Page 117

The man shakes his head. From a small door behind him his wife steps out. A woman who had fed Tobi a delicious stew the night before and laughed when he’d read her arcaneum cards. Now her expression is as sour as that of her husband. The innkeeper glances at his wife and crosses his arms, but looks warily at Harok. “You will not be breaking your fast here. Please leave or I will have to send a rider to Ceruleum for the enforcers. Zai, hold your heart.”

Tobi is about to open his mouth to speak again, when he realises what is happening. Amazed he had forgotten. This is Azuria. Being sly is a crime. He and Harok were not at all discreet about what they were doing in that room upstairs. Tobi had sauntered down from the attic like a well-fucked kushir. Harok has a hand on Tobi’s waist. Tobi takes a small step away and swallows. He glances at Harok, who is frowning at him, unaware of what is being said.

Tobi looks back at the innkeeper and his stout wife. He does not doubt that if he wasn’t with a man as imposing as Harok he would have suffered a beating before he was sent on his way. “Very well, we will be gone in moments,” he says tightly.

As he hurries Harok out he hears the innkeeper’s wife mutter something about filthy tribes of the Amber Forest and he is glad Harok does not understand Artemian.

Tobi is no longer the outsider. He is the one who knows this world. They need to be discreet and he will have to find a way to explain this to Harok as they travel.

A day later they arrive in the market square of Ceruleum. It feels strange to stand on these cobbled streets. Tobi has been here many times. Ceruleum is quite staid and far more loyal to Zai than the countryside of Northern Azuria, but there are pockets of luxoli for those who know where to look.

There is a pot shop Tobi knows in a quiet street that has a room at the back. But he no longer has need of such things. He looks up at the glittering towers of the Ivory Palace for a moment, before he turns away and leads Harok down the street to the Brides’ House. A great temple building set into the hillside with a domed roof covered in gold tiles.

The door is opened by a veiled woman in pale yellow robes.

Tobi explains himself and the woman goes back inside. The door is closed and then opened by an older woman with dark hair. “Ah yes, Tobi Darekul. Welcome. You wish to see your mother?”

Tobi nods.

“Both of you?”

Tobi nods again. This seems satisfactory. The woman steps back and Tobi and Harok are shown into a hushed hallway. Tobi takes the white stone. And gestures to Harok to do the same.

“How is she?” Tobi says as the woman leads them further into the building. His heart is starting to beat fast. He knows his mother will not know him, but would she realise he has not visited her in so long?

The woman looks over her shoulder. “There has been little change but she is peaceful.” Tobi wonders what that could mean. He looks at Harok. Harok nods back, a solemn signal that he is here with Tobi, here for whatever he faces.

They process along a short passageway that brings them out into the wide main space of the Bride House temple. A sacred circle. Lit by row upon row of glittering candles. eerie shapes in the shadows. The wide, coloured window that faces the square lets in pretty glittering light that dances on the mark of Zai in the centre of the circle's tiled floor. There are rows of kneeling pads and seats around it. Along the curved walls are twelve statues. The twelve prophets of Zai. It’s like a smaller version of the sacred circle of the Sarelik temple in Attar. The room smells faintly of incense.

At first Tobi thinks the man who stands waiting for them is Vindar. He inhales sharply before he realises the man looks slightly different. His beard is far longer and his clothes are simpler. He wears a mark of Zai on a chain around his neck.

“Tobi,” says Doroth Zain. “I have been waiting for you.”

“For me?” Tobi says in surprise. He glances back at Harok.

“We have much to discuss about the events that happened in the Amber Forest.” Doroth Zain says, “But first, I have something for you.” He holds up a small rolled scroll of paper. “A letter from your brothers.”

39

DAMON

Damon opens his eyes disorientated. Is he really here? Is he truly lying in a bed chamber in Sanglora. Under his wolfskin bed cover. With Lyr’s head on his chest, and Lyr’s long hair lain over his skin like an offering. Every morning for a moon’s turn he has woken to this. A blessing and a curse.

He takes a breath. What a strange path Zai has led him on.

Someone is knocking at the door.

He stiffens. If Lukas thinks Damon will soften because he makes his demands in the middle of the night, he is wrong.

“Who is there?” Damon says.

Lyr stirs against him as Inez’s voice outside the door says, “Husband?”

Damon hopes Lyr did not hear that. He will have to find a way to tell Inez she must not call him so.

“Inez,” Damon says, pulling up to sitting, rolling Lyr’s sleeping form off himself and hiding him somewhat with his body. Protecting Inez a little from the sight of him lying abed with his male slave lover.

The door opens. Inez’s pale face is drawn and tight. “You must come,” Inez says. “There is someone here to see you.”