LITMIR.BIZ

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time to reflect.’ Taraka sighed. ‘He has not.’

      ‘There’s rushing into another house’s business,’ said Pari, ‘and then there’s procrastinating, and quite frankly we should have—’

      Priyamvada’s eyebrows twitched as if contemplating a frown and Pari took a breath. ‘Apologies. The rebirthing has sapped my manners. I meant to say that I find it hard to believe so little has been done.’

      ‘We could not commit to anything until the other houses had also taken a stance,’ replied Taraka. ‘For that we needed all of the other High Lords to discuss the matter internally, to debate, to question. You know how these things drag on. Yadavnedra’s stance is unprecedented. To counter it, we needed to be of one mind. That accord has taken time. Understand, Lady Pari, that you were not the only one awaiting rebirth in this period. And there have been other concerns. The Wild stirs on the Ruby borders, worse than we’ve seen in a long time. One of their Deathless has been sent between lives, and their High Lord labours under a severe injury.’

      ‘Sent? Wounded? You mean by things of the Wild?’

      ‘I’d have thought that went without saying. In her wisdom, our High Lord has ordered the remainder of our Deathless and their hunters to aid the people of House Ruby.’

      So that is why the rest of the house did not come to welcome me. ‘The threat must be bad indeed to send so many.’

      ‘It is. Which is why we cannot afford to have the Sapphire implode on us. Lord Arkav is going to see how things stand there and, if necessary, demand that High Lord Yadavendra return with him to face trial before the council.’

      ‘But you can’t!’ Taraka put a hand to his mouth in a gesture of surprise, and the High Lord’s eyes flicked to Pari. Even Arkav looked in her direction, though he seemed unfocused still. ‘Yadavendra was willing to exile his own sister. He allowed his people, his innocent people, to be taken by the Wild. There’s no telling what he’ll do to Arkav.’

      Taraka laughed as if she’d said something funny. ‘He wouldn’t dare. To harm a Tanzanite would be an act of war. In any case, even if Yadavendra did his worst, we would simply bring Lord Arkav back again. There’s nothing to worry about.’

      But Pari knew better. She had seen first hand that there were ways to hurt a Deathless, leaving the kind of scars that followed you from one life to another. She thought of Lord Rochant Sapphire, bound, broken, and alone.

      Priyamvada fixed her with a look. ‘Lord Taraka misspeaks, though he is right on one count: Lord Arkav has nothing to worry about, Lady Pari, because you will be with him.’

       This is her plan. Either Arkav will bring back High Lord Sapphire, or our sacrifice will be a rallying cry for the other houses, and she’ll be able to replace me with a new, more pliable Deathless. How convenient.

      There was an awkward silence that nobody else dared to break. Eventually Priyamvada stood. ‘We will leave you and your brother to catch up, Lady Pari.’ She glanced at Arkav. ‘I don’t need to tell you how important this is.’

      ‘No.’

      ‘May the suns illuminate your path.’ And with that, Priyamvada walked out, Taraka following behind like a chastized Dogkin.

      She smiled broadly at him as he passed, savouring the way his face puckered like the arsehole of some ancient goat. When the sound of their footsteps had faded away, Pari turned back to Arkav. His silence was like a knife in the guts. She’d known that the brother of old was long gone, his calm and confident nature lost to sullen moods and wild displays of anger, but that was preferable to the absent figure that now sat in front of her.

      ‘Dear Arkav, what has become of you?’

      When he didn’t reply she collected her gown as best she could and moved round to him, lifting his chin with her finger. ‘Arkav?’

      He blinked at her, but there was little reaction in his face.

      She opened her arms to him. ‘Arkav, it’s Pari. I’ve come back for you.’

      Something stirred within him, as if only his body had been awake before. ‘Pari?’

      She felt her eyes itch with tears as she nodded. ‘Yes.’

      ‘Pari!’ he exclaimed as she pulled him close. ‘You’re so far away.’

      ‘Not any more. I’m right here.’

      His arms tightened around her and his voice trembled like a child’s. ‘I was afraid. You disappeared and then when I tried to find you the servants lied.’ His voice became steel, ‘They lied!’ Then childlike again, ‘I went to Priyamvada and she took me and held me in a room and wouldn’t let me go, and then you died and it was so long that I wished I was dead too.’

      ‘Why would you wish that?’

      ‘So we could be together. I don’t trust the others.’

      Pari gave him a squeeze. ‘Nor do I.’

      ‘I’m so tired.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Can we sleep now?’

      ‘Yes. Everything is going to be better.’

      He drew back from her so that he could look into her eyes. For a moment he seemed just like his old self, as if the Arkav she’d come to know was a cloak and he’d cast it away. ‘Do you promise, sister? I don’t want to be this way any more.’

      ‘I promise.’

      As soon as the words were uttered, his eyelids fluttered and he settled himself against her. Seconds later, he was asleep. She stroked his hair, just as tired as he was but unable to sleep in her current position, and unable to move without disturbing him.

      Thoughts danced in her mind, jumbling one another. Why haven’t the Sapphire sorted themselves out yet? There were plans she was aware of, secret ones, that should have resolved all of those problems by now. Why is Yadavendra still in power? What has Vasin been doing all these years? Why hasn’t he taken control?

      She supposed, as with most things, she was going to have to go there and sort it out herself.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      Lord Vasin Sapphire arced swiftly across the sky. Below him, the Godroad glinted red as the sunslight of Vexation and Wrath’s Tear played across its surface, the gold of the first sun, Fortune’s Eye, dulled and bloodied. As he crossed over it, the energies of the Godroad sparkled against his crystal wings, lifting him, like the hands of a parent, gentle, taking him to new heights.

      And he was ready to rise. Ready to act.

       It is finally time.

      The lands of House Ruby were among the least hospitable he’d visited. A vast forested swamp, punctuated by little islands that, often as not, turned out to be the shells of some Wildborn monstrosity. The Godroad provided the only thread of sanity in the landscape, and House Ruby’s settlements clung alongside, standing proud on long wooden stilts.

      Lately, the swamp had begun to rise. Nobody knew the cause but Vasin suspected his own house’s failings were to blame. Attacks from the Wild had become bolder and more frequent. It felt as if an unseen hand were manipulating the demons in some way. Not like a commander with an army, but a shepherd, driving their demonic flock in the same direction.

       Away from us. Each of our borders and beyond, but never in our own lands. First they pressed the Tanzanite, then the Spinel, and now the Rubies. It cannot be coincidence.

      An odd movement in the water caught his eye, and he banished his worries for another time. Movements in the water were common, but not in the middle of the day, for the greater a thing of the Wild was, the less it liked

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