He could not help but laugh. “I think your father’s behaviour puts that out of the question.”
“The offer does not come from my father. It comes from me.”
“I thought your interests were the same.”
“I once thought so too, but father had become rather erratic of late. I think the magic he uses to preserve himself has some strange side-effects that have finally caught up with him.”
I am in a position to testify to that, thought Rik. The voices whispered agreement. Tamara seemed completely serious. Of course, she would do. “I think Malkior would object to the way this conversation is going. And I think he wants me dead anyway.”
“Jaderac and I will soon be in a position to protect you from him.”
“I doubt that.”
“In the not too distant future Jaderac will be high in the favour of the Queen-Empress. Not even my father will go against her.”
“He had already killed one Queen Empress. I don’t see why he would stop at just the one. I don’t think he is entirely sane.” Rik did not think that he was entirely sane anymore himself, and if one exposure to thanatomancy could do this to him, what would it do to someone who had practised it over centuries, if not millennia. He noticed that Tamara did not seem particularly surprised by the news about the Old Queen’s assassination.
“I agree with you. That is why I am making this offer. You have survived an encounter with him when he wanted you dead. You are perhaps the only person in history to do that. You could be just as useful to us, as we could be to you.”
Rik inspected the proposition from all the angles he could see. Had Tamara really turned against her father and sided with his rival Jaderac? And what was the sorcerer up to that would soon return him to the favour of the Dark Empress? Rik was willing to bet it was nothing good or healthy to the cause of Talorea.
“The world is changing, Rik. The First are dying or going mad. The reins of power in the Terrarch lands will soon shift to younger hands. You could have your share of that power.”
“Or I could get a knife in the back as soon as I have done what you want.”
“Why would we do that? You are a useful Terrarch, Rik. More useful and more powerful than you seem to realise. Why do you think that Asea has cultivated you so assiduously?”
“For my startling good looks and rough charm obviously.”
“That might be part of it, but that’s not the way Asea thinks. You of all people should know that.”
“I am not going to kill her for you.”
“You are certain of that?”
“Yes. And if you don’t stop pointing that sword at me, I am going to take it away from you and beat you with it.”
“You really think you could?” Rik listened to the voices whisper within him. They wanted to kill. They wanted to feed. The slimy presence of the Quan Exarch moved to the forefront of his mind. By the way her eyes widened, he could see that Tamara could tell the difference in him.
“You have changed,” she said eventually. “I think you may be possessed.”
“Ask your father,” Rik said, deciding to add his own section to the vast labyrinth of lies and deceit in which they were all enmeshed. Why not? Everybody else was doing it. “He knows what happened.”
“So you have decided to side with him? He made you a better offer than we could.”
“Ask yourself this, Tamara — would you still be alive if that were the case? Given what you have just said to me.”
“Perhaps you simply want time to report me to him.”
“No, Tamara, when next I meet Malkior one of us is going to die, and if I have anything to do with it, it will be him. And you would be wise to stay out of my way while I am doing it.”
“You cannot kill him. No matter how strong you have become, he is still stronger.”
“We’ll see.” A look of sudden dread and realisation flickered across Tamara’s face.
“I know what has happened to you. You are just like he is, after he has fed.”
Rik smiled at her coldly. She did not know how useful this information was to him. Now all he had to do was get out of the Sardontine mansion with it.
“Why would he share that secret with you, of all people? Or did you find it out yourself, or from Asea? I am starting to wonder if you are really what you seem to be at all. Perhaps you are one of the new ones, from through the Gate.”
Rik had to fight to keep his features under control. Tamara could only mean one sort of Gate, and if people were coming through it, they were most likely only coming from one place. The Princes of Shadow really might have gained a foothold in this world. This was something that he needed to report to Asea. Tamara looked at him suspiciously as if her own words had just put a number of things into place for her. He did not want to disabuse her of any notions she might be forming. He wanted to get out of here with his skin intact if he could, and avoiding a battle with her seemed like the best way of doing that, despite his earlier bravado.
“I can’t persuade you to join us?” she said.
“I will make you a deal,” said Rik eventually.
“And what would that be?”
“I won’t try and kill you, if you won’t try and kill me. This is between you and me, and includes no one else. Not Jaderac. Not your father. Not Asea. Let us keep our options open. The situation is fluid and all our positions might be subject to change. You may need someone on my side soon, or I might need someone on yours. There is no need for violence between us. Not now, anyway.”
She stood silent for a while as she considered his words. Her shoulders slumped. The point of the blade lowered. The atmosphere in the room changed subtly. “You have a deal,” she said and appeared to mean it.
Don’t trust her, whispered voices. Don’t trust anyone. Right at that moment, Rik didn’t. He was starting to wonder whether he could even trust himself.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“She said there were others who had come through the Gate?” said Asea. Rik nodded and strode to the window. Across the darkened street, he saw the lights of the houses opposite, where life seemed normal. He tried to drown out the voices in his head. The night had taken on an unreal air. He could not quite bring himself to believe that he had been allowed to leave the Sardontine mansion unharmed. All the way back, in the coach, he had expected an ambush that never came.
“She did.”
“You are sure? What exactly did she say?”
Rik repeated it the best he could remember. Asea studied him carefully. He had told her almost everything that had occurred as it had occurred. The only thing he neglected to mention was that Tamara had tried to get him to agree to Asea’s assassination several times before.
“You think she was telling the truth?” Rik asked. “If so, why mention it now?”
“Perhaps you startled her into revealing something she did not want to reveal.”
“That seems a little unlikely. Tamara is very self-possessed.”
“I am not sure you understand how frightening you have become since you escaped the clutches of the Sea Devils. She could easily be convinced you are a rogue Thanatomancer. The signs are there for those who know how to look for such things, and I am sure she does.”
“Do you really think she has turned against her father though?”
“This might be one of his schemes to try and win you over to his side,” said Asea. “I am sure he knows that you would not trust him, but you might trust Tamara, particularly if you thought he was not standing behind her.”
“That thought had crossed my mind as well.”
“Keep it there. And keep thinking that way. You will live longer.”
“How do you know so much about thanatomancy?”
She sighed and shook her head, and he thought for a moment that she was not going to answer his question. “Because the Princes made the basic principles known to the wizards of Al’Terra. They wanted us to join them, to be tempted, to fall into their ways. Many did.”