Power & Majesty (43 page)

H
eliora was screaming, and she couldn’t stop. The terrors that had broken into her dreams still had hold of her. For a few moments, she could see everything, and it hurt her so much that if she’d had an axe handy, she would have broken open her own skull just to make the pain stop.

‘Hel, sweetling. I’m here.’

She fought her way out of the strangling blankets to stare at Ashiol. For a moment, she was confused, thinking that he should still be outside the city and safe, as he had been for the last five years. Even as she remembered what he was doing here though, all the other events of the last few days crashed in on her. She groaned. ‘Go away, Ash.’

‘There’s gratitude for you,’ said a sharp female voice.

Heliora peeked through her fingers, wary of Kelpie or Velody, but it was much worse than that. ‘Hello, Livilla.’

‘Everyone’s always so pleased to see me,’ said the Lord of Wolves, lighting a cigarette.

‘What did you dream about?’ Ashiol asked Heliora, ignoring Livilla despite his hatred for those cigarettes of hers.

Heliora scratched at her stubbled scalp, feeling awkward. ‘Aren’t we fighting?’

‘I’m over it. You did something stupid, but you meant well. Tell me about the dream.’

‘I don’t remember it.’ Strangely, that was the truth. Heliora hadn’t forgotten a dream since she was a teenager. ‘It was about blood, I think.’ She searched back through the vague images she could still hold on to. ‘Dhynar broke a blood oath. Oh, saints and devils. This is happening right now, Ash.’

‘The little fucker,’ Livilla said loudly. ‘I knew we should have squashed him like an ant when he took that fourth courteso. Who the seven hells does he think he is?’

‘Where is he?’ Ashiol asked Heliora urgently. ‘If I can get him to repent in the name of the city, it could make all the difference.’

The futures folded in on Heliora. ‘Too late,’ she told him. ‘The Ferax Lord is dead.’

Livilla howled. Her skin burst into a blinding glow of light and she spun towards the opening of the tent.

‘No!’ Ashiol leaped after her, shaping himself into Lord form and grabbing her by the shoulders. ‘You can’t quench him, Liv. You can’t afford to take in any more animor. You ran a fever for three days after Tasha died.’

She snarled at him, her usual glamour discarded for a wolfish, furious face. ‘Haven’t you heard the news, my cat? Women can be Kings now.’

‘They can also destroy themselves by taking too much power,’ Ashiol yelled at her. ‘Velody doesn’t cancel out what happened to Samara.’

‘I don’t give a damn about Samara!’ Livilla screamed. ‘I want to be Velody. You are not stopping me.’

She tore out of the tent, shaping into two silvery wolves as she did so. Ashiol shaped himself into a mob of black cats that swarmed after the wolves, catching them up and bringing them down with vicious, easy power. The wolves
and cats snapped at each other, rolling and fighting with wild violence.

Heliora wrapped herself in a large shawl and stood at the opening of her tent, watching Ashiol and Livilla tear each other to pieces. She found a stray shoe and used it to put out Livilla’s fallen cigarette.

Dhynar’s animor floated overhead, veiling the city. Neither Ashiol nor Livilla was aware enough to latch onto it, too busy biting and snapping at each other.

As Heliora watched, the veil of animor broke up into pieces and was divided and quenched between those members of the Creature Court who weren’t currently trying to kill each other. It took only a few minutes and the last breath of Dhynar was gone.

Heliora wondered where Poet was, whether he was feasting on his share of Dhynar’s power. She had been thinking about Poet a lot lately. That wasn’t a good sign.

Something bad was coming, and Heliora didn’t have to look into the futures to see that. Blood oaths were not made to be broken, and last time it had happened, Aufleur had come the closest it ever had to total destruction.

She closed her tent flap, not really wanting to see what happened when Ashiol and Livilla regained their human forms, naked and in each other’s arms. Then she slid out of her shawl and went back to bed.

Rhian and Crane looked up as Velody returned to the kitchen. ‘Dhynar, Lord Ferax is dead,’ she told them.

Rhian’s gaze was steely. ‘Should I sacrifice a honey cake?’

‘Four Lords instead of five,’ said Velody. ‘That should be easier to juggle, right?’

‘Depends,’ said Crane. ‘They’ll each be more powerful. Dhynar might have been the wild card, but that doesn’t make the others less dangerous. And…assuming they didn’t die with him, there are four courtesi out there without a Lord.’

‘What does that mean?’ Velody asked. ‘Will they make trouble?’

