He hadn’t thought of himself as lonesome. He had nothing to compare his life with, and so everything about it seemed perfectly normal. As it had always been. As it would always be.
When he’d come of age and entered the world of the court, it had been overwhelming, exciting, and humiliating. Everyone knew better than he did. He’d felt sometimes that there was a secret language everyone besides himself had been schooled in. Another man might say something that seemed perfectly innocuous to Geder—an observation on the length of a coat sleeve, a simple rhyme, a reference to the dragon’s roads that passed by Rivenhalm but never through it—and his friends would chuckle. Geder didn’t know what they were laughing at, and so he assumed they were mocking him. Before long they were, whether they’d begun that way or not. It was only after Vanai that he’d gained the respect of the court. And by respect, they meant fear. He liked being feared, because it meant no one laughed at him.
Aster, on the other hand, was a real friend. Yes, the prince was nearly a decade younger than Geder, and had been sur rounded all his life by friends and playmates. Yes, he knew the court better now than Geder ever would. But he was a boy, and Geder’s ward, and they were safe for each other. Geder could climb trees with him, practice dueling, race and laugh and swim at midnight in the fountains. With a man his own age, Geder would have been too wary of seeming foolish or having the desperation of his friendship mistaken for romantic love. With a woman, he probably wouldn’t have had the assurance to speak in sentences. But with the prince, Geder could play and laugh and joke and all anyone would see was a man being kind to a child.
The cut on his ear was small but bloody. One of the servants, a lithe Dartinae man with one blind, unglowing eye, dabbed at it with a salve of honey and nettle, then put a bandage over it. Aster’s tutor—a severe man in the employ of King Simeon—found them and led Aster off with an air of proprietary dismay that had Geder and the prince both giggling, the one setting off the other. When he was alone, Geder lay back on a divan and let his eyes close. His ear hurt more than he had let on in front of Aster, but the salve was helping. He was halfway to dozing when a soft sound came from the doorway. He opened an eye. His house master stood just inside the room.
“Mmm?” Geder asked.
“A visitor, my lord.”
“Oh,” Geder said. And then recalling the last time, “Who exactly?”
“Sir Jorey Kalliam, my lord. I’ve taken him to—”
“North drawing room,” Geder said. “That’s fine. I’ll see myself there.”
The house master bowed at the neck and retreated as Geder stretched, tugged his shirt back down over his belly, and rose.
If Geder had a friend of his own age, it was Jorey Kalliam. They had served together under Sir Alan Klin when they took Vanai and during the long weeks when Klin had been the city’s protector. Jorey had been with Geder when Vanai burned, and they had broken the mercenary coup that Maas, Klin, and Issandrian had engineered. Jorey’s father had been the one to celebrate Geder when he’d returned to Camnipol expecting censure or worse. Without Jorey and his family, Geder would still be just the son of a small viscount and known for nothing more interesting than a fondness for speculative essays. Geder would have called Dawson Kalliam his patron except that he now outranked him.
The winter had been kind to Jorey. His face was calmer than Geder had seen it in living memory, as if he had stepped out of a long shadow. There was color in his cheeks and his smile seemed effortless.
“Geder,” he said, rising. “Thank you for seeing me unexpected. I’m afraid I’ve been a little scattered. I hope I haven’t interrupted you.”
“Nothing to interrupt,” Geder said, taking him by the hand. “Now that I’m a baron, I’m living a life of dissipation and sloth. You should try it.”
“I have two brothers I’d have to bury before I was baron of anything,” Jorey said.
“Well, yes. Don’t do that if you can help it.”
Jorey rubbed his palm against his sleeve uncomfortably. His smile went a degree less certain.
“I’ve—” he began, then stopped and shook his head as if in disbelief. “I’ve come to ask you a favor.”
“Of course,” Geder said. “What can I do?”
“I’m getting married.”
“You’re joking,” Geder said, and then he saw Jorey’s eyes. “You have to be joking. We’re the same age. You can’t be… To who?”
“Sabiha Skestinin,” Jorey said. “That’s part of why I want you to be part of the ceremony. Your star is on the rise, and having the darlings of the court involved would go a long way to pull the sting.”
“The sting?” Geder asked, sitting on the divan where Sanna Daskellin had been. For a moment, he thought he could smell her perfume again. He liked this divan. Good memories were associated with it.
Jorey lowered himself to the seat opposite, his hands clasped before him.
“Well, you know about her trouble.”
“No,” Geder said.
“Oh,” Jorey said. “It was a few years ago. There was a scandal. People still talk about it, usually behind her back. I want to wash that away for her. I want her to see that she isn’t the girl the gossips tell stories about.”
“All right,” Geder said. “You’ll have to tell me where to go and what to say, though. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a wedding before. Oh! The priest. We could have Basrahip be the priest!”
“I… I suppose we could.”
“I’ll talk with him about it. He isn’t traditional, though. Maybe you could have two priests.”
“I think just one is more the custom,” Jorey said. “But let me find out. But you don’t mind? Being part of this, I mean.”
“Of course not,” Geder said. “Why would I?”
