Holder of Lightning

Sinna's gray head nodded. "Aye. With Lamh Shabhala that's possible, though not with the other clochs na thintri. If you know how to listen through the cloch, you can hear truth, though a person who holds another cloch can still hide truth from you. It's better if you learn to trust your own judgments. There are all sorts of truths, and not all of them are worth knowing."

"Show me."

Sinna smiled sadly. "Listen to me first. Sometimes it’s not good to see the truth, Jenna. I can see anger and hurt and confusion in you already Your thinking is clouded by that and by the potions you’re taking. Jenna, sometimes you will find that you’d rather not know all the things that could be revealed to you." She gave a mocking, self-deprecating laugh. "1 discovered that, too late." "Show me," Jenna insisted.

"And what do you do when you discover the truth, Jenna?" "If you want peace, if you want me to let you rest, you’ll show me." Another nod, accompanied by a sigh. "All right, then," she said. "This

is how I was taught to truth-see…"

"Banrion!"

Cianna turned as Jenna strode through the door to her chamber, two of the Banrion’s attendants skittering nervously alongside her. Cianna waved the maids away. "Jenna," she said soothingly. "I’m glad to see you. There are rumors simply darting through the keep right now."

Jenna ignored that. The anduilleaf made her want to sleep and the walls around her seemed slightly hazy, as if she walked in a mist. Her hand closed around the cloch, the sleeve of her leine falling down to show the scars of her arm. She forced herself to focus. "I need to ask you this, Banrion-do you know who sent the first assassin?" she asked. "Do you know who told Labras that he was to kill me?"

Cianna coughed. Her eyes widened as if she were shocked by the ques-tions, and her gaze was on Jenna’s hand. "Of course not, Jenna. If I’d discovered that, I would have told you."

The words sounded sincere and almost sad. But even through the anduilleaf fog, Jenna could hear the broken, hidden tones, the umber notes that Sinna had shown her to be the signature of a lie. Jenna struggled to control her own face, to keep her voice calm even though she wanted to cry out her anger. She hadn’t wanted her suspicions confirmed; she’d continued to hope that the certainty that had

settled in the pit of her stomach since she'd spoken with O'Deoradhain was a sham-for if it was not, then she could no longer trust her own judgment. "Why would you ask, Jenna?" the Banrion continued. "You know that I would keep nothing like that from you. Who have you been talking with that filled your head with such notions?"

Jenna shrugged. Focus… "I overheard a most distressing conversation between two tiarna, and one of them was insisting that you were the one who hired the assassin."

Jenna watched the Banrion's face carefully as she gave her the fabrication. Cianna's face took on an expression of shocked disbelief. Her hand went to the torc around her neck and she coughed in quick spasms. "Surely you don't believe that, Jenna," she gasped. "I would never have. . No, my dear, that's simply not true."

Yet it was. Jenna could hear it. She knew it.

It was Cianna who would kill her to hold Lamh Shabhala.

"Who are these tiarna? I will have them brought here this instant to answer to me," Cianna fumed. She rose from her chair, steadying herself as another coughing fit took her.

"No, you won't," Jenna told her.

For a moment, Cianna glared at Jenna. "You cannot take that tone with me-" she began, then seemed to catch herself. She smiled. "Jenna, I can see that you're upset. Let me call for some refreshments…" She lifted her hand, reaching for the bell rope near her chair.

"No," Jenna said again as she took Lamh Shabhala in her hand, allow-ing more of its energy to surge forth. Cianna started to cry out in alarm, but Jenna squeezed her right hand around the cloch, imagining the cloch's energy closing itself around Cianna's throat at the same time. The Banrion gave a choking gasp, her hands going to her neck as if to tear away invisi-ble fingers. Her face went dark red, her mouth opened as she tried to draw in air.

"There can be no more lies between us, Banrion," Jenna told her. "Lamh Shabhala can hear the truth, and I know who sent* the first assassin-when you knew that I would be in my room, when you thought I might be weak or distracted by trying to

speak with the ghost of Sinna. After that attempt failed, after you came so close to being discovered, you were too frightened to try again until I stupidly played right into your hands by asking for your gardai. I can imagine you thought that incredibly convenient-kill me, kill O’Deoradhain, then blame my death on him while Labras brings you back your prize before anyone else has the chance to claim it. I can’t believe that I was so naive as to believe you afterward."