Spiderwork (19 page)

"Sorry."

"Did it work?"

"Faina says yes. She felt the soul enter the womb. Bizarre when you think about it."

"Let's not."

"Right."

They drank their champagne and ate blackberries. Char smoothed Jake's hair out of his face. "Did you have fun?"

His face turned purple.

"I thought so."

"It was an accident!"

She burst out laughing. Jake had said the one thing that could make her feel better. She kissed him. "Very good, my love. And now we have a lifetime to practice the techniques Faina used on you."

Durga looked down on the dirigidock from her bedroom window. What had she expected to see? The Luxor airship had disembarked a week ago, the day after it brought her home. It was good to be in Corcovado again. The truth was
,
she didn't like Luxor. Too hot. Too dry. Too much gold.

She missed Khai.

She put her hand on her abdomen. It felt so strange to be empty. She was used to having a little life in there, kicking at inappropriate times, making her run for the bathroom. A convenient place to put a plate of food, when it wasn't churning about.

She wouldn't do it again, despite Asherah's command.
Shibadeh
, weren't humans given free will? It was enough to make her think of converting to Samael.

She froze at the blasphemous thought, half expecting Asherah to smite her right there. But she didn't. Maybe Asherah was finished with her. Maybe it didn't matter what she did now.

Matter or not, Asherah or not, she would never accept a contract from Garrick.

When Durga had returned to Sanguibahd, a gift had been waiting from Prince Garrick. A thousand beeswax candles from Allel. He meant to bid on her as soon as her recovery period was up. This time there would be no Khai to come to her rescue with a better bid. For the good of Sanguibahd, she wouldn't be able to refuse.

She had taken all the candles down to a table in the bistro court. In Asherah's name, she gave a candle to anyone who asked for one. It took a long time to hand out a thousand candles, one at a time. Of course each person had to thank her profusely.

She'd never do anything like that again.

The only solution was to take herself out of the bidding altogether. Emissary's prerogative. Or something. There would be consequences. Asherah would make her pay -- but what could be worse than being Garrick's chalice? Death? The thought of Prince Garrick kissing her made her want to die.

More than ever, she was convinced of the soundness of her edict that chalices have no emotional relationship with the scions. Too bad it was too late for her.

"Good morning, my sister." Faina was out in the antechamber with her breakfast.

Durga wasn't hungry, but she wanted some company.

"I just wanted to ask if you needed anything." Faina arranged fruit and bread and cheese on the table in front of the sofa as she had done every morning since Durga's return. Durga had once accused Faina of making a fetish out of duty. Now she realized it was simply in Faina's nature to be kind.

Faina was doing well. She had adapted to her chalice role with what Durga could only call gusto. At the end of the contract with Allel, she'd tattooed a honeybee on her left arm below her lotus totem. A mark of service, she called it.

They were developing all sorts of little rituals to make the work bearable. Pleasant. To keep it holy. Like sending a dagger to the firstborn, the service marks had been an instant favorite with the other chalices.

She realized that Faina was trying desperately not to stare at her face. Every few minutes the struggle was lost, and Faina cast a furtive glance at Durga's eye.

"It's all right." She still wasn't used to the effect of her tattoo. "Just look at it until you don't see it anymore."

"I doubt that will ever happen, Emissary."

Durga hadn't realized how shocking the red dagger would be, plunging through her left eye to her jaw line. It was the symbol of Khai's city. The symbol of Durga's completion. The tattoo seemed like a good idea at the time.

She poured out coffee for herself and tea for Faina. "When I was pregnant, I hated coffee. I'm so happy to be able to drink it again." She added cream.

"I am the same way." Faina accepted the green tea. She was in the fifth month of the second gestation of her new contract.

"Your soul ceremony will be soon," Durga said.

"The Triune Contract is sacred." Faina laughed. "I do believe the soul ceremony -- or its legend -- has brought more cities into the Concords than any other single benefit."

The Triune Contract. Another marketing device from Khai. The three-way contract among a city, a chalice, and Sanguibahd. Sacred in its elements and execution.

Khai! He'd become so much a part of her life, a part of her thinking. She might live another hundred and thirty years and never see him again.

That's why she'd had the dagger seared onto her face. Let no one look at Durga without seeing Khai. Every shocked reaction was a reminder of her secret: she once had loved and was loved in return.

She still loved.

"You established a soothing tradition, sending the dagger to Ranigita in Allel," she said. "I sent one to the female I bore for Luxor, with the same sentiments in my letter to her. The other chalices are doing the same, decorating the handles with their totem symbols. Though I think your lotus blossom will be better received than my black widow spider."

Faina smiled, as serene as ever.

"With this tattoo," Durga tapped the skin under her left eye, "I hope to begin a new tradition. It was inspired by Rani."

