Queen of the Darkness (45 page)

”I don’t know.” He hesitated—and wondered why he hesitated. ”A man I knew was with her at the time. A few years before his death, he sent a message to me that he had made a written account of the

’adventure’ and had left it for me in a safe place. She was a good Queen, the last Queen to hold Dorothea at bay. He wanted her remembered.”

Jaenelle leaped at him, grabbed him. ”Then you
do
know how she did it!”

”No, I
don’t
know. I never picked up the written account. I decided to leave it where it was, out of Dorothea’s reach.”

”Do you think you could find it?” Jaenelle asked anxiously.

”That shouldn’t be difficult,” Daemon replied dryly as he wrapped his arms around her, suddenly needing to touch her. ”He left it with the Keep’s librarian.”

”I retrieved it from the Terreillean Keep the first time you came to Ebon Askavi with Jaenelle,” Geoffrey said as he handed Daemon a carefully wrapped parcel. ”I wondered at the time why you didn’t ask for it.

What made you think of it now?”

The question sounded innocently curious, but there wasn’t anything innocent about it.

Looking straight into Geoffrey’s black eyes, Daemon smiled. ”I just remembered it.”

He didn’t unwrap it, didn’t look at it. He probed it just enough to make sure there weren’t any spells hidden in it that would be triggered if someone besides him handled it. Then he gave it to Jaenelle and spent the next several hours denying access to the Queen to just about every member of the First Circle.

That had caused hard feelings but was easy enough. No one but the Steward, the Master of the Guard, and the Consort were permitted free access to the Queen’s chambers. Lucivar had taken one look at him and had retreated. Stalling Saetan and Andulvar had been much more difficult, and he sensed it wouldn’t take many more polite confrontations to erode their trust in him. Considering Jaenelle’s behavior lately, he could appreciate their concern. It still hurt.

When he finally returned to her, he found her in her sitting room, her arms wrapped around herself, staring bleakly out the window.

”It didn’t help?” he asked softly, resting a hand lightly on her shoulder.

”Actually, it did. I found the answer. I can’t do the same thing they did, but I can use it as the foundation for what I need to do.”

She turned and kissed him with a desperation that frightened him, but he gave her what she needed. For hours, he gave her what she needed.

When she was finally content just to lie wrapped in his arms, she said, ”I love you.” And fell asleep.

Despite being physically and emotionally exhausted, Daemon lay awake a long time—and wondered why ”I love you” sounded so much like ”good-bye.”

6 / Kaeleer

”The Lady changed her mind,” Saetan said formally to the Territory Queens who made up the coven.

”You and the males in the First Circle are to remain at the Keep, but the other Queens in your Territories may stay where they are.”

”Why are
we
required to stay?” Chaosti demanded. ”Our people are
dying.
We should be home, preparing to fight.”

”Why did she change her mind?” Morghann asked. ”What did she say when you asked her?”

Saetan hesitated. ”The instructions were relayed by the Consort.”

He felt their flickers of anger and their growing suspicion about Daemon. Worse, he had those same feelings.

”The Queen commands,” he said, knowing how inadequate that sounded when they were all receiving reports of fighting in their homelands.

”That’s fine, High Lord,” Aaron said coolly. ”The Queen commands. But, obviously, no one has informed the kindred of that fact. None of
them
who are members of the First Circle have to stay at the Keep.”

They all looked at each other as that realization sank in. But it was Karla who finally asked, ”Where
are
the kindred?”

Saetan watched the drops of rain trickle down the window.

When Jaenelle had given the order for all the Queens to come to the Keep, he hadn’t protested for one reason: Sylvia. He had wanted her in the Keep where she would be safe.

But now that Jaenelle had changed her mind—or had had it changed for her—he would issue his own orders as the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan and summon all the Dhemlan Queens to the Hall. It was a risk.

The Hall didn’t have the defenses the Keep had.
No place
had the defenses the Keep had. But it had been designed to withstand attack, and its defenses were better than anywhere else the Queens might be forced to retreat if the fighting escalated. And it was big enough that the Queens could bring their families with them, bring their children.

