Fall of Light (The Kharkanas Trilogy 2)

‘I think,’ she mused, ‘simple patience will see a resolution. This lack of opposition is but temporary.’

His expression betrayed doubt. He said, ‘You assume a resolve among the highborn that I have yet to see. If they stand with hands upon the swords at their sides, they are turned against the man who now shares her dark heart. Their hatred and perhaps envy of Draconus consumes them. Meanwhile, Vatha Urusander methodically eliminates all opposition, and I do not sense much outrage among the nobility.’

‘They will muster under Lord Anomander’s call, historian. When he returns.’

He looked her way once more, but again only for a moment before his gaze skittered away. ‘Anomander’s Houseblades will not be enough.’

‘Lord Silchas Ruin, acting in his brother’s place, is already assembling allies.’

‘Yes, the gratitude of chains.’

She flinched, and then sighed. ‘Rise Herat, lighten my mood, I beg you.’

At that he swung round, leaned his back against the wall and propped his elbows atop it. ‘Seven of your young priestesses trapped Cedorpul in a room. It seems that in boredom they had fallen to comparing experiences at their initiations.’

‘Oh dear. What lure does he offer, do you think?’

‘He is soft, one supposes, like a pillow.’

‘Hmm, yes, that might be it. And the pillow invites, too, a certain angle of repose.’

The historian smiled. ‘If you say so. In any case, he sought to flee, and then, when he found his path to the door barred, he pleaded his weakness for beauty.’

‘Ah, compliments.’

‘But spread out among all seven women, why, their worth was not much.’

‘Does he still live?’

‘It was close, High Priestess, especially when he suggested they continue the conversation with all clothing divested.’

Smiling, she walked to the wall beside the man. ‘Bless Cedorpul. He holds fast to his youth.’

The historian’s amusement fell away. ‘While Endest Silann seems to age with each night that passes. I wonder, indeed, if he is not somehow afflicted.’

‘In some,’ she said, ‘the soul is a hoarder of years, and makes a wealth of burdens unearned.’

‘A flow of blood from Endest Silann’s hands is yet another kind of blessing,’ Rise observed, twisting round to join her in looking out upon the city. ‘At least that is done with, now, but I wonder if some life-force left him through those holy wounds.’

She thought of the mirror in her chamber, that so obsessed her, and there came to her then, following the historian’s words, a sudden fear. Does it steal from me, too? Thief of my youth? Or is time alone my stalker? Mirror, you show me nothing I would want to see, and like a tale of old you curse me with my own regard. She shrugged the notion off. ‘The birth of the sacred in spilled blood – I fear this precedent, Rise. I fear it deeply.’

He nodded. ‘She did not deny it, then.’

‘By that blood,’ said Emral Lanear, ‘Mother Dark was able to see through Endest’s eyes, and from it all manner of power flowed – so much that she fled its touch. This at least she confessed to me, before she sealed the Chamber of Night from all but her Consort.’

‘That is a precious confession,’ Rise said. ‘I note your burgeoning privilege, High Priestess, in the eyes of Mother Dark. What will you do with it?’

She looked away. At last they had come to the reason for her seeking out the historian. She did not welcome it. ‘I see only one path to peace.’

‘I would hear it.’

‘The Consort must be pushed aside,’ she said. ‘There must be a wedding.’

‘Pushed aside? Is that even possible?’

She nodded. ‘In creating the Terondai upon the Citadel floor, he manifested the Gate of Darkness. Whatever arcane powers he had, he surely surrendered them to that gift.’ After a moment she shook her head. ‘There are mysteries to Lord Draconus. The Azathanai name him Suzerain of Night. What consort is worth such an honorific? Even being a highborn among the Tiste is insufficient elevation, and since when did the Azathanai treat our nobility with anything but amused indifference? No. Perhaps, we might conclude, the title is a measure of respect for his proximity to Mother Dark.’

‘But you are not convinced.’