‘Not them, but the other Lords will all be angling to take them in. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get a turf war out of this.’

Velody sighed. ‘It never stops, does it?’

‘There’s a reason our Power and Majesties mostly go mad,’ Crane said, then looked horrified at having said that out loud.

Velody reached out and patted his hand. ‘I’m not Garnet.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re not.’

They looked at each other for a moment, and Velody realised with a sinking feeling that she was very lucky he hadn’t been the nearest man to her when she quenched Dhynar.

‘Who killed him?’ Rhian asked suddenly. ‘If Dhynar died, who killed him? And…I know this might be a stupid question, but why?’

Velody hadn’t even thought to wonder about those things. She closed her eyes, trying to open her mind to the city again, but she could no longer feel the presence of each of the Lords and Court.

‘I’m just not good enough at this yet,’ she said in frustration. ‘I’m a baby when it comes to understanding Aufleur and the animor. Some Power and Majesty.’

‘Be patient,’ said Crane. ‘It will come.’

‘How many more will die before I figure it all out?’

There was a quiet knock at the kitchen door. Velody noticed that Rhian didn’t even flinch as she went to let Ashiol in. He looked exhausted, his clothes torn and dishevelled.

‘We have a problem,’ he said, as he collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs.

‘Start at the beginning,’ said Velody. ‘Simple vocabulary. I’m feeling dumb and uneducated.’

He lifted his eyes to her. ‘I hear you’ve been making blood oaths. Want to tell me about them?’

‘You know about them,’ she said uncomfortably. ‘We made the Lords and Court swear with their blood that they would not hurt Delphine and Rhian.’

‘Those were blood oaths made to you,’ he growled. ‘What have you been promising to other people?’

‘Oh.’ Velody could feel her face flaming. ‘I had to convince the Lords to fight the sky when you were in that cage. Livilla and Warlord wouldn’t settle for less than blood oaths. I honoured his this nox.’

‘Well, I hope the promise you made Livilla isn’t too onerous,’ he told her. ‘You can’t break it, ever.’

‘I know,’ she said uncomfortably. ‘I mean, I assumed—’

‘An oath is never taken lightly, Velody. A blood oath least of all. It ties your soul to that of the city. If a blood oath is broken, Aufleur usually demands a life in return. I’ve never known anyone to survive breaking a blood oath for more than twelve hours or so.’

‘I see.’
A good thing I plan on never sleeping with you then.
They’d been so close to it the other nox, and she hadn’t thought twice about breaking her word to Livilla. Holy hells. ‘Perhaps you should have explained that earlier.’

‘Perhaps so.’ Ashiol’s face was guarded. Did he know the terms of her oath to Livilla?

‘Does that mean I didn’t need to promise them anything? They would have obeyed me eventually, or been forsworn?’

‘Maybe. Allegiance isn’t a cut-and-dried concept, and you may have noticed that the oath to serve you as Power and Majesty was not made with blood. They can bend that particular oath pretty far without it breaking, especially when it comes to self-preservation. Arguably, it’s their duty to stay alive. Likewise, they won’t lie to you, but they’ll conceal the truth and they’re damn good at blurring those lines. But, for the most part, they will obey direct orders, especially if reinforced by a push of power.’

‘I didn’t have any power that nox!’

‘I know,’ he sighed. ‘There’s more, Velody. Being forsworn from an ordinary oath can be uncomfortable for one of the Court, but betraying a blood oath—if the person forsworn doesn’t fully repent their action before death catches up with them, it’s not only their life that’s forfeit but their soul. There aren’t any saints or angels for them, and what happens next makes the seven hells look like a holiday camp.’

‘That’s superstition, surely?’ Rhian asked. ‘I mean, how can you know for certain what happens to them after they die?’

‘It happened to my first Creature Lord,’ said Ashiol. ‘Tasha. She broke a blood oath and she died. It didn’t stop there. The broken oath kept her shade from moving on—she haunted the city for weeks afterwards. We heard her every scream, her every agony. There was a plague that month—do you remember the Weeping Fate? I don’t think it was a coincidence. Death followed Tasha’s empty footsteps wherever she wandered. Whole streets were wiped out.’

Velody shuddered. ‘I get the message. Never make a blood oath you can’t keep.’

‘We never knew whether it was the sky or Aufleur itself that was doing it,’ Ashiol went on. ‘But it took everything we had to exorcise her from the streets. Those of us who remember that would never break a blood oath.’

‘You can stop lecturing me,’ Velody snapped. ‘I understand.’

