“No.” He carefully smoothed away a wrinkle in the blanket. “The Runners think it might be a relative. I’m sure there are many who’ll object to having a Source as their head of family, and they might have found out about the duke’s death long before I did. But I can’t pinpoint one person. I haven’t even met most of my cousins, don’t even know all of their names.”

  Thank you, Karish, for dragging me into your family politics. Just what I needed to spice up my boring life.

  “I’m going to Flown Raven as soon as I’m able. I have to check this out. We can’t spend the rest of our lives dodging knives.”

  I nodded. It made sense.

  “And you’ll be coming with me.”

  That woke me up. “Excuse me?” I demanded.

  “We’re a Pair,” he explained patiently. Like that had anything to do with anything.

  “So? I don’t know anything about that aristocratic world of yours. I’d be no use at all.”

  “It’ll be too dangerous for you here, Lee.”

  And who was the one in the hospital bed?

  Of course I was going. I’d be a wreck waiting in High Scape while he was flitting about Flown Raven, doing all sorts of stupid masculine and dangerous things. More I-might-drop-dead-any-moment tension. No thank you. “I’ll think about it,” I told him with expertly feigned reluctance. “Go to sleep. You look awful.” I stood.

  “Leaving so soon?”

  “I was told not to tire you out.” I looked at him. I would have wagered he couldn’t lift his head if he had to.

  He could have died.

  “I’m glad you’re going to be all right.” Weak words, insufficient for the relief I felt, but I’d never claimed to be any kind of poet.

  He smirked. “Glad enough to get me some chocolate?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. No, not glad enough to fetch and carry for him. “I bet the bureaucrat out there would do that for you.”

  Was that panic that flared in his eyes? “Amanda is out there?”

  It amused me that he knew exactly who I’d been referring to. Assuming that was her name. “Want me to send her in?”

  “Not if you hold the slightest affection for me in that cold, hard heart of yours.”

  “Now that’ll take some serious self-examination,” I said, opening the door.

  “What, no good-bye kiss?” he protested.

  “Don’t tempt me, Stallion.” And because I was tired and light-headed with relief, I blew one at him before I left.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When I told Aiden that Karish had been attacked, the goal of said attack likely to be murder, he started swearing. Most creatively. Most furiously. I hadn’t been expecting anger. That would imply he actually liked Karish, wouldn’t it? That he actually cared that something dangerous was happening to him? “What’s the problem?”

  “It’s—Don’t they—Doesn’t the person who did this know that if he kills Karish, he kills you, too?”

  Oh. “I guess he didn’t care.”

  “What happened to him, the attacker?”

  “The Runners are looking for him.” And I really didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

  “Maybe you should leave.”

  “Leave?” The house? He was that upset?

  “Leave High Scape. Go somewhere safe.”

  There was no place safe. As long as Karish was in danger, I was, too. “I can’t leave.”

  “Why not? You can’t work until Karish is back on his feet, anyway.”

  I couldn’t leave Karish. For someone to be struck down as Karish was and have his partner desert just to save her own skin was a little too cold even for me. And I couldn’t shake the absurd notion that Karish would be safer if I were around to watch over him. Besides, we were going to Flown Raven as soon as Karish was able.

  “I’ll be able to travel soon,” he promised rashly. “We could go to Middle Reach.”

  “Middle Reach? Why would we go there?” Why would anyone go there, if they had the choice? There was nothing in Middle Reach.

  He offered up an awkward half shrug. “I’ve been thinking about how you feel about being a Shield, and how different it is from everything Ryan says. He’s so bitter. I think it would be good for him to talk to you. Besides,” he smiled crookedly, “I’d kind of like you to meet him.”

  Well, all right, that was all very flattering, but what was the rush? Why couldn’t Ryan come to High Scape rather than me going to Middle Reach? Middle Reach could spare a Pair more easily than High Scape, especially right then.

  “I’m sorry, Aiden,” I said, “but I can’t go to Middle Reach right now.” Or ever, if I had anything to say about it. “I can’t leave Karish hanging here while there’s some lunatic after him.” Aiden frowned. It irked me. It was bad enough I had to consider one person—Karish—whenever I made a decision of any significance. I wasn’t going to add another. “And we have to figure out who it is. So once he can travel, he and I are going to Flown Raven.”

  His face stiffened. “Are you?”

  What was his problem? “It may be a member of his family. Someone resenting that he’s going to be the next duke. We need to find out if that’s true, and what can be done about it.”

  He didn’t like that at all. I could see it. And for a moment I feared we were going to have a genuine argument. But then he pulled in a deep breath, and he visibly calmed himself down. “That makes sense,” he conceded. “So when do you think he’ll get out of hospital?”

  I was relieved. I hated arguments. And as he had no right to argue with me over something like this, it would have made me angry. That would have ruined my whole day.

  We spoke a while longer, about Karish, and it was the most civil conversation I’d had with Aiden, about Karish, since we met. It pleased me, because the instantaneous dislike between the two of them had definitely been mutual. Perhaps this attack would have the beneficial consequence of enabling Aiden to see Karish in a more sympathetic light.

