Part 20 (1/2)
”She's formed an unhealthy fancy for him.”
”This miserable life should have some consolation,” I muttered.
”Don't even think of consoling yourself with him,” Ethan snapped.
”If I did, no power on earth could stop me.”
Brovik laughed. ”Your Bird of Prey has proven no parrot.”
”You encourage her disobedience.”
”You want so much to be enlightened, but you don't allow her to think for herself. If she fancies my beautiful boy, what harm is there?”
”I'd kill her first.”
”Your ideas are as archaic as Kalidasa's. You chose her for her intelligence, but you can't stand that she has her own ideas. Why are we doing this work if not to free them?”
”I ask myself that question constantly.”
”It is inevitable. The old ones will fall from power. Our children will walk in the sun.”
Rooting through the drawer, Brovik came up with a wide, elaborately decorated, gold bracelet. ”Ah, here it is. I knew I still had it. Come Mia, a gift for you. A craftsman in Constantinople fas.h.i.+oned it for me, centuries ago.” He clasped it about my upper arm. The woman it had been made for was somewhat broader of limb and it hung loosely. ”We'll have it cut to fit you.”
Ethan took it. ”Absolutely not, this is priceless, an artifact of an ancient age!”
Brovik pooh-poohed him, ”It's nothing, a bauble with one purpose, to compliment a woman's beauty.”
Ethan examined the beautiful spiral design. ”Don't spoil it. We must must preserve beauty by all means.” preserve beauty by all means.”
Brovik took it and clasped it again on my upper arm. ”I care nothing for the past, except of a form of entertainment for young listeners. The bloodthirsty berserker legend has its use.”
The bracelet slipped down my arm. I pushed it up. ”Don't disappoint me. You burn and pillage my imagination.”
”We were simply voyagers in search of new lands, not mindless killers that Christian monks and Arab traders painted us to be.”
Ethan sneered. ”He's left out the most interesting part of his legend. He killed his maker with his own hands. Staked her before dawn and cut her throat- but she cursed him that he'd die at a woman's hand.”
I was flabbergasted. ”Your maker was a woman woman?”
”Ethan, I'm surprised at you. You profess to be a man of science, surely you don't believe in such folderol?”
”The question is, do you?”
All at once Brovik became still. He looked to Ethan, then to me. He started to laugh, softly at first, building to a crescendo. ”Is this why you have made your Bird of Prey, Bird of Prey, to frighten me with the specter of Sanjavani?” to frighten me with the specter of Sanjavani?”
”You've taken no women, unless you count the boy.”
”I couldn't leave such a heart to stop beating! Kurt's the best I've ever ever made, and there were a dozen before you! He's contributed more to this house in a decade, than you've done in a century.” made, and there were a dozen before you! He's contributed more to this house in a decade, than you've done in a century.”
This remark wounded Ethan deeply. He rose from the bed. ”Do without my contribution then!”
”Go then, maybe Gaius will take you in. See if you fare as well under him.”
Ethan turned slowly pale and trembling. ”You just have to pound the stake in a little at a time, don't you?”
”Don't be foolish.” Brovik laid a gentle hand on Ethan's shoulder. ”There's work for you, a chance to show your mettle. It will be lucrative if you succeed.”
Ethan threw him off. ”What work?”
”Take Mia to the Wolf's palazzo.”
”Bringing her here for you to dally with is one thing, but I won't subject her to them!”
”Gaius has made several offers. It's our chance Ethan.”
”And you know what Dirk will do to her.”
”She's smart enough to handle that buffoon. Why else did you train her?” Ethan didn't answer. Brovik took a long look at him. ”I'll speak to Gaius- say you've tired of her, and want to be rid of her. Take her in a week's time, when he invests Dirk with his portion. Mia will maneuver to be alone with him, won't you my dear?”
Ethan glared at me. ”What did you bribe her with?”
Blood rushed to my face against my will.
”She'll do this out of love, which is more than I can say for you.”
Ethan winced. ”Is this what you want Mia, to be his p.a.w.n?”
”If it can help our cause... ”
”Funny, until recently, you found this cause to be hopeless.”
”I've seen the light.”
”I'm sure you have. How much Brovik?”
”Ten thousand.”
”For my property property to be savaged?” to be savaged?”
”Fifteen. Demand compensation from Gaius as well.”
”This is dangerous work. Twenty.”
”Very well, build another wing onto your house.”
Ethan smiled, turning to me. ”Perhaps Gaius will outbid you. It may be to my advantage to sell her.”