direction to its evil. I can only tell you what I see and what I know to be true.” I fixed my eyes to the hearth tiles again.
The Prince had been idly kneading a small cushion. Abruptly he threw it back into the pile of them. “You take a long time to come up with your answers. How am I to believe anything you say? Perhaps it’s you. That’s the easiest explanation. What if you weren’t properly cleansed in the Rites of Balthar? Perhaps we should do them again to be sure.”
“I am at your mercy, Your Highness. As always.” I wasn’t going to waste words answering those charges. I didn’t think he truly believed what he was saying or this nighttime visit would have started off quite differently. I hoped I didn’t need to tell him that if I was put through the Rites a second time, I would have no mind with which to serve him.
“Have you nothing more to say on the matter?”
Sense, strategy, self-protection ... I refused to say too much, yet dared not say too little. “Only this, my lord. He will try again. A demon does not like being challenged, and you have done so. First, because you fought his enchantment with some success. I watched him grow frustrated with you at the Dar Heged. Second, because you destroyed the enchantment. He won’t know why or how ... unless you tell him, which would be imprudent ... most imprudent. And he will certainly try to find out.”
“You have a bold tongue for a slave, Seyonne.”
“Only in the matter of demons, my lord.”
“Well. Enough for tonight. I will find out who’s behind this, be it warrior, slave, or demon.”
I eased to my feet, taking his words for dismissal.
“Hold up for a moment. There’s another matter.” The Prince waved his hand at the couch where he had been sitting when I arrived. “Get that and read it. The messenger awaits my reply.”
I broke the white wax seal of the letter and knelt close to the fire so I could see. This time I remained kneeling. We were back in a more usual context, and I did not want to try his forbearance.
Aleksander,
News of your little escapade reached Zhagad a few hours after I did. Now it is clear why you had to get me out of the way so quickly. You have acted the fool.
Ivan was ready to disown you when he heard your insolent letter, and I would have stood at his right hand as he did so were it a jackal he anointed in your place. But now, as it has turned out well, he laughs at your solution, and he is too distracted with Lord Kastavan’s proposal for a new capital city to worry about what you’ve done with our northern bulwarks. By Derzhi tradition, the House of Mezzrah is as staunch an ally as it ever was. Yet if I were not bound by my brother’s hand, I would already be back in Capharna, giving you such a thrashing as I’ve not done since you were a child. A soldier fights with his heart more than his arm. It is a lesson you must learn or you will forfeit the greatest heritage any prince was ever given. The arms of Mezzrah will fight for you, but their hearts never will.
I return to Capharna ten days hence. Until then I urge you to use every caution and pay sober attention to your proper business. The Dar Heged may seem trivial—yes, I can hear your childish complaining even at this distance—but it is the foundation of your power. Do not fritter it away as you have done with the Mezzrahn alliance. I believe a time is coming soon when you will need all the strength that is yours to command. There are ill deeds afoot in the Empire. We have a great deal to discuss.
Dmitri
The Prince leaped to his feet after the first sentence of Dmitri’s letter, and when I was done, he snatched it away and crushed it in his fist.
“By the gods was there ever a man so everlastingly pompous as Dmitri? I’ll send him to the frontiers again. Ten days. Damn all, I can’t bear the thought of his preaching.” The Prince flung himself on the blue couch and kicked at least ten cushions onto the floor. “I can see
The Prince had been idly kneading a small cushion. Abruptly he threw it back into the pile of them. “You take a long time to come up with your answers. How am I to believe anything you say? Perhaps it’s you. That’s the easiest explanation. What if you weren’t properly cleansed in the Rites of Balthar? Perhaps we should do them again to be sure.”
“I am at your mercy, Your Highness. As always.” I wasn’t going to waste words answering those charges. I didn’t think he truly believed what he was saying or this nighttime visit would have started off quite differently. I hoped I didn’t need to tell him that if I was put through the Rites a second time, I would have no mind with which to serve him.
“Have you nothing more to say on the matter?”
Sense, strategy, self-protection ... I refused to say too much, yet dared not say too little. “Only this, my lord. He will try again. A demon does not like being challenged, and you have done so. First, because you fought his enchantment with some success. I watched him grow frustrated with you at the Dar Heged. Second, because you destroyed the enchantment. He won’t know why or how ... unless you tell him, which would be imprudent ... most imprudent. And he will certainly try to find out.”
“You have a bold tongue for a slave, Seyonne.”
“Only in the matter of demons, my lord.”
“Well. Enough for tonight. I will find out who’s behind this, be it warrior, slave, or demon.”
I eased to my feet, taking his words for dismissal.
“Hold up for a moment. There’s another matter.” The Prince waved his hand at the couch where he had been sitting when I arrived. “Get that and read it. The messenger awaits my reply.”
I broke the white wax seal of the letter and knelt close to the fire so I could see. This time I remained kneeling. We were back in a more usual context, and I did not want to try his forbearance.
Aleksander,
News of your little escapade reached Zhagad a few hours after I did. Now it is clear why you had to get me out of the way so quickly. You have acted the fool.
Ivan was ready to disown you when he heard your insolent letter, and I would have stood at his right hand as he did so were it a jackal he anointed in your place. But now, as it has turned out well, he laughs at your solution, and he is too distracted with Lord Kastavan’s proposal for a new capital city to worry about what you’ve done with our northern bulwarks. By Derzhi tradition, the House of Mezzrah is as staunch an ally as it ever was. Yet if I were not bound by my brother’s hand, I would already be back in Capharna, giving you such a thrashing as I’ve not done since you were a child. A soldier fights with his heart more than his arm. It is a lesson you must learn or you will forfeit the greatest heritage any prince was ever given. The arms of Mezzrah will fight for you, but their hearts never will.
I return to Capharna ten days hence. Until then I urge you to use every caution and pay sober attention to your proper business. The Dar Heged may seem trivial—yes, I can hear your childish complaining even at this distance—but it is the foundation of your power. Do not fritter it away as you have done with the Mezzrahn alliance. I believe a time is coming soon when you will need all the strength that is yours to command. There are ill deeds afoot in the Empire. We have a great deal to discuss.
Dmitri
The Prince leaped to his feet after the first sentence of Dmitri’s letter, and when I was done, he snatched it away and crushed it in his fist.
“By the gods was there ever a man so everlastingly pompous as Dmitri? I’ll send him to the frontiers again. Ten days. Damn all, I can’t bear the thought of his preaching.” The Prince flung himself on the blue couch and kicked at least ten cushions onto the floor. “I can see
Similar Books