He wanted her safe. And her boys, too, Mikal and Beron.

Sassy, opinionated, lovely Sylvia. Mother Night, he loved her.

Even after he realized that the potency of Jaenelle’s tonic after she had made the Offering to the Darkness had brought back the hunger of a man—and the ability to satisfy it—he might have resisted becoming Sylvia’s lover, might have found the strength to remain just a friend if he hadn’t sensed the hurt in her that her last Consort had inflicted. She had shut herself away from sexual pleasure, hadn’t been intrigued enough by any man to try again— until she had become friends with him.

They weren’t acknowledged lovers. At his insistence, they maintained the illusion in public of being just friends. Oh, his reasons had been very logical, very considerate. He knew Luthvian would be enraged if he openly became another woman’s lover, and he hadn’t wanted her to take her anger out on the rest of the family—or on Sylvia. And he hadn’t wanted people backing away from her because she had chosen a Guardian for a lover.

At first, she had gone along with him, mostly because she was rediscovering the pleasures of the bed, and had been able to accept that he was a lover in the bedroom and a friend outside of it. But gradually, over the past year, she had become more and more unhappy with the secrecy, had wanted an acknowledged relationship.

He had expected her to leave him. Instead, one night during the Winsol celebrations a few months ago, she had asked him to marry her. And, may the Darkness help him, he had wanted to say yes. Had wanted to share a bed with her, a
life
with her.

But he didn’t say yes. Not because of Luthvian or because he was a Guardian, but because of a vague uneasiness that had warned him to take care, to wait. So he had smiled and said, ”Ask me next Winsol.”

He had understood why, for a few weeks after that, there were no invitations to her bed. He had understood why she was always ”busy” when he stopped at her home to spend a little time with the boys.

He had missed the friend far more than he’d missed the lover, but he
had
missed those hours in her bed.

Then, just a few days before the attack in Glacia, they had gone to Amdarh for a couple of days to spend time together away from everyone else, to try to rebuild their relationship. And they had made love, but he had known as soon as he touched her that, despite wanting him, she was trying to keep her distance from him emotionally, that she was trying to protect herself from being hurt again. Even when she was caught up in her climax, he had known.

Now, staring at the rain, he almost wished he had said ”yes” at Winsol, almost wished he had asked her to stand with him before a Priestess when they had arrived in Amdarh. And he wished he could make love with her one more time to erase the unhappiness that had been in the bed with them that last time.

But the conviction had been growing in him for days now that there wouldn’t be another chance.

There were things he should have said that night in Amdarh. He’d never really told her how much she meant to him, how much he loved her. He should have. Now he could give her nothing but words, but at least he could give her that much.

Turning away from the window, he sat at the desk and began to write.

1 / Kaeleer

need a favor,” Jaenelle said as she moved stiffly to her worktable and picked up two small glass jars.

”You have only to ask,” Titian replied.
She’s been channeling too much power without giving her
body time to recover. What is she planning that demands so much?

”A discreet favor.”

”Understood.”

”I need blood from two people who have been tainted by Dorothea or Hekatah. Preferably one of each.”

Titian thought for a very brief moment. ”Lord Jorval lives in the capital of Little Terreille, does he not?”

Jaenelle swallowed. Even that seemed to take effort. ”Yes, Jorval is in Goth. And so, at the moment, is Kartane SaDiablo.”

”Ah.” Looking at the exhausted woman, Titian remembered the child Jaenelle had been. And she remembered other things. ”Will it matter if neither of them sees the next sunrise?”

A deadly cold filled Jaenelle’s sapphire eyes. ”No.”

Titian smiled. ”In that case, with your permission, I’ll take Surreal with me. It’s time to pay some debts.”

2 / Kaeleer

In the enormous chamber where the Dark Throne resided, Ladvarian trembled as he looked at Lorn. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Lorn—at least, not usually. It was just that Lorn was the Prince of the Dragons, the legendary race who had created the Blood. Lorn was very,
very
old, and very wise, and very
big.
Ladvarian was smaller than one of Lorn’s midnight eyes. Just then, that made him feel
very
small.

