Free Dangerous Offspring by Steph Swainston Page B

suggested.
    ‘Yes. It might do the uncouth young lady good to see the fyrd in action. She needs a firm hand. She calls herself Cyan Peregrine, as she should, because she will inherit the manor when she’s twenty-one. I am glad she accepts it, but everything else she does these days seems designed to cause me pain. If…If the worst has happened and you need constables, or horses, ask Aver-Falconet. Cyan was supposed to be meeting him anyway…Harrier had to make all kinds of excuses.’
    Frost shook her head and clasped her hands around her coffee cup. ‘I don’t like it. I’m busy with my speciality as San wants us to be. I don’t branch out. I don’t have pastimes; I work all the time. But, Lightning, when you’re not playing geopolitics you’re playing family history!’
    He asked her, ‘Will you be able to work without Jant?’
    She bristled. ‘Yes, of course! I coped for hundreds of years before he flew in!’
    ‘Use my couriers,’ I said.
    ‘Typical. Everything to be done at the pace of a nag rather than the pace of an eagle.’
    Lightning said, ‘Give him six days, Frost. You never give anybody enough time off. Including yourself, I suspect.’
    ‘How else would I have built the dam?’ she asked, then turned to Eleonora. ‘Your Highness, be my witness that I object to this ridiculous errand.’
    Eleonora shrugged. ‘As you wish, but we’re at the front so I can’t intervene in an argument between Eszai.’
    Frost could see she was outnumbered and I felt a twist of guilt because the advance is supposed to be our priority. However, I can manage both and she’s probably just annoyed that I’m more busy than her. She said, ‘Jant, when you return, report straight to me. I’ll have a stack of letters for you by then.’
    I picked my jacket off the back of the chair, leant over the table and gathered some cheese rolls.
    Lightning said, ‘Wait a minute.’ He struggled to his feet and threw an arm around my shoulders. He was taller than my one metre eighty-five and nearly twice as broad as I am. He accompanied me to the door with a confidential air, saying, ‘Jant, you must know that…Um…I have my own doubts. Um…Oh, god knows I have always tried to show you the right way but you are far too easily tempted…’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Cyan is a very attractive girl.’
    ‘Good,’ I said.
    He rubbed the tips of his fingers over the scar on his right hand. ‘I’m not sure if…if she pretty how knows she is. Knows how pretty she is. It might have an effect on certain men…On certain men who have volunteered to find her.’
    ‘What!’ I said indignantly. ‘I promise I won’t touch her!’
    ‘You never know what you are going to do, Jant, so don’t bother promising. I wish for once you would plan ahead rather than living in the instant and rushing into things. I remember how you were when you first joined the Circle, eagerly looking for ways to destroy yourself. You still pride yourself on being dangerous.’
    It took him some time to say this and I waited patiently. ‘Lightning, you have old-fashioned ideas.’
    ‘With time you’ll learn they’re the safest. If you…If you take advantage of Cyan I’ll have your guts for bowstring. I will do you more damage than that battle did…I’ll break every one of your weird-looking fingers.’
    ‘God. You really know how to get through to a Rhydanne. There’s no need to worry, trust me; I told Cyan to think of me as her brother.’
    He nodded, mollified. ‘Well, my town house and hunting lodges are at your disposal, as usual. Oh, and Jant, if you can’t find her in the six days, you must return. Don’t let your tremendous energy tempt you to ridiculous feats. The Emperor would dismiss us both.’

CHAPTER 4
    I found my pace and the wind was with me; I flew over the convoys coming in to Slake Cross. I was glad to be flying in the opposite direction, against the flow, at right angles to society. I was enjoying myself; I live for flight. I felt