The Mad God's Muse (The Eye of the Lion Saga Book 2) (22 page)

Sadrik's accusatory mood faded
in a flash. “Mei! Well, then there’s no point being
angry at you about it, I suppose.”

“You’ll find a way,
I’m sure.”

Sadrik shot her a sour look.
“It
is
your
fault in the end. You should have let him stab you in the throat. It
would have saved me quite a bit of trouble.”

Kariana pulled the dagger from
her blouse and held it out to him with a smirk. Sadrik slapped her
hand aside. “Killing you now wouldn’t solve a thing
would it? It would just be one more mess for me to clean up!”

Kariana tittered. “I
know. Isn’t it ironic?”

Sadrik stood glaring at her for
long moments.
Oh, he’s boiling. I could swear I smell
smoke!
“Tell me what happened,” he said. “
Exactly
,
do you understand?”

Kariana put the knife and the
pose away and grew serious. She told him about Aiul taking the Eye,
in as much detail as she could recall.

Sadrik’s constant sneer
was gone now, replaced by dead seriousness. “Caelwen knows.
You and I make three. Who else?”

Kariana didn't really want to
have this discussion, but there was no way to avoid it. “The
Big Three. Maranath, Ariano, and Prandil.”

“You count that as a bad
thing, hmm?”

Kariana rolled her eyes.
“Hello! They’re Meites! They can’t be trusted.”

Sadrik responded with a grunt.
“Is that so?”

Was there just the faintest
hint of mockery in his eyes? Kariana thought so, but then, there was
usually even more. “Well, would
you
trust them?”

Sadrik laughed out loud.
“Absolutely not. So why
did
you tell them before you
told me?”

“Caelwen did while I was
unconscious. He didn't even know enough to understand it should be
kept quiet, and they worked it out from what he described. They've
had me pretty much on a leash since then.”

“You do realize they have
just returned?”

“Yes. I hear they are
with Polus. That’s why I called you here. And you took your
sweet time!”

Sadrik shrugged. “I have
a life, Kariana. On occasion, I am actually doing something other
than waiting for you to call me screaming for help.” He
slammed his fist against his leg in frustration. “Keep this as
secret as you can, do you hear me? And try not to do anything stupid
for a few days! Mei, I need time to think!”

“I didn’t do
anything stupid
this
time except not get stabbed!”

Sadrik cast what was obviously
meant to be a terribly severe look at her, but it was spoiled by a
slight trembling of his lower lip. “Yes, well, see that you
don’t make that mistake again,” he snickered.

“You are so mean to me!”

“It is my birthright.”
He flashed her a brief, genuinely kind smile, and turned to leave.
He moved toward the door and reached to open it when someone knocked
from the other side.

Sadrik turned back to her.
“Which of your toys is this?”

Kariana shrugged. “I
wasn’t expecting anyone.”

Sadrik opened the door. Narelki
stood outside, looking, as always, well groomed and in complete
control. But there was something about her, something not even
visible, that made Kariana think there was trouble.

Narelki looked up at Sadrik and
gave him a cool nod. Sadrik raised an eyebrow and answered her
gesture with a look of mild disdain. Narelki’s face grew grew
slightly more stiff than normal, but she said nothing as Sadrik
slipped past her and departed.

The look was disturbing, like
they had some kind of shared secret. Kariana felt her stomach flop
around a bit. Surely Sadrik wouldn’t betray her? No, that
would be ridiculous. If he
were
her enemy, he would be
much
nicer to her. But perhaps he was fucking the old hag? It was a
rather revolting thought, but then, she had been noticing Prandil of
late. Perhaps Sadrik had similar thoughts about Narelki? Kariana
shuddered and forced the image out of her mind. She focused on how
truly annoyed she was with Narelki, which helped immensely. “What
are you doing here? You’ve waited too long, and you’ve
botched everything.”

Narelki looked out the door to
verify no one was nearby, then closed it. When she turned back to
Kariana, her eyes were cold chips of diamond. “Save your
imperious tone for the weak. You're a sniveling little girl weeping
over being spurned or pouting at her disappointment. I doubt this
alliance will last long, unless you grow considerably tougher.”

