Part 45 (1/2)
”Do you not,” she said softly beneath her breath.
He overheard and frowned. ”I am not your enemy, whatever you may think.”
”Then why am I your prisoner?”
Tirhin leaned back in his chair. ”Leave if you wish. Go. I will not stop you.”
”My chamber door was locked tonight.”
”For your protection.”
She sniffed. ”I was brought to this room by an armed escort.”
”For your protection. In Gault's name, Elandra, you have seen the city. You must surely realize the danger that surrounds us. These walls offer some protection, but not enough. Twice the guards have killed things which crept inside somehow, things you do not wish to meet.”
”You brought them here.”
Anger flashed in Tirhin's face. He slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. ”Kostimon brought them! Do not lay that blame on me!”
Her gaze dropped a moment; then she looked up again. ”And what blame will you accept?”
His mouth tightened. ”I let the Madruns sack the city. I regret that now, but at least they have finally been driven out. At the time it seemed my only chance of seizing the throne from the old devil.”
”Couldn't you have waited?”
”For how long?” he retorted.
”A few weeks. A few days. Your father had little time left.”
Tirhin snorted and drained the contents of his goblet. ”Do you think he would not have found a way to thwart death again? I tell you, he was planning something-”
”How could he-”
”Why not?” Tirhin broke in. ”He made his bargain before with the dark G.o.d to evade death.”
”Yes, but that was over.”
”Was it? I'm not so sure.” Tirhin poured himself more wine with an unsteady hand, spilling some of it. ”He and Sien were plotting some scheme with the darkness.”
”But-'”
”I tell you, he would have succeeded!” Tirhin said sharply. ”You knew him only a short time, but even so, do you truly believe that he would not have tried again to keep his life and his throne, if there were any way to do it? No matter what the cost?”
Elandra sat in silence a moment, but finally she replied with honesty. ”Yes, I believe he would have taken any chance offered to him.”
”Yes.” Tirhin s.h.i.+fted in his chair and grimaced.
Elandra rose to her feet. ”You are unwell. The hour is very late. We can talk later-”
”We will talk now!” he said forcefully, glaring up at her. ”This is our only chance for privacy. There is little time, and I will not be put off.”
Pain gripped his face again, and he rubbed his leg fretfully.
Watching him, Elandra frowned. ”You are exhausted, and your wound pains you. Can this not wait until morning when you are more rested?”
He bared his teeth in a bitter version of a smile and shook his head. ”There is never a moment when the wound does not pain me,” he admitted. ”I do not sleep at night. While the rest of the world lies quiet, I have nothing to do but fill the hours with activity.”
Elandra stared at him in consternation. ”You do not sleep at all?”
”No.”
”But you must take rest.”
”Oh, yes, I rest. But there is no sleep. Please, sit down.”
She sank back into her chair, feeling more pity for him than she wanted to. ”But how can you live if you do not sleep?”
He shrugged and ran the back of his hand across his forehead.
”Can the healer not cure you?”
His lips curved bitterly, and he would not meet her eyes. ”Obviously not.”
”I do not understand. For all his faults, Agel is a most skilled healer, trained in Trau's best school.”
He stared into the bottom of his cup. ”Some hurts are beyond all the skill and ability of this world.”
Understanding came to her. Chilled, she shrank back in her chair and stared at him with new eyes. Memories of General Paz came to her, along with memories of her own poisoning.
”The darkness is within you,” she whispered.
Still he would not meet her eyes.
She swallowed hard, not knowing what to say. She had escaped the trap, but could Tirhin? ”Is it the poison?” she asked.
He shook his head.
”If we appealed to the Penestricans-”
”Those witches are not coming within a league of me,” he said, and filled his goblet again.
”But if they could help you-”
”They will not,” he said.
”Tirhin, it can be fought. It can be-”
”But I don't want to fight it,” he said. He turned his pale yellow eyes on her, and she felt as though she had been physically shocked.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.