The Gods of Amyrantha (47 page)

The Imperator stopped on the bottom step and looked up at Kinta, blushing a deep shade of crimson.
Stellan is right,
Arkady decided as she looked at him.
He's just a boy.

'Er ... no ... my lady ...'

'Then to what do I owe the pleasure of your esteemed company, my lord?'

'It's about Lady Desean.' The young man turned to Arkady, but looked away when she caught his eye. 'I have a message about her from the Glaebans.'

'A message?' Arkady asked, before Kinta could terrify the boy into being too frightened to say anything.

'Actually, my lady, it's not such much a message, as a ... a warrant.'

'A
warrant?
A warrant for what?'

The Imperator looked away. He was so nervous he could barely speak. 'For your arrest ... and return ... to Glaeba, your grace. You've been charged with ... high treason, along with your husband.'

Arkady stared at the Imperator, too stunned to speak.

Kinta seemed as shocked as Arkady. 'What could Lady Desean have possibly done to deserve such a charge?'

'The warrant says she aided her husband in the murder of the king and queen.'

'That's ludicrous!' Arkady finally managed to sputter. 'There must be a mistake.'

'The document bears the seal of the King's Private Secretary, your grace. Lord Aranville, himself, has signed the warrant and sent an escort to take you home.'

'Jaxyn
signed the warrant?'

She said that as much for Kinta's benefit as she did for the Imperator.

The immortal didn't miss it, either. 'Thank you for bringing this news personally, my lord. Is the escort waiting for Lady Desean now?'

'They're at the Glaeban Embassy. I mean, they couldn't come here armed and demanding one of my guests. But they're expecting an answer. They've asked that I send word when Lady Desean is ready to leave.'

'Then that is what we shall do, husband. Send word to the Glaeban embassy that the Duchess of Lebec will be ready to leave with them in the morning.'

'She's not a duchess, any longer.'

'I
beg
your pardon?' Arkady said.

'Your husband has been stripped of all his titles ... and assets, your grace,' the Imperator explained, all but cringing at the idea of delivering such dire tidings. 'The warrant explicitly states that. And that you are to be treated accordingly.'

'They've taken Lebec from him?' Arkady felt faint.

'That is my understanding of the matter, your grace. I'm sorry. I quite liked him ... considering he was Glaeban.'

Kinta glanced at Arkady and then turned to her husband. 'I shall see everything is in order, husband. You may go.'

The Imperator was too overwhelmed by his wife to do anything but turn on his heel and hurry back down the path of the seraglium. Arkady didn't even notice he'd left. She collapsed onto the cushions, her head spinning.

'Are you all right, Arkady?' Kinta asked.

'I can't go back.'

'It won't be easy, I'll grant you ...'

'No, you don't understand, my lady. That warrant is signed by Jaxyn Aranville.'

'You think he has designs on you?'

'I know he does,' Arkady said, fighting down a wave of overwhelming terror. 'But if it was just about sex, it wouldn't matter so much. I've been used like that before. I can survive it. This is about tormenting Stellan.'

'Your husband?'

Arkady nodded, wondering how much she could risk confiding. And wondering if — given Stellan had been disinherited and charged with regicide — if it made the slightest difference any longer. 'The relationship between Jaxyn and my husband is ... Tides, it's just too complicated to explain. What I'm certain about, though, is that Jaxyn wants me back because he wants to prove to me he's won, and to Stellan that he was a fool. I don't care what happens to me, but I can't do that to Stellan.'

Kinta nodded and sank down on the cushions beside Arkady. 'You have the right of it, I fear. Jaxyn always was a vengeful little prick.'

'Can I ask for asylum, my lady? Here in Torlenia?'

'You could,' Kinta agreed. 'But if you do, I will advise my husband to deny you.'

'But you know what will happen to me if I return to Glaeba.' Arkady stared at her in shock.
'Why?'

'For exactly the reason I just gave you. Jaxyn is a vengeful little prick. I'm planning to hand Brynden a throne, Arkady, not a country on the brink of war over you with another Tide Lord.'

Arkady shook her head, wondering why she'd been foolish enough to imagine, even for a moment, that any immortal would think of something other than themselves.

'Then I am doomed, my lady. Shall
I
give Jaxyn your regards when I'm in chains and on my knees before him?'

Kinta frowned. 'I suppose there's no chance you will agree to keep my presence here in Torlenia a secret from Jaxyn and Diala? Or my plans for Brynden?'

'Not much chance at all, my lady,' Arkady said, meeting the immortal's gaze with unflinching determination. Two could play this game.

The immortal was silent for a moment as she debated something and then nodded. 'Very well.'

'You'll speak to the Imperator about granting me asylum?'

The consort shook her head. 'That would precipitate the very war I'm trying to avoid. No, it would be easier if you just weren't here.'

'I have no money, my lady, no title, no status and I barely speak the language here.'

Kinta smiled sourly. 'I
Wasn
't planning on tossing you over the walls and leaving you to fend for yourself, Arkady. The purpose of helping you escape would not be to facilitate your immediate recapture.'

'Then what are you planning, my lady?

'I will send you somewhere Jaxyn will never find you, my dear.'

'Where is that?'

'I will send you to Brynden.'

CHAPTER 47

Tilly Ponting had laid out all the major cards of the Tarot on the table for the others to see. Declan studied them with a frown. Now he could put faces to some of the names, the cards seemed much less benign, almost sinister, as they tracked the history of the Tide Lords in colourful — and seemingly harmless — artwork.

A thousand years from now, will there be others sitting around a table like this, looking at this record of living history, wondering if there's anything
they
can do to stop the immortals!

The deck Tilly used was a special one. This was not the deck she rolled out to tell fortunes at parties. This was the Lore Tarot. The one that told the truth.

