The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Yes, it would have been. She had suspected Dekarta alreadyand Dekarta had feared her suspicions, it seemed. What did she do, once she knew?

She came to us and asked how she might be made free of her mark. If she could act against Dekarta, she said, she would be willing to use the Stone to set us free.

I caught my breath, amazed at her daringand her fury. I had come to Sky willing to die to avenge my mother, and only fortune and the Enefadeh had made that possible. My mother had created her own vengeance. She had betrayed her people, her heritage, even her god, all to strike a blow against one man.

Scimina was right. I was nothing compared to my mother.

You told me only I could use the Stone to free you, I said. Because I possess Enefas soul.

Yes. This was explained to Kinneth. But since the opportunity had presented itself We suggested to her that being disowned would get her free of the sigil. And we aimed her toward your father.

Something in my chest turned to water. I closed my eyes. So much for my parents fairy-tale romance.

Did she agree from the start to have a child for you? I asked. My voice sounded very soft in my own ears, but the room was quiet. Did she and my father breed me for you?

No.

I could not bring myself to believe him.

She hated Dekarta, Nahadoth continued, but she was still his favorite child. We told her nothing of Enefas soul and our plans, because we did not trust her.

More than understandable.

All right, I said, trying to marshal my thoughts. So she met my father, who was one of Enefas followers. She married him knowing he would help her achieve her goal, and also knowing the marriage would get her thrown out of the family. That got her free of the sigil.

Yes. And as a test of her intentions, it proved to us that she was sincere. It also partially achieved her goal: when she left, Dekarta was devastated. He mourned her as if shed died. His suffering seemed to please her.

I understood. Oh, how I understood.

But then then Dekarta used the Walking Death to try to kill my father. I said it slowly. Such a convoluted patchwork to piece together. He must have blamed my father for her leaving. Maybe he convinced himself that shed come back if Father was dead.

Dekarta did not unleash the Death on Darr.

I stiffened. What?

When Dekarta wants magic done, he uses us. None of us sent the plague to your land.

But if you didnt

No. Oh, no.

There was another source of magic in Sky besides the Enefadeh. Another who could wield the gods power, albeit weakly. The Death had killed only a dozen people in Darr that year; a minor outbreak by all the usual standards. The best a mortal murderer could do.

Viraine, I whispered. My hands clenched into fists. Viraine.

He had played the martyr so wellthe innocent used and abused by my scheming mother. Meanwhile he had tried to murder my father, knowing she would blame Dekarta and not him. He had waited in the corridors like a vulture while she came to plead with Dekarta for her husbands life. Perhaps he had revealed himself to her afterward and commiserated with her over Dekartas refusal. To lay the groundwork for wooing her back? Yes, that felt like him.

And yet my father had not died. My mother had not returned to Sky. Had Viraine pined for her all these years, hating my fatherhating me for thwarting his plans? Had Viraine been the one to raid my mothers chest of letters? Perhaps he had burned any that referred to him, hoping to forget his youthful folly. Perhaps hed kept them, fantasizing that the letters contained some vestige of the love hed never earned.

I would hunt him down. I would see his white hair fall around his face in a red curtain.

There was a faint, skittering sound nearby, like pebbles on the hard Skystuff floor. Or claw tips

Such rage, the Nightlord breathed, his voice all deep crevasses and ice. And he was close, all of a sudden, so close. Right behind me. Oh, yes. Command me, sweet Yeine. I am your weapon. Give the word, and I will make the pain he inflicted on me tonight seem kind.

My anger was gone, frozen away. Slowly I took a deep breath, then another, calming myself. No hatred. No fear of whatever the Nightlord had become thanks to my carelessness. I fixed my mind on the dark and the silence, and did not answer. I did not dare.

After a very long while I heard a faint, disappointed sigh. Farther away this time; he had returned to the other side of the room. Slowly I allowed my muscles to unclench.

Dangerous to continue this line of questioning right now. So many secrets to discover, so many pit-traps of emotion. I pushed aside thoughts of Viraine, with an effort.

My mother wanted to save my father, I said. Yes. That was a good thing to understand. She must have grown to love him, however strangely the relationship had begun. I knew hed loved her. I remembered seeing it in his eyes.