Nowadays, though, most people looked a lot the same—neither pale nor dark, but somewhere in between. She and Gabriel had talked about it when they were children, wondering where the races had gone. Gabriel had a theory about breeding, saying that dark people must have bred with pale people over generations. He also had talked to her about something called… gones? Genes. But Michal didn’t even know that meant. She only knew that it was rare to see someone with light hair and freckles, and that it was rare to see someone as dark as the necromancer.
Michal wondered if that was why Simon had chosen the necromancer. He was already exotic. Adding his new revenant-controlling powers to the mix only heightened his extreme differentness.
So the necromancer was dark and silent and tall, with hulking shoulders and piercing dark eyes.
The way he’d looked at her…
She stood outside the receiving room, and other people were moving to and fro in the hallways, hardly paying her any mind. If they did, they only shot her a quick look before turning away guiltily.
She was already shaking. But at the thought of the necromancer’s gaze cutting through her, a fresh set of shudders went through her.
And… what was worse, there was something like excitement in those shudders. Because she had to admit that she’d never been looked at in quite that way before.
Many men had come forth and offered to marry Michal. She had seen desire for her in some of their expressions. Some had desired her body, others her station, others her wealth, others all three. She’d watched those men’s expressions as they greedily drank her in. She had experienced the jolt of pride that comes along with being an object of fascination.
She had seen desire in the necromancer’s eyes too.
No. That wasn’t it. It wasn’t simply desire. It was… need.
Whatever the case, it was powerful, and it spoke to something deep within her. Knowing how much the necromancer needed her made her feel as if her insides were coming undone.
She remembered the way that he’d licked his lips after he’d kissed her hand, and it made her feel hot all over.
And his lips…
Oh, she’d never seen lips like that on a man. They were thick and full—the fullest lips she’d ever seen. She wondered what it would be like to kiss lips like that, to trap his fat bottom lip between her own…
Inwardly, she scolded herself.
She wasn’t meant to be attracted to the necromancer. It wasn’t as if he needed her in some romantic way. No, he needed her because he wanted to eat her. Kill her. He was hungry for her, and her father was going to serve her up to him on a platter, and he was going to feast, and Michal was going to be dead.
Dead. And yet some part of her wanted to go to him anyway. When she thought of being alone with him, little beads of sweat popped out on her forehead and between her thighs…
Oh, God in heaven, what was happening to her? Was she losing her mind?
“Michal.” Strong hands gripped her upper arms.
She looked up into the face of her brother. “Gabriel?” she whispered.
“You’re shaking like a leaf,” he said. “Try to calm down. I’ve got a plan.”
“You do?” She couldn’t believe it. She had been so sure that there was no way out of this, and now… But did she want to get out of it?
“Come on,” said Gabriel, shifting to put his arm around her. He began to walk through the hallways, pushing and pulling her along with him.
Of course I want out of it, she thought. I don’t want to die. And then she thought of the necromancer’s full lips. She felt alternately hot and then cold.
Gabriel shoved her around a corner, down another hallway, until they were far from anyone else, alone in some remote wing of the mansion. “I’m so sorry about this, Michal.”
She shook her head, trying to find words, but she didn’t have any.
“Listen, here’s what you’re going to do. You’ll need to do something to disguise yourself. Maybe take some clothes from your servants and wrap your hair up in a scarf. You’ll go to the edge of town tonight and board a carriage headed north. I have a friend in Alaba, and I’ll send you with a letter—”
“You want me to leave?” She took several steps backward. “To run away?”
“It’s the only thing you can do,” he said. “There’s no way out of this marriage. It’s too late.”
The wedding was set for the following day. Maybe it was too late to try to maneuver her way out of it. But to run away… “This is my home. I don’t… this friend of yours in the north? Would he know who I was?”
“Well, no. He couldn’t know that, or he’d be honor bound to send you back to Father. Your life might be rougher, Michal, since you couldn’t pose as someone of noble birth. But it would be better than being ripped to shreds by some monster.”
Right. What he was saying was the most sensible thing, of course. But…
The necromancer staring at her, his eyes full of need. The necromancer placing his lips on her lips. On her neck.
“I can’t leave, Gabriel. I’m sorry. I know you went to a lot of trouble to try to help me, but—”
“You can’t stay. I won’t stand by and watch you die.”
“Maybe I won’t die.” She lifted her chin. “Sometimes the necromancer passes the test, doesn’t he?”
“It’s not worth the risk,” said Gabriel.
She imagined the dark necromancer staring at her hungrily. You are mine, Michal. She felt warmth gathering between her legs. “If it’s too late, I’ll just have to marry him. That’s all I can do.”
Gabriel furrowed his brow. “Wait, Michal, you don’t want to marry the necromancer, do you?”
She shrugged. She felt flustered, and she twisted her hands together. “Of course not.”
“He did have very broad shoulders, didn’t he?” Gabriel got a wistful look on his face.
She gave him a sharp look. They said things about her brother sometimes. She’d heard the rumors. But she’d never thought there was any truth to them. Could it be that he was what they said he was? “Gabriel?”