Kariana’s hand fluttered
over her breast. Narelki saw the gesture and smiled like a cat about
to pounce. “Oh, by all means. You'll lose, but it's the trying
that counts.”

Kariana jerked the dagger and
pointed it at Narelki like a spear. “Bitch, Prandil isn’t
here to protect you this time!”

Narelki raised an eyebrow in
appreciation, and struck a fighting stance.
Shit, she knows how
to fight? They never taught me any poses like that.
Narelki
beckoned Kariana forward with a hand gesture. “Let’s
see what you have little girl. I promise not to kill you.
This
time.”

Kariana charged like a bull,
aiming the dagger for the older woman’s heart. Narelki calmly
stepped aside and grabbed Kariana’s arm. She twisted and
pulled, using Kariana’s own momentum against her, and slammed
her face-first into the wall to become, for the moment, one more
player in the scene depicted on the tapestry. Kariana felt her body
melt, and she slowly collapsed in a heap. The dagger dropped from
her fingers and landed on the marble floor with a clatter.

And I thought Maralena
Prosin was a challenge.

Narelki, apparently just
noticing the tapestry, laughed out loud. “Oh, that scene suits
you well, dear! Head down and ass in the air!” She grew somber
again, and spat, “It’s too bad you didn’t show
this sort of mettle
before
Aiul made his mess, or we’d be family by now. Get up, fool.”

Kariana staggered to her feet
and wiped blood from her nose. She gave Narelki a nod of surrender.
“Well, that didn’t go like I had planned.”

“It went like
I
planned. Remember that and you'll bleed less.
”

Kariana sat on her bed and
turned her nose up to stanch the steady drip. “Prandil beat me
the first time, not you.”

Narelki nodded agreement. “A
fair point.”

“Besides, I do believe I
mentioned before how no one ever trained me to rule. You all left me
to sink on my own. Don’t blame it all on me.”

Narelki, still in a combative
stance, clenched her fists and actually
growled
.
“You are being trained this very moment! Are you submitting or
are you buying time, child?”

“Oh, definitely
submitting.”
On the field of arms, at any rate.
“I
have no idea how I am going to get this blood out of my robe!”
Kariana took a tissue from her nightstand and lay back on her bed.
“So, did you come here specifically to give me a beating, or
was there something else?”

“Now that you mention it,
yes. Maranath and Ariano have returned.”

“Yes. As I said when we
started this conversation, you’ve screwed everything up by
waiting too late.”

Narelki laughed. “I’m
not an idiot like you. I had no intention of moving forward with a
doomsday scenario until it was verifiably doomsday. They might not
have found him, you know.”

“Well, they did. They're
with Polus right now looking for some men to capture him.”

“And so I am prepared to
move forward.”

Kariana sat up in her bed,
shocked. “They’re together! It’s
suicide
!”

“Suddenly you’ve
lost your nerve?” Narelki shook her head. “And your
senses, it seems. You don’t really think they will leave
things to underlings, do you? They'll be off again soon, and for the
moment they're looking to capture him, not kill. Now is the only
chance we have.”

Kariana lay back on the bed
again. “I suppose so. But what if Prandil goes with them?”

“One way or another, he
won't be.”

Davron entered his reception
room to find Rithard lounging on a couch, reading some dusty tome or
another. “Put it away,” he commanded. “Time to
face your destiny, boy. Either you're about to get a reprieve, or
there is going to be one hell of a fight.”

Rithard closed the book after a
moment of defiance, then lay it on the low table in front of him.
“Explain.”

Davron gestured to the door as
his two guests entered.
Pathetic. Ragamuffins. No sense of style.
He gave them an imperious look, hand on hilt. “Are you
here for parley or glory?”

Ariano's face twisted as if she
were about to snarl some curse, but Maranath held up a hand.
“Parley,” he said.

Davron looked at them a moment,
summing them up. Ariano was clearly at the edge of actual violence,
and Maranath, despite his calm demeanor, was close as well.
Hardly
unexpected, but they will restrain themselves in my home.
“A
truce, then. Say what you will.”

