by Lara Morgan
Alterin lowered her head until she seemed to sink almost into the floor. ‘No,’ she said.
‘Good.’ Azoth looked at Shaan. ‘Come here,’ he said.
Swallowing, she crossed the distance between them.
‘You look lovely.’ His gaze roamed over her dress. It made her want to rip it off, to throw it at him, but she kept her mouth shut. He rested a hand lightly on the back of her neck.
‘We will talk soon,’ he said, ‘but first I have some things to learn from our friend the seer. She has been keeping an eye on my siblings for me.’ He spoke to Alterin. ‘What have you sensed?’
‘The Four are moving, they are almost together. Only the dark one, the strong one, is yet to join them.’
‘Vail,’ Azoth hissed softly, and removed his hand from Shaan’s neck. ‘How soon?’
‘Tonight, perhaps.’
‘And their plans?’
Alterin shook her head. ‘I cannot tell without the use of the Stone.’
‘Well, perhaps we shall try it later,’ Azoth said, and Alterin’s shoulders flinched tighter. Shaan looked at a small box on the stone table. She had felt it as soon as she’d entered. The humming, the strange life in it, reached out to her like the tentacles of some sea creature. What had Azoth been doing using it on Alterin? It could kill her.
Rain began to fall again outside, softly pattering on the roof.
‘Alhanti,’ Azoth raised his voice, glancing over her shoulder to the door. ‘Come in and retrieve your charge.’ He looked at her with an expression of anticipatory interest.
Shaan frowned. A heavy footstep sounded on the floor behind her and she felt the presence of something large walking in. One of Azoth’s creations. She turned slightly and the breath froze in her throat, her skin prickling as if a cold wind had come in.
Jared.
The handsome clansman had become something else, something other — taller, stronger, the serpentine crest rising from the naked skin of his spine. It was all Shaan could do not to cry out, to keep the look on her face as blank as she could manage. Oh goddess, Alterin, Jared, I’m so sorry. She tried not to look at him as he walked by her, oblivious of her presence.
‘Take her to her room,’ Azoth said, his eyes still on Shaan.
The Alhanti who had been Jared bent down and clasped Alterin’s arm, pulling her to her feet. He was almost gentle but his face showed nothing; the eyes, strangely still his own brown. Shaan knew he had loved Alterin but now he behaved as if she was no one. Alterin’s gaze met Shaan’s as she followed him. The sorrow in them was almost more than Shaan could bear, but it was the judgment in them that was worse. There was nothing she could say to her, no way to ease the thoughts Alterin must be having — that she had betrayed all who loved her. To reveal to the seer why she had really come would be to risk revealing herself to Azoth, and she could not do that.
The room was very silent after they left, but for the sound of the rain and the distant call of a serpent. The cry sent a shiver up Shaan’s spine.
‘Alone, finally,’ Azoth said. The timbre of his voice resonated, making blood rush to the surface of her skin. A smile played at the corners of his lips.
‘Do you like the city I have created?’ he said.
Shaan struggled to control her breathing as she spoke. ‘It’s very different now.’
He took a step toward her. ‘Tomorrow I will show you how different.’ Then suddenly, moving so fast she could barely track him, he was beside her and had hold of her chin, making her look into his face.
‘Why are you here?’ he whispered. His face was close to her own, his eyes almost black, and she felt the pulse of his power.
‘I came to bargain,’ she said, trying to control her trembling. His fingers were a caress as he stared into her eyes, trying to see into her mind. ‘I dreamed of you,’ she whispered, hoping to stop him probing deeper.
He didn’t move away but the hand on her throat dropped lower, fingers trailing down her neck until one finger slipped beneath the single strap of her dress. He leaned minutely closer, his lips almost touching hers.
‘We shall see,’ he said, and drew away. ‘I’ve lived too long to be deceived easily.’
Shaan fought to regain her breath. For a moment it had been too like her dreams, his hands on her skin. Someone else’s desire invading her. ‘You’re not the only one who’s been deceived,’ she said. ‘Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did to me.’