But at that moment, there was the sound of feet running down the hallway, and they both turned.
A messenger boy screeched to a stop in front of Gabriel, out of breath. “Sir, sir, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Why?” said Gabriel. “Do you have a message in return from Sir Ezekiel?”
The boy shook his head, gasping. “No, sir.” He held out an envelope. “He wasn’t there, sir. He’s checked out of the inn and everything. I couldn’t deliver it. You said it was important that he get it, so—”
“Checked out of the inn?” said Gabriel. “Why?”
“He’s leaving the capital, sir, that’s what they said.”
Gabriel ran a hand over his face. “Damn him.” He looked down at the envelope, then back at Michal. “This letter—”
“If it’s important, I guess you better find him and give it to him,” said Michal.
“But you’re still marrying that—”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Go.”
He looked back at the envelope, unsure, concerned.
“Go,” she said.
* * *
Gabriel tried the inn himself, just to be sure. Ezekiel was definitely gone, all of his things removed from his room, nothing left behind. He made a few inquiries about where he might have been heading, but none of the staff there knew Ezekiel’s business.
Gabriel went to the stables where Ezekiel had kept his horses and his carriage, but he was long gone from there as well, and—again—no one knew where he had gone.
It seemed likely, however, that Ezekiel had left town entirely, and it seemed likely he had gone north. The empire did extend further south, but there wasn’t much there for Ezekiel to see. No, Gabriel was fairly certain that he would have gone north, because that was the way back to his home, Caroly.
So, Gabriel went back to the mansion and hurried to the stables. There
, he took the fastest horse he could find and took off on the road north out of town, galloping as quickly as possible.
He reached the edge of Sarrasarra with no sign of Ezekiel. Briefly, he wondered if he were going on a wild goose chase. Perhaps Ezekiel was still in town, but he’d changed inns so as to avoid Gabriel. After all, the last time he’d seen the other man, he had said he never wanted to see him again.
I wasn’t going to see you, you idiot. I just wanted to give you this letter, that’s all. Why did you have to run off before I got the chance to say what I want to say? Gabriel fumed.
Anyway, Gabriel didn’t think it likely that Ezekiel had stayed in town. No, he’d gone off to see the emperor and probably gotten the answers he was looking for, and now he was getting out of town. Anything to get away from temptation, Gabriel supposed. He rolled his eyes. Ezekiel was infuriating. But Gabriel spurred his horse on and kept going.
He rode until it got dark, and then he kept going in the darkness, although he was careful to check along the edges of the road for signs of a camp.
He mused that he was taking a lot of time to find a man who didn’t seem to want to have much to do with him. Maybe he really should let well enough alone. Maybe that would have been the intelligent thing to do. But he couldn’t. Ezekiel was a good man, and he was made unhappy by his beliefs that his natural instincts were sinful. Gabriel had to do what he could to help Ezekiel.
Even abandon your sister to marry a monster? asked a dark voice in his brain.
No, it wasn’t like that. He was only delivering a letter.
Because this man is important to you.
Well, yes, he was important. He was unhappy, and unhappy people needed help, and so he had to help.
It’s more important to help him than it is to help your sister?
No, that wasn’t it.
You care about Ezekiel.
Sure, he cared about him. Of course, he did. But he cared about lots of people to various degrees, and Ezekiel was just a person in need—
No. He’s more than that.
At which point, Gabriel decided that this lecture from his own head was disturbing at the least and a sign that he was insane at the worst. He tamped the whole thing down, and continued to ride through the darkness.
He didn’t see any camps along the road, so he pressed on, riding and riding. He began to wonder how much of a head start Ezekiel had on him. Gabriel knew his horse couldn’t keep up this pace forever. Eventually, he was going to need to rest.
But soon after this thought, he saw Ezekiel’s carriage ahead of him.
Relieved, he spurred the horse to catch up, calling after Ezekiel to stop and wait.
The carriage slowed, and Gabriel caught up.
Ezekiel didn’t look pleased to see him. “You.”
Gabriel was a little annoyed too. “Couldn’t even say goodbye?”
“Does the devil deserve courtesy?”
“Oh, I’m the devil, am I?”
Ezekiel shrugged.
“My horse needs to rest,” said Gabriel. “Can we please stop to talk?”
It looked like Ezekiel might refuse.
“Please.”
Ezekiel sighed.
They stopped.
They both saw to their horses. It was dark outside, and the air outside was balmy and humid. It was warmer here, further from the shore. The ocean breezes kept Sarrasarra cooler, but here, further inland, the air was stickier. Once the horses were settled, they could speak.
“I told you that I didn’t want to see you again,” said Ezekiel.
“Did you find out things about my father and the revenants?” said Gabriel. “Is that why you’re leaving? You solved the mystery?”
“I know enough.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me.”
Ezekiel curled his lip. “I thought about it. But I decided against it.”
“I think I deserve to know. After everything I did for you.”
“I never needed your help.”
“He’s my father. I should know.”
Ezekiel shook his head, but he spilled the story in terse sentences, laying it all out for Gabriel. “I think he’s lying about keeping the necromancers for study, but I didn’t press him about it. The important thing is that these escaped prisoners are responsible for Honor’s death.”
