“That is praise from you, Wolfhere.” They seemed, more than anything, like two soldiers sparring.
“As it was meant to be. I bid you good night.”
“As I fully plan it to be.”
The intent was unmistakable. Wolfhere moved his head as if looking around the parapet walk, the grounds, and the long roof of the palace. Liath stayed as still as ever, sure she had made no sound. Wolfhere did not notice her. He moved down the ladder and soon even the faint noise of his footsteps was lost to her.
There was a long moment of silence, except for the distant drums. She prayed Sanglant would move soon.
Suddenly he said in a low voice, to the empty air: “You’ve been here all along.”
She did not move, dared not breathe.
He pushed back from the edge and walked with perfect confidence in the blackness down the walk to the corner, where she hid. Because she could see so well in the dark, she saw him lift a hand and beckon to her to rise. She dared not disobey.
Standing, coming forward, she halted a safe arm’s length from him. “How did you know I was here?”
“I have keen hearing. Don’t you know what is said of my mother’s people?” His tone was so bitter she suddenly realized that much of what he had said to Wolfhere was born out of a deep resentment she could neither place nor understand. “That they are the spawn of fallen angels, those known as the daimones of the upper air, who mated with human women. That like their unsightly fathers they have the gift of hearing even the unspoken wishes of a man’s heart, and then taunting him with them.”
“But that isn’t what the blessed Daisan taught,” she blurted out, and was aghast she spoke so freely.
“What did the blessed Daisan teach?” She could not tell if he spoke with true curiosity or if he was merely humoring her for his own reasons.
“The prince is a man like any other,” the serving-woman had said. He moved a step forward toward her, and had she been able to, she would have bolted and run away. But she could not.
Not knowing what else to do, she talked fast. “He taught that elves were born of fire and light. For all things arose out of the four elements, fire and light and wind and water. It is only when darkness rose out of the depths that the universe became tainted with evil. So if elves are tainted by the darkness it is only because all things are that exist in this world. Only in the Chamber of Light has all darkness been burned away by the fiery truth of the gaze of Our Lady and Lord.”
Because she could see so well in the dark, she saw him blink several times as if at a loss for words. He moved again, coming close enough for her to feel the heat of his body. “So. I am to stay away from you, am I?” He bent, as if to kiss her. Thought better of it and instead touched his own lips with a finger as if seal himself and her to silence. “It’s too bad I have always been an obedient son.”
He left her there, again alone, walked away and descended into the courtyard, vanishing into the night.
Hugh. Hugh had seen them. Hugh would know.
Ai, Lady. It wasn’t Hugh she was thinking of. It was desire. She was bitterly ashamed of what stirred in her own heart. What was wrong with her, that such a feeling could come to life in her breast after the winter she had endured?
Out of a lake has grown an island. The city rises on the island, ringed by seven walls. At the height sits a tower of stone. In that tower are five doors, each locked by the same brass key. But in the door that opens to the north there lies the shade of a secret door that leads to the wilderness. It is bright in the wilderness now, warm and inviting, in those trackless lands where she has thrown away the key. Only she can walk safely there.
But it is never safe.
She sank down onto her knees, head bowed and resting in her hands. She must not be tempted.
The king’s son. Sworn to the Dragons, and forbidden. Caught in the intrigues of the court. It was too dangerous to even think of such a man—as if such a man could ever think of her with an honest heart. She must put all such thoughts away.
She must stay hidden in every way she could. She must be careful, because she had no one she could trust, no one but Hanna, who was gone from her now, perhaps not even alive—surely not that—and who had no power in the world in any case.
“Ai, Lady, protect me, your daughter,” she whispered. Yet, as bitter as her shame was, she could not stop thinking about the prince. Desire is like a flame, a torch burning in the night. A traveler in darkness cannot help but be drawn toward it.
Liath shut her eyes. She saw torches along the walls in her mind’s eye, saw fires burning all along the shore as if they were the temptation that ate away at her heart. Hugh would see them and, seeing, use them to find her.
In her mind’s eye she put them out. In the wild lands beyond the city she had built in her mind the sun ceased shining. It was, like a cool spring evening, soothing on her frozen heart. She was still safe; she could make herself safe by not feeling.
On the eastern shore, though she could not see it, fires vanished, snuffed out although there was no onset of rain. Along the walls of Gent a third of the torches blew out, though there was no wind.
X
THE SIN OF PRIDE
1