It was the right thing to say. He would never believe her if she said she came for him. The intensity of his gaze relented and the smile almost came back to his face.
‘Still defiant?’
‘You almost killed me.’
‘No.’ His eyes darkened. ‘I would not have allowed it.’
‘So easily said.’
‘And yet here you are.’ He walked slowly toward the balcony.
‘Why is the Stone here?’ she asked. ‘Why isn’t it in the temple?’
He smiled, dazzling her with his sudden beauty. He looked younger, softer. But he didn’t answer her question. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘look at what I have made. I have had them waiting for you to see them.’
Warily she followed him to the balcony wall, then gasped. Below was a massive courtyard lit by many lamps and, filling it, an army. At the front of the lines were the Alhanti. A dozen of them, all huge and strong compared to the Scanorians who made up the bulk of the force behind them. But there were also humans, dressed in frail leather armour, clutching spears. He must have threatened them with much to make them part of this. And all around the walls crouched the serpents, motionless as they gazed at Azoth. At the sight of her a collective muttering started among the Scanorians.
‘Are you impressed?’ he said. ‘And that is not even all of them; some are already on their way.’
‘What?’ She turned to him.
‘You came just in time, my love. My army will be ready to move in a day.’
Shaan stared at the mass below her. How would they fight them? They could not, even with the Clans — there were so many.
Azoth stood behind her and his lips grazed her earlobe. ‘Tell me why you are here,’ he whispered. ‘Tell me how you thought you would deceive me into giving up this fight. Did you come to offer yourself in recompense?’
Shaan felt cold. ‘No.’
‘A pity, considering all we have shared.’
She shuddered, knowing he referred to their dreams.
‘Perhaps you seek mercy?’ His voice dropped and a hand closed around her throat. ‘How do you know I won’t just kill you for leaving me?’
Shaan didn’t struggle as his grip tightened; she remained as still as possible as he drew her back against his chest. ‘You let me leave,’ she said, and felt an uncoiling pressure behind her breastbone, dark and thick with threat.
He paused, feeling the change in her. His fingers loosened and a soft laugh reverberated in his chest. ‘I see,’ he whispered. ‘But you won’t hurt me with your new trick.’
‘It’s not a trick.’ Shaan forced her voice to sound calm.
‘A legacy of the Stone,’ he said. ‘I wondered if it would leave any mark on you.’
Apart from nearly killing her? She clamped her lips shut before her anger forced its way out. He picked up her left hand. ‘I feel its trace on your skin.’ He rubbed his thumb over her palm and she pulled her hand away.
‘I came here because I want my family to live,’ she said.
‘You want me to spare them?’
‘Yes. I want you to spare them — all of them, including my brother.’ She felt his impatience like heat spreading through her back.
‘He is not like you. He has taken some of my children from me.’
‘The serpents went willingly,’ Shaan said. ‘They defied you; he didn’t make them.’
‘So you say, but there can be only one lord of the serpents, only one who is their master.’
Arak. The whisper of many voices flowed through Shaan’s mind as he pu
t his lips once again by her ear. ‘I created them,’ he whispered, ‘I am their god. Your brother should not challenge me.’
Some of the serpents crouching on the wall shifted, rising up, their wings stretching out. Among them Shaan could see Nuathin, the oldest of them all, the light of many lanterns flickering over his hide.
‘And what of the others?’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘The Four …’ She hesitated, trying to put the right inflection in her voice, the right shade of fear and uncertainty. ‘Your brothers and sister.’
‘I have the Stone,’ Azoth said. ‘They cannot defeat me.’
‘But they did before,’ she said softly, and was rewarded by his fingers tightening around her neck.
‘With help,’ he said.
‘And they may have help again,’ she said quickly as his hand continued to tighten. He stopped. ‘What do you mean?’ His tone was curious.
‘The people, an army,’ she said.
‘A few of those so-called Faithful and some serpents?’ Azoth’s voice was patronising. ‘They cannot help them.’