And then there was Draca, the Keep’s Seneschal, who had been Lorn’s mate and the Dragon Queen before she had sacrificed her true form in order to give other creatures the Craft.

Sacrifices. No, he would
not
think about sacrifices. There was not going to be a sacrifice. The kindred would not allow it.

But being summoned here by Lorn and Draca when the Arachnian Queen was so close to finishing that special web of dreams ... It frightened him. If they forbade the kindred from doing this... The kindred would do it anyway, whatever the cost.

Little Brother,Lorn said in his deep, quiet, thundering voice.

Prince Lorn.Ladvarian was trembling enough for them to see it.

I have a gift for you, little Brother. Give thiss to the Weaver of Dreamss.

A flat, beautifully carved box appeared in the air before Ladvarian. When it opened, he saw a simply designed pendant made of white and yellow gold and an equally simple ring. But it was the Jewel in those pieces that made his hackles rise and his ears flatten tight to his head.

It had no color, and yet it wasn’t colorless. Restless, it shimmered, hungry to complete its transformation. It tugged at him, seeking a bond with his mind.

He took a step back. As he looked up at Lorn, angry and confused enough to issue a challenge that would have been foolish as well as futile, he realized Lorn’s scales had that same translucent shimmer.

Knowledge crashed in on him. He took another step back and whined.

Do not fear, little Brother. It iss a gift. The Weaver will need it for her web.

Gathering his courage, Ladvarian approached the box.
I have never seen a Jewel like this.

And you never will again,Lorn replied gently.
There will never be another one like it.

Still cautious, Ladvarian said,
It has no rank. It does not know what it is.

It doess not yet know what it iss,Lorn agreed.
But it doess have a name: Twilight’ss Dawn.

When Ladvarian was on his way back to Arachna with the box, Draca and Lorn stared at each other.

”You rissk much giving him a Jewel like that,” Draca said.

There iss reasson to rissk much,Lorn replied.
Witch hass almosst completed her web?

”Yess.” For the first time since she had met Jaenelle, she felt the weight of her years.

We cannot heal the taint, Draca,Lorn said softly.
Sshe can.

”I know. When I gave the gift of magic, I gave it freely, knowing I could never alter what wass done with it.” Draca hesitated. ”If sshe doess thiss, sshe will be desstroyed.”

Sshe iss Kaeleer’ss Heart. Sshe musst not be desstroyed.Lorn paused and added softly,
The kindred
have alwayss been sstrong dreamerss.

”Will they be sstrong enough?”

The question neither could answer hung between them.

3 / Kaeleer

A stealthy movement and the sudden glow of a small ball of witchlight woke Jorval from an uneasy sleep. ”Priestess?”

A hand grabbed his hair, yanked his head up. ”No,” said the silver-haired woman as her knife cut his throat. ”I am vengeance.”

4 / Kaeleer

”Enough,” Daemon said, leading Jaenelle into her sitting room. ”You need to rest.”

”The web’s almost complete. I need to—”

”Rest.If you make an error because you’re too exhausted to think clearly, this will all be for nothing.”

Making a weak attempt to snarl, she collapsed into a chair.

Daemon wanted to rage at her but knew it wouldn’t do any good. She had dropped weight she couldn’t afford to lose at a frightening speed. Putting obstacles in her path would only force her to waste energy she couldn’t spare, so he took the other path.

”You told me a few minutes ago that you still needed a couple of things to complete the web.”

”Those things will take time,” she protested.

He bent down and kissed her softly, persuasively. When he felt her yield, he murmured against her lips,

”We’ll have a quiet dinner. Then we’ll play a couple of hands of ’cradle.’ I’ll even let you win.”

Her huff of laughter provoked another hunger. His kiss deepened as his hand caressed her breast.

”I think I am hungry,” Jaenelle said breathlessly when he finally gave her a chance to speak.

After they had thoroughly satisfied one hunger, they finally sat down to dinner.

5 / Hell

Pain woke him.

Kartane opened his eyes. Two fading balls of witchlight provided enough light for him to clearly see that he was outside. Then he realized he was upside down.
Someone had tied him upside down.

Something rustled the bushes nearby.