‘I’m not lecturing, Velody, I’m trying to explain. Dhynar only came to us after Tasha. He may have heard the stories, but he wasn’t here. He didn’t see it. He can’t have taken it seriously enough, or he would never…’

‘Would never what?’ Velody asked. She felt cold. ‘What has he done, Ashiol?’

‘He died this nox—after breaking a blood oath. The seer told me—he brought his death upon himself.’

‘What oath did he break?’ Rhian asked suddenly. ‘Has he
made any blood oaths other than the one not to hurt Velody’s friends? Where’s Delphine, Ashiol?’

‘It’s going to happen all over again,’ muttered Crane. ‘Dhynar’s shade will bring death to the city.’

‘I don’t care if Dhynar’s shade is on fire!’ Rhian yelled. ‘Where is Delphine?’

‘Macready was trailing her this nox,’ Crane assured them. ‘He’ll see she comes to no harm.’

Rhian was furious, something Velody had not seen in a very long time. ‘Last time Macready went up against Dhynar, he was brought back in pieces!’

Velody heard a faint noise outside in the alley.
Saints, but my hearing’s getting good.
She glanced at Ashiol to confirm that he had heard it, and he nodded a little.

‘It’s all right, Rhian,’ Velody said. ‘They’re home.’ She opened the kitchen door just as the back gate swung open. Delphine, fragile and battered, was only on her feet because both Macready and Kelpie supported her arms. The three of them looked like they had been through all seven hells.

Rhian ran past Velody to Delphine, unwound her from the two sentinels and led her inside. Delphine sank into a kitchen chair and Rhian fussed over her.

‘We have to talk, so we do,’ said Macready, unsmiling as he and Kelpie reached the kitchen door.

‘No,’ Velody said, remarkably calm considering the circumstances. ‘No, we don’t. I want you out.’

‘Majesty,’ he said, startled.

‘No. Not Power, not Majesty. Not any more.’ She turned to Crane. ‘And you. Out.’

Crane, just as surprised as Macready, got to his feet.

‘Stay where you are,’ Ashiol growled.

Crane hesitated.

Velody rounded on Ashiol. ‘Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. Ever since that nox you broke into my house, you’ve put me and my friends in danger. It’s all about you, Ash. Your power games. If the blood oath can’t protect
Rhian and Delphine, they will never be safe. That is not acceptable.’

‘No one could have predicted what Dhynar would do,’ Ashiol protested.

‘I should have predicted it! But no, I was too busy trying to learn the rules for this twisted world of yours. It’s over.’

He remained sitting. ‘You don’t mean that.’

Velody glared at him, then looked at each of the three sentinels. ‘Kelpie. Crane. Macready. This is my last order to you all. Escort the Ducomte Ashiol Xandelian out of this house.’

There was a discernible pause. Kelpie moved first, stepping into the kitchen and laying her hand upon Ashiol’s shoulder. ‘Time to go.’

‘You’re taking her side?’ Ashiol asked in disbelief.

‘You’re King, but she’s the Majesty,’ said Macready, who still stood in the doorway.

Ashiol shrugged off Kelpie’s hand, his eyes burning into Velody. ‘You’ll never be safe. We’ve tried this before. Whether we’re around or not, whether you accept it or not. If the Court don’t force you into action, the sky will. You can’t escape it.’

‘You did,’ she said calmly. ‘You escaped it for five years. You left the city. So that’s what we’re going to do.’

Ashiol’s face froze. ‘You can’t.’

‘We’ll leave Aufleur, and we won’t return.’

‘You’re sure about this, lass?’ Macready asked.

‘I don’t have a choice, Mac,’ she said helplessly. ‘I have to get out from under this before it eats us alive. I can live without being the Duchessa’s dressmaker, and I can certainly live without being the demi-monarch of a crazy bunch of reprobates. I can’t live with risking the lives of Delphine and Rhian.’

‘The city will fall without you,’ Ashiol said flatly. ‘One morning, you’ll wake up and no one around you will ever have heard the name of Aufleur. The animor in you will keep the memory of all these dead souls in your mind, but
you’ll be the only one who knows this city ever existed. Can you survive
that
?’

‘If I have to,’ said Velody, trying not to let her face crumple.

‘This is what you both want?’ Macready asked softly, his eyes going from Delphine to Rhian and back again. ‘You’ll give up everything to follow Velody away from the city?’

‘I have nothing in Aufleur to give up,’ said Rhian, still holding Delphine protectively. ‘I have Velody and Delphine. That’s everything.’