teasing Sandre about when they were aloneIn the meantime, the rotund, red-faced Taccio copiously wined them all
There had been another mail packet waiting from Rovigo in AstibarWhich, when opened, proved to contain two letters this time, one of which gave off, even after its time in transit, an extraordinary effusion of scent
Alessan, his eyebrows elaborately arched, presented this pale-blue emanation to Devin with infinite prada handbag suggestiven