Jorey shook his head and leaned back. He looked bemused and a bit uncertain, as if Geder were a puzzle he’d only half solved.
“You can be a very generous man,” Jorey said.
“Not so much, I hope,” Geder said. “I mean, it’s just being part of a ritual. It’s not as if I have to do anything particular apart from being there, do I?”
“All the same, thank you. This carries weight with me. I owe you for it.”
“No you don’t,” Geder said. “But since you’re here, I did have something I wanted to ask about. You remember that ambassador from Asterilhold that your father had me meet with?”
“Lord Ashford. Yes.”
“Did anything come of that? Because I spoke with the king, but as far as I can tell, he’s never given the man an audience. I was afraid that I’d maybe said something wrong?”
Y
ou must be ready,” King Simeon said.
“No, Your Majesty,” Geder said. “I’m sure this is only a passing thing. You’ll be healthy and whole again before the summer’s out. There are years still before anything like… anything like… And Aster will… would never…”
Geder’s words slowed to a stop. His mind reached, out straining for the next phrase, but nothing was there. He heard himself moan low and breathy, and a light-headedness washed over him. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to his knees.
I must not vomit, he thought. Whatever happens, I must not vomit.
The summons had come with the falling day. The spring sun burned low, stretching out the shadows, drowning the streets and alleys in the rising darkness. Night-blooming ivies were opening petals of blue and white as Geder left his mansion, and subdued lights glowed in the windows of Cur tin Issandrian. A year before, it might well have been Issandrian who received the courier bearing the royal seal. Or Maas. Or the hated Alan Klin. When he’d reached the Kingspire, the top of the great tower was still bright with the sun when all around it had fallen into twilight. The wind was coming down from the north, cold but not bitter, and setting the trees to nodding. The man who met him was neither servant nor slave, but a kingsman of noble blood come to lead Geder to Simeon’s private chamber.
Even now,
with his head low and the world spinning, Geder could remember feeling pleased with himself. Baron of Ebbingbaugh and Protector of the Prince answering the urgent call of the Severed Throne. Put that way, it had seemed like a thing of high romance and dignity, a station above anything but idle daydreams. And then this.
Regent. The word was written in airlessness and printed on vertigo.
“Help him,” Simeon said. His voice was a damp growl. Gentle hands took his shoulders and lifted him up. The king’s cunning man was a Firstblood with swirling tattoos across his body like a Haaverkin. He murmured softly, fingertips pressing at Geder’s throat and the inside of his elbow. A warmth flowed into him, and his breath came more easily.
“Is he all right?” the king asked.
The cunning man closed his eyes and placed a palm on Geder’s forehead. Geder heard something like distant bells that no one else acknowledged.
“Only the shock, Your Majesty,” the cunning man said. “His health is sound.”
“I can’t believe this,” Geder said. His voice was trembling. “I didn’t think when I took Aster. I mean, you looked so healthy. I never imagined… Oh, Your Majesty, I am so, so sorry. I am so sorry.”
“Listen to me,” Simeon said. “I have more energy at sunset, but the confusion comes on. We don’t have long to speak. You must take the audience with Lord Ashford. Do you understand? When the time comes, it will be yours. Protect Aster. Make peace with Asterilhold.”
“I will.”
“I can do everything in my power to leave affairs in order, but my power isn’t what it once was.”
In the dim room, Simeon looked already half a ghost. His left eye drooped as if his flesh were ready to fall from the bone beneath. His voice was slurred, and he rested on a mountain of pillows tucked to support his powerless spine. Geder wanted to believe that this could be a terrible illness from which a man might recover, but there was nothing before him to suggest it was true. Simeon began to say something, and then seemed to lose focus for a moment.
“I don’t know why he’s here,” Simeon said.
“You summoned me, Your Majesty.”
“Not you. The other one. By the doorway. And what’s he wearing?” Simeon sounded annoyed. And then frightened. “Oh, God. Why is he wearing that?”
Geder turned to look at the empty doorway, dread plucking at the skin all down his back. The cunning man put a hand on Geder’s shoulder.
“His majesty won’t be able to help you more tonight,” the cunning man said. “If his mind comes back, we will send for you, yes?”
“Yes,” Geder said. “Thank you.”
The night had only just begun, but the thin moon floated high in the darkness. Geder let a footman help him up into his carriage, and sat with his back against the thin wood. The driver called to the team, and the horses jounced him forward, steel-clad hooves and iron-bound wheels punishing the stone. They were almost to the Silver Bridge when Geder lurched forward and called up through the thin window.
“Not home. Take me to the temple.”
“My lord,” the driver said, and turned.
The torches were lit in their sconces, burning so clean they didn’t leave soot on the columns. The spider-silk banner still hung, but in the darkness the red was as dark as the eightfold sigil. Geder paused on the steps and turned. The city spread out before him, lanterns and candles echoing the stars above them like the reflections on still water. The Kingspire, the Division, the mansions of the highborn and the hovels of the low. All of it would be his to command. To control. He would be protector of the realm, of Antea, of the boy Aster. He would be regent, and so in practice, he would be king, and Antea would answer to his will.