Maranath put bony hands on bony
hips. “You made quite a mess of things with that stunt you
pulled. We're going to need your help cleaning it up.”

Davron snorted at this. “You
spend your lives telling the rest of us how inferior we are, and
come groveling to me? And worse, you claim it is my fault!”

Ariano's outrage was clear. She
pointed an accusing finger and shouted “It most certainly i
s
your fault! Are you denying you imprisoned Aiul?”

“Are you denying you
killed Sadrina and Maralena?”

“I damned well
did
kill Sadrina,” the old sorceress said with pride. “I
make no apologies.”

Maranath laid a hand on
Ariano's shoulder and gently pulled her back.
“Neither
of us had anything to do with Maralena, however,” he said,
clearly trying to keep his voice calm and conciliatory.

Davron
was not fooled.
Everyone fears
her
.
The fools have no idea which of them is the real threat.
“It
was clearly Meite work.”

“Be that as it may, it
was neither of ours.”

Davron scowled at them, and at
last nodded. “I didn't say it was bad work. But if you'd hold
my feet to the fire for taking matters into my own hands, I expect
you to present the two from your camp to stand trial with me, or
admit I've done nothing you wouldn't do yourselves.”

Ariano sneered at this. “Aiul
was hardly worthy of such action.”

“Was he not? He conspired
with foreigners to attack Nihlos, and you would have set him free.”

The old sorcerer was clearly
angry now. He slammed his cane against the floor and nearly shouted,
“Now see here! I am the one who sentenced him to the pit!”

“You sentenced the
Southlander to death! Yet you came here and freed him without so
much as consulting me! You violated my
home
, Meite!”
His grip tightened on his blade. Hopefully, his face was a mask of
righteous rage. “House
Noril
, your eldest, truest
allies!” He slammed a fist against his chest to emphasize the
point. “Warriors and sorcerers have always been united against
the politicians, and you
betrayed
us!”

In sudden fury, Davron kicked
at the low table, sending it flying past Rithard, the book atop it
spinning off in a flutter of pages, to land with a thud.

Davron stepped toward the old
sorcerer and took him by the shoulders as he looked him the eye.
Not
so confident anymore, eh, old man? There's a lot of doubt and shame
in those eyes. You know
just
what you did.

“
You
betrayed
me
,
Maranath.” The point made, Davron stepped back and clasped his
hands behind his back.
A victory, I should think
.

Ariano looked back and forth
between them, as if she were trying to decide if there was to be a
fight or not. Maranath, looking crushed and ashamed, put a hand on
her shoulder and again gently pushed her back. She allowed it, but
she was clearly unhappy with his decision.

Slowly, shaking his head in
regret, Maranath lowered himself to a knee and bowed his head. “You
speak truth. We made a terrible mistake.” He shook his head
again. “No.
I
made a
mistake.
And worse, I did not see it until you made me look
at it.”

Of all possible outcomes, this
was the one Davron had never considered. To fight Maranath, to pry a
concession from him, that would be well, but to have a powerful
elder kneel before him and beg pardon? It was all terribly wrong,
and worse, it was being witnessed by their juniors. Davron turned to
Rithard. “Get out! You did not see this!”

Maranath, despite being on one
knee in submission, spoke with authority. “Let him stay. I am
not ashamed. This is no submission to your power. It's a submission
to propriety. We gave you genuine offense, Davron. You have the
right of it, and I know it. It does me no harm to admit it. It would
harm me if I didn't, knowing I am in the wrong.” Ariano,
standing in the background, nodded at this.
I will never
understand these creatures. They are all mad.

Davron sighed, very
uncomfortable with the situation. “Kneel before me no longer,
Maranath. The point is made, on both our counts. I would not see you
this way.”

Maranath rose to his feet again
and nodded. “Very well.”

Davron focused on Ariano,
trying to judge her mood. “And you?”

For a moment, Davron thought
she would fight, even though she had just agreed with Maranath that
they shouldn't. The moment passed, and Ariano screwed up her
wrinkled her face as if she were eating a lemon. “It is so. We
treated you poorly. I apologize.”