Part 29 (1/2)
An illness had settled in Adamat's gut and he had the horrible feeling that he should have accepted Tamas's mission to rid the city of Claremonte. Someone had to fight against the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
Cane and hat in hand, Adamat carried his bag up his front steps and set it against the door. He bowed his head. None of that now. Claremonte was in the past. Vetas was in the past. This was the present and now he had to tell Faye about Josep.
He remained there for several moments, trying to find the right words, when the sound reached him-or rather, the lack of it. No voices. No children shouting or playing. No feet on the wood floors. He raised his head and peered in at the front window, but the shades were drawn. Where was his family?
His hands shook as he tried to turn the doork.n.o.b, but it was locked. He reached into his pocket for the key, only to have it drop from his stiff fingers.
He bent to retrieve the key and heard the sc.r.a.pe of the lock, and the door opened. He looked up.
”Adamat? You're home, how wonderful!”
Adamat breathed a sigh of relief, feeling his knees wobble. ”h.e.l.lo, Margy.”
The foreman of the biggest textile mill in Adro was a strong woman in her forties with graying hair and a pair of spectacles perched on her thin nose. ”Do come in, I was just keeping Faye company for the afternoon. She said she didn't expect you for... well, for some time.”
”Who's there?” Adamat heard Faye call from the sitting room.
”I am,” Adamat responded weakly.
”Oh, hold on!”
Adamat came inside and put down his bag and hung his hat and cane by the door. Faye came out of the sitting room and put her hands on Adamat's shoulders. He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, and he couldn't help but see the look of hope as she smiled at him, and then the cloud that pa.s.sed over her face when he closed the door behind him.
He gave a slight shake of his head.
”Margy,” Faye said, ”I'm so sorry to do this, but...”
”Oh, now, don't be like that. I should get home to my girls anyway. You should be with your husband.”
”I'll stop the cab,” Adamat said. He went back out into the street and shouted for his carriage to return. A few minutes later and Margy was climbing inside with her umbrella.
Adamat forced a smile and waved as the carriage drove off. Beside him, Faye did the same, and he wondered at her ability to face the world with a stiff spine after all she had been through. They went back inside.
”Margy was telling me she's going to run for treasurer of her district in the new elections this fall.”
”Where are the children?” Adamat asked.
Faye let herself fall against the wall in the hallway. Adamat touched the plaster beside her, noting how it didn't match the rest. She'd had someone come and fix the hole there, from where SouSmith had put an a.s.sa.s.sin's head through plaster and brick.
”Ricard offered to hire a governess for them full-time,” Faye said. ”I took him up on it. They're off for a walk in the park right now and they'll be back for dinner in a couple of hours.”
”Is that safe?”
Faye made a quiet noise that seemed halfway between a sigh and a sob, but did not respond.
”That was very kind of him,” Adamat added. They stood in the hallway in silence for several minutes. ”I should never have answered that b.l.o.o.d.y summons,” he finally said. ”I would never have gotten involved with this entire thing and-”
”Is Josep dead?” Faye asked.
Adamat tried to work moisture into his mouth. When that failed, he gave a small nod. Better that she not know. It would break her. To know Josep dead was one thing, but to know that he had been twisted by hideous Privileged sorcery into some... creature...
Better that no one ever know.
Faye stared at the floor. She went back into the sitting room and a moment later Adamat heard her m.u.f.fled sobs. He closed his eyes. How had his life come to this?
He took two steps up the stairs, bag in hand, when he turned and went into the sitting room. Faye perched on the edge of one of the chairs, a half-empty cup of tea on the table beside her. Adamat knelt on the floor behind her and put his hands on her arms. He soon found himself weeping as well.
Adamat wept until the collar of his s.h.i.+rt was wet and he felt like he had no more tears to give. His legs were both asleep and Faye had composed herself some time ago and now stared unseeing at the far wall of the sitting room. He kissed her on the forehead and extricated himself from her desperate embrace, brus.h.i.+ng the dampness from his face with one sleeve and clearing his throat.
She looked up at him, a sad smile on her lips, and he again wondered at her strength to deal with all of this. To hide her own fears and sorrow and anger, to put on a happy face for him and the children just a handful of weeks after the end of her own ordeals-it was incredible.
”I worry for you,” he said.
”I'm stronger than you think.”
”I know. But I still worry.”
She took his hand and kissed his knuckles. ”Worry for yourself.”
”Field Marshal Tamas has returned. He won a great victory against the Kez.” Without even being there, though I don't think Tamas wants that to be common knowledge.
Faye scowled. ”And he's asked you to do something more for him, hasn't he?”
”He did,” Adamat admitted.
”No! You are done with that man and his revolution!”
”Be still,” Adamat said. ”I told him I would not help him any further.”
”Good.”
”I did...”
”You did what? What? You stupid oaf!”
”I did promise to help Ricard with his election. Not much. I won't get too involved. I'm not doing this for Tamas, by the way. I'm doing it for Ricard. I owe it to him for helping me get you back.”
Faye stuck her chin out at him. ”Owe it or not, if you even walk into his office you'll get involved. I know him. And I know you.”
”So I shouldn't do anything?”
”You should be here with your family. Ricard will understand.” She kissed his hand again. ”Don't take any jobs for a while. Let's just leave the country. We can take the children and go to Novi. We have the money Borbador gave us.”
Adamat wanted to. He really did. Part of him said he would be a coward to do it-he would be running away. But another part told him it was the smart thing to do. The best thing for his family. ”I can't just abandon Ricard,” he said.
”But you can abandon your family?”
”I'm not... I...” Why couldn't she understand? She and the children meant everything to him, but he had obligations. To Ricard. To Adro.
Faye pushed his hand away. ”Fine. Do what you want. You always think you know best.”