'Historically, as far as I can tell, Jaxyn and Diala have never been allies before,' Tilly remarked, as she laid out the last card.

'Diala made Jaxyn immortal,' Ryda Tarek agreed. 'But neither of them is trustworthy nor particularly trusting. I'd suggest their alliance this time is one of convenience rather than a meeting of minds.'

Declan nodded. 'That would fit with what Warlock has observed.'

'Warlock?'

'Declan's been able to get a Scard onto Diala's staff,' Karyl Deryon explained. 'He's been very useful.'

Ryda looked across the table at Declan. 'Diala has a
Scard
on her staff and doesn't know it? That's brilliant. How did you manage that?'

Declan shrugged. 'All her staff are Crash. Immortals are no better at spotting Scards than we are, until they do something they're not supposed to. We just had to be certain she didn't suspect his willingness to follow her orders is driven by choice rather than compulsion. The credit for staying close to her this long belongs to Warlock, not to me.'

'I'd like to meet this Scard of yours.'

'I'll send a note to the palace asking him to attend us, shall I?'

'Declan, stop it!' Tilly said. 'Ryda has risked a great deal to come here. We all have.'

'Does the Tarot give us any idea how this is likely to play out?' Aleki asked, saving Declan from having to apologise to either Ryda or Tilly.

Tilly shook her head, pursing her lips as she studied the Tarot cards. 'Except for Brynden's almost inevitable rise in Torlenia, these power alignments are all new. We've not seen Jaxyn and Diala together before, and once Tryan finds Princess Nyah and marries her, he will be King of Caelum, leaving Syrolee in a subordinate role, which is extraordinary.'

Ryda smiled. 'And Cayal worries that he's seen it all.'

'You know that for a fact?' Declan asked.

'Why else would he want to die?'

Once again, Aleki interrupted before their sniping could escalate into a full-blown argument. 'Speaking of Cayal, do we know where he is? Or what he's planning?'

'He's in Torlenia.'

They all turned to stare at Declan. This was news that had arrived in the dispatches Stellan Desean had brought with him from Ramahn. The letter was from Arkady — in theory — a boring and seemingly trivial description of life in the seraglium. Underlying Arkady's message, however, was a much more comprehensive coded report from Tiji, in which she revealed, among other things, that she had seen Cayal.

'What's he doing there?'

'I'm not sure. The word I have is that he met with Kinta, but she wasn't happy to see him.'

Lord Deryon looked very worried. 'Is he planning to challenge Brynden for control of Torlenia?'

'Unlikely,' Markun said. 'If he's looking for a way to die, he'll not be looking to set himself up as a potentate, particularly not in a country ruled by a man who tried to crush him with a meteorite the last time they ran into one another.'

'Maybe he still feels something for Kinta?' Tilly suggested.

'Even if he did, I doubt he'd act on it,' Ryda said. 'But there is another possibility.'

Declan glared at him. 'Are you planning to share it with us, or are you just pausing for dramatic effect?'

'Cayal wants to die. As you so rightly pointed out, that's no mean feat for an immortal. Maybe he needs help.'

'Magical help?' Tilly asked.

Ryda nodded. 'If there was a way for Cayal to end his life by ordinary means, he would have found it long ago. I'm suggesting he needs help. Who better to approach than the man who wants you dead?'

Although Ryda's words made perfectly good sense, something else occurred to Declan that made his blood run cold as he remembered Maralyce's tale about what the Tide Lords had been capable of when they banded together to bring down Kentravyon. At that time the Tide had been on the wane. How much more damage could they do if they got together when it was on the rise? 'If Cayal needs the help of another Tide Lord to die, then they'll be channelling the Tide, won't they. And a lot of it.'

Ryda nodded. 'More than likely.'

Declan pointed to the Tarot on the table. 'Cayal decapitated Pellys and half a continent disappeared into the ocean. What's a couple of Tide Lords channelling

enough power to
destroy
one of them, going to do to the rest of us?'

'If it
is
only a couple of them.'

Declan looked at Markun. 'What do you mean?'

'You're assuming he only needs the aid of one Tide Lord. What if he needs more than one?'

Declan didn't answer right away. He didn't really need to. The look of every face in the room said it all. Except for Ryda Tarek, who was smiling.

'What's so funny?'

'Not funny, my passionate and pessimistic young friend. Ironic'
'Ironic?'

Ryda leaned back in his seat and cast his gaze over them. 'We sit here plotting the demise of the Tide Lords. For centuries, people like us have sat around tables like this, studying the Tarot, looking for patterns and praying to gods we're fairly certain don't exist, to deliver us from their clutches. And here we stand, on the cusp of succeeding, only to discover that in the process of destroying them, we may have to destroy ourselves.

'That, my friends, it the very essence of
ironic,
don't you think?'

It was after dark when the meeting broke for a chance for everyone to stretch their cramped legs, ease their aching bladders and silence their growling stomachs. Tilly took the opportunity to pull Declan aside in the hall outside her parlour, to find out what was happening with Stellan. When he told her of the former Duke of Lebec's noble plan to confess to crimes he had nothing to do with in order to spare Mathu any further embarrassment, Tilly cursed like a deckhand for a full minute before she was calm enough to speak coherently. 'The man has lost his mind.'

'No, he's lost everything else, but he's still sane. From where he sits, this is the most logical thing to do.' 'We can't afford to have Stellan Desean executed.'

'With the Tide on the rise, I don't see that it makes that much difference in the long run, Tilly. He's not of the Cabal.'

'No, he's the heir to the Glaeban throne. Until the Tide is up, Jaxyn can't make a move on it unless there are no other contenders.'