The escaped prisoners. The gypsies messing around with electricity. The ones that Gabriel had invited there. “I don’t know if I’d trust the word of my father on that. They might have—”
“They got Honor killed,” said Ezekiel.
“Sounds to me like my father got her killed,” countered Gabriel.
“Doesn’t matter,” said Ezekiel. “I can’t very well take revenge on the emperor himself, can I?”
“Revenge?”
“I’m going after the escaped prisoners,” said Ezekiel. “I spoke to some people in town who seemed to have a good idea of where they were headed. My sister didn’t deserve what happened to her.”
“Which of us does deserve what happens to us? You and I, Ezekiel, did we deserve to be born to rich families? Did we deserve to desire men in a world where it’s forbidden? It’s one thing to try to prevent further injustices, but nothing is served by going after others and trying to hurt them because you have been hurt.”
“You don’t understand,” said Ezekiel.
“Don’t go after these prisoners. I know who they are, and I don’t think they’re murderers. Besides, one of them may know things about electricity, and our nation needs those kinds of advances in technology.”
Ezekiel drew back. “You must be crazy. Technology is a sin. God punished us with the Scourge because if we used it—”
“Would you stop spouting whatever the holy men have crammed down your throat and think for yourself for once?”
“Would you stop being so arrogant to think that you know more than God?”
The two men glared at each other for several moments.
Gabriel broke first. This argument wasn’t going to help Ezekiel at all. It would only serve to make him defensive. He dug out the letter and thrust it at the other man. “I came to bring you this, that’s all.”
Ezekiel turned the envelope over. “What?”
“It’s a letter. It’s about what we’ve done together and why I don’t think it’s evil. I’m not asking you to change your mind. I just want you to read it and consider what I’m saying.”
Ezekiel stared at the letter, but he didn’t open it.
“You do know how to read?”
“Yes. Yes, of course.” Ezekiel shoved the letter in his pocket. “Is that really all?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Then you’ll leave me alone?”
Gabriel rubbed his forehead. “I don’t want you to go, Ezekiel. I wish you’d stay in the capital. You must be miserable with your father. If you stayed, we could—”
“No.”
Well. That was that, then. He should have known better. Ezekiel might be attracted to him, but that didn’t mean he was ready for what Gabriel wanted. Gabriel wasn’t even sure what he wanted. He only knew that he didn’t like the idea of being away from Ezekiel. He didn’t like it at all.
But Ezekiel was dead set on the two of them being separated. He couldn’t force the man against his will.
So Gabriel left.
Just like the other man wanted.
He rode his horse back for the capital, but he went at a much slower pace. After some time, still not back in the city, he was exhausted, so he stopped and tied the horse off to a tree. He made himself a little bed under the tree’s leaves, and he slept.
He must have been very tired, because he slept late. The shade of the tree kept the warmth of the day and the brightness off of him, and it was quite late in the morning when he awoke.
Immediately, he remembered that today was the day of Michal’s wedding to the necromancer.
He wondered if he could try one last time to convince her to leave…
He was back on his horse and riding as fast as he could back for the city as soon as he was fully awake.
The sun beat down on him and the animal, and he could tell that the heat and humidity were hard on the horse. They wouldn’t be able to keep up this pace for long.
But luckily, he hadn’t been as far from the city as he’d expected, and he was soon back in the capital. He headed straight for the mansion and dropped off the horse.
The stable hand wasn’t pleased with the condition of the horse, and Gabriel could tell, even though the servant didn’t come right out and scold him. He was the emperor’s son after all.
He wasn’t in a great condition himself. Sweaty and dirty from the road, he felt as if he didn’t have much time to lose. He went to Michal’s quarters. He’d try to talk some sense into her once and for all.
But Michal wasn’t there. She’d been taken off for preparation for the wedding, which meant that she would be bathed and dressed and styled, and Gabriel didn’t even know where they did that to women. It was somewhere in the mansion, but it could be anywhere.
The wedding itself would be held in the afternoon, with the necromancer’s test beginning at dusk. That meant that Gabriel had only a few hours to find Michal.
He started off, asking anyone he could where he might find the bride.
One servant gave him some vague directions, but when Gabriel tried to follow them, he ended up woefully lost, down one of the unused wings of the mansion that wasn’t even maintained anymore. He stood inside the stuffy hallway, smelled the mildew, and watched the occasional lizard flit across the floor. Then he left and went in search of someone else who might know where she was.
He didn’t see anyone until getting back to the main area of the mansion, where he ran into his father.
“You look horrible,” said his father. “What have you been up to?”
“I’m looking for Michal,” he said.
“You need a bath,” said the emperor. He waved to one of the servants at the end of the hallway. “You there! See that my son is properly washed before the wedding, will you?”
“I don’t have time right now,” said Gabriel. “I have to—”
“Nonsense,” said his father. “You have time.” He looked up at the servant, who was approaching. “He’s got to be cleaned, and I’m holding you personally responsible. What’s your name?”
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