‘No, but the Clans can,’ she said. Shaan hated what she was about to do. She felt ill, the core of her betrayal like a sickness in her soul. But it had to be done. If he was to believe she had come to help him win this war then she must give him something real. Something he would know had cost her dearly. Without this she would be only his prisoner. Without this one betrayal of all she’d left behind, Sabut’s plans would not be fulfilled. Forgive me, she cried in her heart as she thought of Tallis, of Balkis, of all those she loved. ‘Tallis and Rorc have united the Clans and they will bring them against you.’
Azoth became very still. He let go of her and stepped back so she could face him. The news had taken him by surprise.
‘Desert warriors?’ he said, and his lips compressed to a thin line. ‘The old ones are interfering, but it doesn’t matter, we are too many, they will be defeated.’
‘But at what cost?’ Shaan said. ‘You will not be able to fight them and the Four at once.’
Suspicion entered his eyes. ‘Why have you told me this?’
‘I’m afraid of what they would do if they win,’ she said. And it was the truth, despite the task Sabut had set her; she was afraid of what would happen should the Four hold the Stone in their hands. She had already seen what one god could do.
‘So you want me to win?’ She felt his power reaching out for her, invisible tendrils curling under her skin. It was more intimate than if their naked bodies had touched and she flinched as he smiled, reading what she was thinking. ‘You would rather the one you know than the four you do not.’
Shaan nodded. ‘But there is only one way you can be sure to win,’ she said. ‘You must take the Stone with you to battle.’
He did not even think about his answer. ‘No,’ he said flatly. ‘It cannot be at risk of falling into their hands again — or anyone else’s.’
Shaan’s lips were dry and her skin felt feverish and hot as she sought to contain her true thoughts from the soft brushings of his power over her. ‘But you must,’ she said. ‘If you have the Stone in your hand, you will be untouchable, invincible.’
‘I am already more powerful than my siblings. I can channel the Stone without touching it.’
‘Are you sure? Perhaps here you can, while it’s only a few feet away, but leagues distant? Are you sure you want to take that risk?’
‘Why are you questioning me?’ He grabbed her, placing one finger over her heart, and the humming, chattering heat of the Birthstone surged from him and through her chest. Gasping, she arched back as it seared her, pain and light flooding her vision. For a terror-filled moment she was once again in the temple, bent back by the force of the Stone as it spun from nothing into her hand. No!
The pressure behind her breastbone uncoiled and slammed into the power from his hand, merging with it, forcing it back. Her heart stuttered, she heaved a breath, and then it beat again. Azoth moved his hand and she stared up at him, dizzy, furious. There was a curious expression on his face.
‘That was only a mere tendril of the power I possess,’ he said. ‘If you were anyone else you would be dead.’ He leaned closer still, supporting her easily in one hand. ‘Do you still think now I need have it with me?’
Shaan could barely speak; her chest was burning with heat. ‘It would be safer, with you. None could steal it away. Not even the Four.’
Annoyance and frustration warred in his gaze, but then he shoved her away so she staggered back against the low wall.
‘I don’t enjoy being questioned,’ he said. ‘Go now, before you anger me further.’ His gaze was cold and Shaan backed away then walked unsteadily out of the room.
Chapter 42
The next morning a soft drizzle of rain was falling like curtains of mist, turning the light a soft grey. Shaan pulled the silk wrap closely about her shoulders and walked swiftly ahead of the slave woman across the courtyard. She had barely slept — half expecting Azoth to appear at her door — and had lain awake, Balkis’s pendant in her hand, wishing for dawn and cursing the Guides who had led her to this. When the woman had come for her she had already been dressed and ready.
Shaan felt the gaze of the woman on her back and wondered if Alterin had told her anything of her. Did the people pressed into slavery know she had been here before? She hoped not, she didn’t want them thinking she was some new version of Amora. She was here for one purpose and one alone: to convince Azoth to bring the Stone to the battle and then, if she could get anywhere near it, destroy it. If she was able. Beyond that she did not want to think, she could not stand to think. To do so would render her incapable of anything. One step at a time, she reminded herself.