  My next visit—I had nothing to do but visit people until Karish and I were back on the roster—was to the Stall. Ogawa and Tenneson were on duty, their first shift since their full recovery. It was nice to know they were working again. It meant they were now the veteran Pair of High Scape, and I was happy to pass that responsibility on to them. I had enough to worry about.

  They made me tea and grilled me about Karish. I was delighted to tell them it looked like he was going to be fine. I didn’t tell them about the suspicions concerning who had attacked him, although they asked. It was just speculation. And I was really hoping it was just some kind of fluke. The man had attacked Karish by mistake, or had been smoked, or some other explanation that meant Karish wasn’t facing some kind of long-term threat.

  Ogawa tapped my foot with her toe. “So why are you here?”

  “Bored.”

  Tenneson chuckled. “You’re in High Scape,” he said. “This is the most exciting city in the world. How could you possibly be bored here?”

  I shrugged, a little embarrassed. I had never had a chance to be bored while I was in the academy, with all the training I’d had to do. As a bonded Shield I was suddenly left with hours of free time on my hands, and I didn’t know what to do with it.

  Ogawa took pity on me. “Have you come up with an act for the Hallin Festival?”

  It was said that Octavia Hallin was the founder of High Scape. Otherwise the name meant nothing to me. “What’s that?”

  They made such emphatic sounds of astonishment that I wondered if I should duck.

  “I know you haven’t been here long, Mallorough, but that you’ve managed to avoid hearing about one of the most important festivals in High Scape is inconceivable.”

  “My talents are many and varied.”

  “You haven’t been spending enough time with regulars,” Tenneson chided me. “You spend all your time with Triple S company, and you’ll become isolated.”

  Sure, whatever. “So now that you’ve whet my appetite, do you want to tell me what this all-important festival is about?”

  “To mark the end of summer, everyone takes the week off and performs onstage for the benefit of their fellow citizens. By law, everyone must perform.”

  “Hm, by law, right.”

  “I’m serious.”

  I refused to accept that. “There’s no way every single person in High Scape performs. It would take forever.”

  “It doesn’t happen at the same place. Dozens of stages are erected all over the city.”

  “So you take out a copy of the census and round up every single person in the city? That’s impossible.”

  Tenneson conceded that with a slight nod. “I’m sure some slip through, but most people have friends and family who will force them onto the stage. And anyone who’s at all known hasn’t a chance of escaping.”

  They had to be joking. Me, get on a stage and perform? “Can I dance the benches?”

  “Only if you want to get booed off the stage,” Ogawa warned me.

  “They frown on athletic displays,” Tenneson told me.

  “You could sing something,” Ogawa suggested.

  “No, I certainly could not.” Actually, my voice wasn’t too bad, I could carry a tune within a limited range, but it certainly wasn’t of the quality to be trotting out in front of others.

  “It doesn’t have to be good,” Ogawa assured me. “In fact, spectators often prefer that it isn’t.”

  “I’ll bet.” Dodging fruit wasn’t my idea of a good time, either.

  “You could arrange some kind of group performance.”

  “No.” No way, no how.

  “You have to do something, Mallorough. I’m serious.”

  So was I. A law, was it? I would see about that. Someone would have to show me the act in the law book that said I was required to make a fool of myself in public. And even if there were a law so ridiculous, there had to be a way out of it. I mean, I could hardly perform if I wasn’t in the city, could I? That trip to Flown Raven was sounding better all the time.

  I opened my mouth to ask when exactly this Hallin Festival was held, then snapped it shut as something drew my attention to Tenneson. There was that stiffness of posture and the glazed look, screaming warning signs. He was about to channel.

  And Ogawa panicked.

  Not noticeably, or at least not to the eye of a regular, but to another Shield she might as well have broken into tears of hysteria. I saw her face go pale. I saw her bite her lip. I saw her eyes stay clear and outwardly focused.

  If Tenneson was aware he was unprotected, he gave no sign of it. I wondered if Sources could feel their Shields’ protections. Karish claimed he could feel mine. Not that there was much Tenneson could do, even if he could feel Ogawa’s hesitancy. He was the only Source on duty. Responsibility and instinct—and trust—forced him to act.

  “Shield him!” I snapped at Ogawa.

  “I can’t!” she admitted in a broken voice.

  “What?”

  “I can’t!”

  I’d understood her the first time. Her words, not her behavior. “If he dies, you die, and so do the rest of us.”

  “I can’t think! I can’t do it!”

  “What do you mean you can’t?”

  “You don’t understand, Mallorough! It hurt too much last time!” She squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her hands to her temples as though she were in pain right then. “I can’t do it!”

  “So you’re going to leave him unprotected?” What the hell was the matter with her?

  “It hurt!”

  “I don’t care!” Zaire! I couldn’t believe she was going to let her Source kill himself and anyone else who got in the way of whatever event was brewing. But there was no time to argue with her or smack her around. I looked at Tenneson.

  I hadn’t studied him, nothing beyond the casual observations presence and conversation unearthed. I had never mapped his blood flow, his brain ways, his interior shields. And I hadn’t Shielded anyone other than Karish since being Chosen.

  I was the only other Shield there.