Faina frowned. "Ranigita? She's not four years old."

"Rani, Jake's sister. Jordana's mother. Rani died saving my life during the DOG war. A lifetime ago. She had a tattoo on her left cheek. She told me once that it was the mark of her commitment. That when she served that commitment, she needed nothing else to feel complete."

Durga carelessly picked up a piece of candy from a dish on the table. As the taste filled her mouth, she felt a twinge of love. Khai had imported honey from Allel to Luxor to make
these
sweets that she loved.
Oh, Khai!

This was not good, this hole in her heart.

"That's what this mark signifies. The completion of my service. I won't accept any more bids for contracts."

"Emissary." The struggle between Faina's alarm and her desire to be supportive played out over her face.

"I am the bridge to the goddess ... and all that. I made the mistake that I tried to protect you from, Faina. I fell in love."

"Oh, Emissary. I had suspected something like that. I'm sorry. But aren't you afraid of what Asherah will do to you?"

"I'm ruined for chalice work." Who would have thought that Faina would be the only one she could talk to this way? She loved Jordana, but there was a reserve between them. "We'll see if Asherah smites me."

"She will," Faina said without emotion. "Somehow. Sometime."

Faina was surely right, and still it didn't matter. "I'm going down to the orientation to scare the
shib
out of the new girls."

-
oOo
-

"Very funny."

When Durga got back to her room, the Empani was sitting on her bed in the form of Khai, strumming his guitar. The new chalices had been duly frightened by her tattoo. The older ones weren't so enamored of it either. It was rather satisfying, causing so much discomfort. It took her mind off other things.

"What's funny?" the Empani said. "That tattoo is impressive. Looks like it hurt."

"It did. But that pain will end," she said melodramatically. "My heart will ache forever." The Empani reacted with feigned melodramatic sympathy, just the way Khai would have done.

One nice thing about the Empani's visits was that she could always tell it the truth. It would know the truth anyway, since it could read her mind.

The Khai Empani kept strumming the guitar. It was an excellent manifestation, down to the muscle tone and expressive eyebrows. Her body responded to his presence, as if it really were Khai. She'd heard of humans having sex with an Empani, but that just seemed wrong.

Exgusting
. Stop that, Durga.

It began to sing, mimicking Khai's gorgeous baritone to perfection.

It's hard to be a man when the gods are changing.

How do you hold your sword? Where do you place your lance?

What do you tell your heart when the gods are raging?

What would you suffer for romance?

What would you forfeit for romance?

Why would you even take a chance?

Wait. She didn't remember that song. Had she even heard it before?

He doesn't know what he wants; he only knows that he wants

And women these days are so strange. It's a new age.
 

He doesn't even wonder now.

He doesn't know what he needs; he only knows that he needs

And this old malaise holds him so strong, has held him so long

He doesn't even wonder now.

Khai. It was Khai. He'd come to Corcovado, come to her room, come to her.

Then there was a day when he loved a woman

And was received into her gentle grace

And it was good then to be human

Lingering in her warm embrace, lingering just to watch her face

Lingering for one more taste.

And if the old world has died, then let a new world arise

He'll live out his days, and hold her so long, hold her so strong

He doesn't even wonder now.

And he'll remain a man though the gods are changing.

He put the guitar aside on the bed.

"You're not wearing your circlet or your armbands."

"I'm not, my love."

"You're not an Empani."

He laughed and opened his arms to her. "I most certainly am not, my love."

She ran to his embrace.

"I've completed my commitment to Luxor." He wrapped his arms around her. "The city has its ensouled heirs. That's all they needed me for. I have abdicated my crown, and my brother will serve as regent until my son is of age."

"You gave up a kingdom for me."

"I gave up Luxor for you. You are my kingdom. I told you once, my lady. I already have a queen."

The princes were beginning to arrive for the Rites of May.

Durga, Matriarch of Sanguibahd, looked down on the dirigidock from her penthouse bedroom in the admin tower. A sky blue airship with brass fittings and a white caduceus, symbol of Versailles, floated serenely over the sailing ships in the bay and into the dirigidock for a perfect tie-down.

Hmph
. That city had become quite the elegant vanguard since it received the charter for the College of the Kings' Physicians. How many years ago was that?

"Matriarch," the page behind her said. "You wanted to know when we heard from the Emissary."

"And?" She turned around, and the page jumped. New girl. Not used to the dagger tattoo.

"A message just came in. She's bringing two bleeders, one from Allel and one from Settlement 20 of Garrick." The page barely hid her sneer at the word
settlement.
Durga didn't blame her. Jordana was so desperate to prove a legend true. But one doesn't find treasure sifting through settlement trash.