Part 20 (1/2)
”Not much,” Agel said bluntly. ”His physical hurts are minor. Those I have dealt with. But it is his reason that concerns me.”
Caelan frowned at the man who was now his master in name only. ”Yes,” he said very softly.
Agel's gaze narrowed. ”It is time that you told me exactly what happened. I can do nothing if I do not have information.”
Caelan's frown deepened. ”Why did you bring me back here to him? Why drug me? What is your intention?”
”It should be obvious,” Agel said coldly. ”You are intent on self-destruction, as usual. But this time I will stop you.”
”Why?”
”Because we are kinsmen,” Agel said sharply. ”What happens to you will affect me. If you betray this great man who is your master, will I not also be looked on with suspicion? Treachery is said to run in families.”
Caelan stared at him in amazement tinged with disgust. ”You are thinking only of yourself.”
”I am being prudent.”
”You hypocrite-”
Agel lifted his hand. ”I will not argue further with you. You are the property of his highness. If you do not stay where you belong, you will be branded a runaway. It is shameful enough to have a cousin who is a slave. Worse to have a cousin who kills for sport. But to have a cousin who attacks his master and then runs from his crime is-”
”Wait!” Caelan said in bewilderment. ”What twisting of truth is this? I didn't attack him.”
”Didn't you?” Agel said, his gaze never wavering. ”Didn't he reprimand you, and didn't you turn on him violently? Your temper has always been unreliable. And now you are afraid, too afraid to confess what you have done.”
Caelan was horrified. He realized immediately what the implications would be if Agel spread this lie. ”You can't do this,” he said, his voice choked. ”You mustn't.”
”Then cease this stupid insistence that the prince is a traitor,” Agel said.
Caelan stared at him, his mind whirling. He felt stunned with disgust at what his cousin was attempting to do.
”Who has set you to do this?” he asked finally. He was shaking inside, from rage and fear both. He wanted to throttle Agel, but he dared not move until he had answers. ”Who?”
Agel would not meet his gaze. ”Our purpose is to save this man. Tell me what you can.”
”Why should I?”
Agel looked suddenly fierce. ”I have worked long and hard to secure my appointment to the imperial court. I won't let you jeopardize that.”
”Tirhin is a traitor,” Caelan said in a hard voice. ”You cannot coerce me into saying otherwise. My loyalty to him has ended. Don't serve him, Agel. He is not worth your concern.”
”That is not for you to say!” Agel said sharply. ”You are not this man's judge.”
Anger leaped in Caelan, but he crossed his arms over his chest and said, ”If his mind has gone, there is no reclaiming it.”
”I did not say his mind is gone. But he is far away, deeply severed.” severed.”
”That is justice,” Caelan said.
Agel's eyes grew even colder. ”And I have said you are not his judge! This man is a prince, and you are a slave. You are dust beneath his feet, unworthy in rank even to lick them.”
Caelan snorted. ”I do not need a lecture about rank and standing. I have been taught my place at the end of a whip. But I am well born, and there is nothing in my lineage to make me ashamed. Never will I forget that.”
”If you are a slave, it is because you threw away all the advantages you were born to. You wasted everything. You deserve to be here, abased and wearing a chain of possession.”
Caelan's fists clenched. He wanted to choked those pompous, lying words from his cousin. He wanted to hit Agel, to hurt him. He wished with all his heart to see Agel facing a Thyzarene attack, with the dragons screaming and belching fire, and the laughing riders spearing their victims. Oh, to see Agel in shackles, naked and covered with welts from a scourging, lying in filthy straw and grateful for a crust of molded bread.
All Agel knew about slavery was what he saw in Imperial most fas.h.i.+onable circles-the sleek, pampered house slaves, the groundskeeping workers, the champion gladiators who wore fine clothing and had servants of their own. He would never understand the debas.e.m.e.nt and degradation. He would never know the shame or the mental torment.
Agel already lived in a cage, one of his own making. His bars were prejudice and narrow thinking. How could he understand anything, much less the desperate need to be free? How could he understand honor, when he had thrown his own away? How far had the cruel elders at Rieschelhold twisted his thinking?
Caelan's anger faded to pity. His fists uncurled, and he drew in a deep, ragged breath. Agel was not worth his hatred. Agel was not worth anything.
He turned in silence to walk out.
”You can't go,” Agel said to his back.
Caelan kept walking.
”You can't! I will say that you attacked the prince and injured him. I will accuse you, and you will go to the dungeons a condemned man.”
Caelan drew in a breath. He felt cold with contempt.
Turning around, he sent Agel a steely glare, but it was met by the ice of Agel's gaze.
”You don't want to die, do you?” Agel asked him. ”You still care about your own life.”
Caelan said nothing. His jaw was clamped too tightly.
Agel took his silence for a.s.sent. ”Now. You will answer my questions and give me the a.s.sistance I need.”
”If you condemn me,” Caelan said hoa.r.s.ely, ”will you not also condemn yourself, as my kinsman?”
”Treachery and murderous a.s.sault are two different things,” Agel said in a calm voice. ”I cannot be blamed for the latter. You are well known to be a violent man, of unreliable temper and savage fighting skills. And it is also known that you expected his highness to free you for your successes in the arena. He has not done so. Are these not sufficient provocations for a man of your ilk?”
Caelan frowned, wondering how Agel could be so ruthless. ”Why are you doing this?”
”I told you. It was very difficult to get this appointment. Now that I have it, I intend to keep it. How better to impress the emperor than by healing his beloved son of these injuries? Do you think I came to Imperia merely to treat wounded gladiators, favorite slaves, and imperial concubines? No, I came to treat the emperor himself, and I will not let your stupidity keep me from that.”
Understanding dawned on Caelan. ”You haven't been received yet,” he said slowly. ”The emperor has not yet permitted you to examine him.”
It was Agel's turn to stand silent and tight-lipped.
”You are here on a trial basis. You can be dismissed if you fail to please.”
Agel's chin lifted. ”Already I have been called on by the empress. That was a great step forward, at least until you broke in and interrupted the consultation.”
Caelan shook his head. ”She wasn't the empress, you fool. Her Imperial Majesty wouldn't come to your shabby infirmary in person.”
”But she did.”