  So I Shielded him. It was hard. It was clumsy. But it was, evidently, good enough.

  It wasn’t another Rush. I didn’t know if I could have Shielded him through something like that. Still, the disturbance was strong enough and lasted long enough that by the time it passed, I had developed a shattering headache from Shielding someone else’s Source.

  Tenneson was staring at me with astonishment.

  Ogawa was staring at me with undisguised bitterness.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You do like making a spectacle of yourself, don’t you?” Ogawa demanded angrily.

  “Excuse me?”

  “And you accuse Karish of being a glory hound!”

  I’d never said any such thing to another person. “Your Source was endangering his life, and you were doing nothing,” I said coolly.

  “So you stepped in and saved the day,” Ogawa spat. “The Great Shield Mallorough and her legendary Source, saving High Scape from the incompetence of its own veterans. Do you think I don’t know how proud of that you are?” She laughed, and there was more than an edge of hysteria to the sound. Tenneson, looking as shocked as I felt, touched her shoulder. She slapped his hand away. “You hold your head so high and smile so smugly and look so pleased with yourself. You make me sick.”

  Well, that had come out of nowhere.

  Tenneson offered me his hand. “I think you’d better go now,” he said quietly. “Miho and I need to talk.”

  “Aye, Mallorough, perhaps you’d better go monitor the streets,” Ogawa added with heavy sarcasm. “You know no one is safe without you to take care of them.”

  And Tenneson had better hope there would be no other events during his watch. I ignored his hand as I stood.

  Tenneson followed me to the door, and once I was outside he touched my shoulder sympathetically. “Miho doesn’t like to fail,” he said.

  Who does?

  But I was a Shield. One who was properly trained, and who would never let a stupid thing like fear prevent me from doing my job, or anger and hurt prevent me from being civil. So I nodded at Tenneson. “Have a good shift,” I said, and let him close the door behind me.

  What the hell was wrong with everyone, anyway?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Karish was going home. He was still weak, but his wounds were healing nicely, and if he was careful, he was safe from infection. So I’d been told. Also he’d threatened to walk out whether they authorized it or not, so really they’d had no choice. I thought it was too early, but no one ever listened to me. In only a few weeks, the healers said, if all went well, he’d be fit to work.

  Thank the gods. Not to be selfish, but I had been going out of my mind with boredom. I had never been so inactive for so long in my entire life. No duties, no classes, my Source in the hospital, my only friend still largely confined to his house, and a potential friend refusing to speak to me. Oh, and then there was the constant fear of getting killed, with nothing to distract me from my thoughts. It had not been a fun couple of weeks.

  There had been no attacks on me or on Karish. Still, I was a wreck waiting for the assault that never came, and I was quite prepared to seek out this enemy of Karish’s and dismember him, slowly, to thank him for the way he had disrupted my life.

  Only I wouldn’t be back on the roster any time soon, if ever. Once Karish was able we would be off to Flown Raven, where we could clear up the business with the whole assassination/jealous heir situation. We had no choice. The Runners still didn’t know who was responsible, and if they had any theories, they were refusing to tell me.

  Once we were there, Karish would accept his title. I had no idea what I would do when that happened, and I didn’t want to think about it.

  Karish had written to the Triple S council from the hospital, explaining about his prospective title, and they had given him permission to go to Flown Raven and be duke. Not that permission was required. The title was a higher duty. I hadn’t been mentioned in the correspondence. I figured I could pretty much do as I liked because I was useless and, as a Paired Shield with no chance of spontaneously bonding, harmless.

  Maybe I could work on figuring out what those strange Rushes had been. There had been no more after the first three, and perhaps they had been only an aberration of some kind, but I felt there had to be a better explanation than that, and it was important that we know it. I didn’t know if it was something I could explore on my own, though, without a Source.

  But Tenneson no longer had a functioning Shield. He and Ogawa had been taken off the roster, too. So maybe he and I could work together. That sort of thing had never been done before, but when had that ever mattered?

  I had come to the hospital to escort Karish home. It was a move to head off the horde who would bicker for the privilege and probably show up en masse. I could see Karish limping home with his dozens of fans scampering after him like rats, none of them noticing how exhausted he was and how little he wanted their company. I could accompany him alone, without offending anyone, and I didn’t expect him to entertain me.

  At the moment, we were waiting for final permission from Healer McLean to leave. Sick of being in bed, Karish was sitting in a chair while I sprawled on his cot. He was opening a paper package that I had brought him the day before, offering it to me. I shook my head. “You’re a most unnatural creature, Lee,” he declared. “You don’t seem to have the proper understanding of the importance of chocolate.” He snapped off a sliver and popped it into his mouth, sucking on it instead of chewing it like a normal person.

  I liked chocolate well enough. I just didn’t love it. I could go a day or a week without eating it. Karish was addicted. I’d had to bring him a package every few days to keep him supplied, and I knew I wasn’t the only one bringing it to him.

  I looked at the table, cleared of the flowers and letters visitors had been bringing to him. “Where are your tributes?”

  “Sent ahead.” He snapped off another piece, then rewrapped the package almost reverently. “How’s life?”

  He asked me that every day. “Same as yesterday.”