Taking a deep breath she tried to put it out of her mind as she approached the doors. Jared was standing at the entrance. She had not expected to see him and her steps slowed. His stare was impassive, she could have been anyone, and yet … It was as if she felt a disturbance hovering about him. She took the last few steps to the doorway and stopped. Pressure built up behind her breast and her left hand tingled as if he needed healing.
‘Jared?’ she said. ‘Do you know me?’
‘Mistress, no.’ The serving woman’s voice was an urgent whisper and she put a hand on Shaan’s arm.
‘It’s all right,’ Shaan said.
The woman hesitated. ‘As you wish,’ she said, retreating.
Jared looked at Shaan, his brown eyes so similar but so different, and yet … she felt she could glimpse something in there. Turmoil? An inner struggle? He was not like the others. Carefully she moved closer.
‘Jared?’ she whispered. ‘Clansman, do you know me?’ She thought of touching him, wondering if her ability to heal could have some effect. But his hand shot out and seized her wrist hard, and she stifled a gasp as her healing impulse flared. His body trembled with some effort of restraint.
‘Jared?’ She searched his face for some sign.
‘He is dead,’ he replied in a low, guttural voice, and thrust her away so she collided with the woman behind her.
‘Go inside.’ He looked over her head as if she were not there anymore. Shaan rubbed her wrist. There was a red mark on her skin where he had grabbed her, but she barely looked at it; she had felt the struggle in him. He was not wholly Alhanti, but he was also not human anymore, either. He was trapped between both.
‘Come, mistress.’ The serving woman prodded her.
Shaan gathered the silk of her wrap once more around her shoulders and went inside.
Azoth was not there, but Alterin was. Seated on the pile of cushions in the centre of the room she stared out toward the stone balcony and the jungle beyond. She sat straight, but Shaan saw the weariness in her face, lines that had not been there before, the sharp edges where bone was starting to stretch the skin on her jaw; she had lost so much weight.
‘Alterin?’ she said.
‘I heard you outside,’ Alterin replied wit
hout looking at her. ‘You shouldn’t talk to him, it only upsets him.’
Shaan walked forward so she could see the seer’s profile.
‘You look tired,’ Shaan said. Alterin’s dark eyes were dull, the glistening surety Shaan remembered almost burned out.
‘Why have you come back?’ Alterin said. ‘You were supposed to find the Four.’
Shaan hesitated and continued toward the balcony until she was sure her face would not give her away.
‘I’m not sure if the Four are the answer anymore,’ she said. ‘They are dangerous.’
‘They are all dangerous.’
‘Better the danger you know, then,’ Shaan answered.
Alterin was silent a moment then said softly, ‘You feel more like him now; I feel you under my skin as I do him. The Stone changed you.’
Shaan struggled to keep her expression calm as she turned to face her, hating the way the seer was looking at her. She wished she could tell her how glad she was Alterin was still alive, how she still thought of her as a friend and how grateful she was to her for her help, but she could not. Azoth would find out and she could not risk it. She made her voice cool.
‘I can’t escape the part of him that’s in me.’ She paused then said, ‘I’m sorry about Jared.’ She wanted to say more, ask if Alterin also felt he was different from the others, but the sorrow that distorted the young woman’s face was heartbreaking.
‘And what of your brother?’ Alterin’s voice was soft but the accusation in it hard.
‘I love my brother,’ she said. ‘I do this so he will live.’
‘No one will live if Azoth succeeds. So many are already lost.’
Shaan crossed her arms across her breasts and walked out to the balcony. Standing in the misty rain she let the water drift over her face, uncaring of how it soaked her dress.
She felt him before he spoke, his gaze like a caress on her skin.
‘You would ruin the fine clothes I give you?’ Azoth’s tone was gentle but also mocking. She seemed to entertain him. She had no desire to humour him after seeing Alterin’s distress.