He didn’t hear Basrahip come out, not because the big priest was being quiet, but because Geder’s mind was only halfway in his body. The other half pulled between euphoria and panic.
“Prince Geder?”
The wide face was concerned. Geder sat on the steps. The stone still held some of the day’s heat. Basrahip gathered up the hem of his robes and sat at Geder’s side. For a long moment, the two men sat silently, like children tired at the end of the day looking out into a back alley.
“The king’s going to die,” Geder said. “And I’m going to take his place.”
The priest’s smile was serene.
“The goddess favors you,” he said. “This is how the world is for those who have her blessing.”
Geder turned back. The breeze passed ripples through the dark banner, and a passing dread touched him.
“She’s not… I mean, the goddess isn’t killing the king for me? Is she?”
Basrahip laughed low and warm.
“This is not her way. The world is made from little lives and little deaths because she wills it this way. No, she does not make the waves, she only puts her chosen in the place where they are borne always up by them. She is subtle and she is sure.”
“All right. Good. I just wouldn’t want Aster to lose his father in order for things to go well for me.” Geder lay back, resting his spine against the steps. “I’m going to have to tell him. I don’t know how to do that. How do you tell a boy that his father’s dying?”
“Gently,” Basrahip said.
“And the ambassador from Asterilhold? The one who wanted me to talk the king into a private audience? Now it looks as if I’m going to be the one taking that audience.”
“I will be with you,” Basrahip said.
“The king told me what he wants, though, so at least I know what I’m supposed to do. With that one. And there’ll be people who help me. The regent has advisors just like the king. It won’t be like Vanai where everyone wanted me to fail,” Geder said. A fragment of dream slipped up from the back of his mind. The flames of Vanai danced before him again, silhouetting a single, desperate figure. The voice of the fire roared, and Geder felt the guilt and horror freshly for a moment before he locked it away again. He was the hero of Antea. What happened in Vanai was a good thing. When he spoke again, his voice was stronger. “It won’t be like Vanai.”
“As you say.”
Geder chuckled.
“Alan Klin’s going to shit himself when he hears,” he said with a grin.
“What are you supposed to do?” Basrahip asked.
“Hmm?”
“The ambassador.”
“Oh. Simeon wants me to keep Aster safe and make peace with King Lechan. I told him I would.”
“Ah,” Basrahip said. And a moment later, “And when you cannot do both, which will you choose?”
Marcus
F
rom the fall of dragons to the days still to come, all things human were made and determined by structures made by something greater and crueler. The great monuments were perhaps the least important. The unreachable tower at the center of Lake Esasmadde, the Grave of Dragons in Carse, the Empty Keep. They could inspire fear or awe, they could call forth a sense of mystery, but the greater power lay in the prosaic. The dragon’s roads crossed the nations, and where they met, cities grew, fed by the traffic and advantage that good roads brought. The thirteen races were also constrained by the will of the great masters who had first created them. The Cinnae were thin and pale, unsuited for battle, and so confined themselves to the well-defended hills and valleys of Princip C’Annaldé. Tralgu and Jasuru and Yemmu, bred for violence and formed for war, found their homes in the Keshet where the plains gave no natural barrier against invaders and whatever war won in a given season proved impossible to defend in the next. Where the landscape called for war, the races most suited to war prospered. Where it allowed shelter from violence, those in need of shelter came. The mark of the dragons had been on the world from the beginning of history, and would be until the end of all things.
The mark was there, but it was not changeless.
Around every great city fed by paths of dragon’s jade, there were others—townships, hamlets, some little more than waystations—where the roads were paved by human hands. Where the
great roads met, and the great cities grew, the farmlands were, over the course of centuries, used up. The richer soil farther away grew in value, and new places— peculiarly human places—were born.
And as the landscape changed, so did humanity, straining at the bindings woven into its blood. The races were unmistakable and unmixed only in the minds of the people. True, not all races could interbreed. A Cinnae woman could no more bear to a Yemmu man than a rat terrier could whelp a mastiff, and there were other combinations of blood that gave no offspring, or whose issue were themselves sterile. The difficulty of bearing a mixed-breed child allowed the thirteen races to stand apart from one another, but considered carefully, no race but the Drowned was pure. A Tralgu with wider-set, darker eyes might have Southling blood somewhere generations back. Secret marriages between Haaverkin and Jasuru could take place. Between Firstblood and Cinnae, such pairings were merely distasteful and scandalous. History was also marked by less pleasant pairings, and not all women who suffered rape at the hands of enemy soldiers could bring themselves to slaughter the babes that came of the crime.
The history of the races was a complex tissue of love and revulsion, landscape and design, war and trade, secrets and indiscretions. Cithrin bel Sarcour was only one example in Marcus’s broad experience. The man who sat across the low wooden table from him was another. Capsen Gostermak was the child of a Jasuru mother and a Yemmu father. His skin was pocked where the bronze scales of his mother’s race never fully formed and his jaw was crowded with pointed, vicious teeth that were as unlike the Yemmu tusks as Jasuru teeth. He looked like a monster from a children’s story, neither one thing nor another, but entirely built to fight. No one who didn’t know the man would have guessed that he styled himself a poet or that he raised doves.
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