Page 94

“Your son Tobi’s current situation,” Doroth Zain says, almost as if he is making an announcement, “is a delicate matter.”

“Delicate?” Rafus exclaims, frowning angrily, “My son has been abducted to be used for pleasure in the bed of the forest king. You are the High Word of Zai. Surely you, before all people would agree that we ought to send the greatest force the empire has at its disposal to retrieve him from this.”

“No,” says Doroth Zain. “The situation is far more complex than that. We must see how things play out in the forest. It will inform our next steps.”

“What are you talking about? Have the Ambolk taken Tobi for some other nefarious purpose? Is Vindar aware of this?”

“My brother, for all his Thousand Eyes, manages to remain utterly ignorant of what is really happening in this world. His tedious schemes are only relevant because he insists on trying to kill the five people we must protect at all costs. We fight a more important battle than Vindar could ever imagine. One in which your role is clear. Is it not? I know you were made aware of what we needed you to do.”

Rafus can feel heat rising in his cheeks. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“I knew you were coming here tonight, Rafus, because your wife informed me of it. Princess Karo and I have been close for some time.”

At mention of Karo, things begin to make more sense. If Doroth Zain also subscribes to Karo’s strange notions then it is little wonder he sounds like he is fanciful. Rafus sighs heavily. Sighs and nods. “I see.”

Doroth Zain returns his nod. “Please, Prince Rafus, take a seat.”

There are chairs around the table. Rafus steps forward and takes one, releasing his grip on the white stone with one hand so he can set it in front of him. As he does so, Doroth Zain says, “When all this is done. Karo will be amongst the most revered heroes in this battle that has been plotted for generations.”

Rafus has no idea what that might mean. Princess Karo, Rafus’s first wife. The wife whose failure to bear him a child had meant Rafus was granted leave to marry Princess Ullinor, the union that had given him three legitimate children. Proving, even without the acknowledgement of his bastard children, that Karo’s barren state was certainly not due to him.

However, there was a very simple reason why Rafus had never fathered a child on Karo. He had never covered her. Even on their wedding night. Rafus enjoys women. He loves women. All women. He had never in his whole life met a woman whose company he didn’t enjoy. He liked to please women. His favourite way to please them was in the coupling bed, but if a woman told him, clearly, what she wanted from him, he was always delighted to oblige. If he could.

And Karo had told him she did not want to lie with him. Ever. But when he had taken her hand and said that he would dearly do anything she asked, he was a young man, and he had needs and desires that must be fulfilled. He had put this concern to her and she had told him that she expected him to find his pleasures elsewhere. In fact, she had said, he had a destiny to do so. For her, Prince Rafus would sire five sons on five different women. And those sons would be the greatest army the world had ever seen.

Rafus had touched his wife’s pale face and given her an indulgent smile. “No man can sire an army, dear wife. Even me.”

Karo had looked at him. Her face unsmiling. Her strange haughty beauty enough to take Rafus’s breath. He desired Karo. He would not have married her if he did not. But his desire to please her was greater, far greater, than his desire to cover her.

“You carry fae blood from your Hevelikar ancestor,” Karo had said in a voice that was slow, calm and deep. “The queen of Sarelik Darek. Perpetu the Twice Traitor. You carry that blood and with it you will father five Fae Princes. They will defeat the Bellator. When the demon Ur-Durik rises in the Amber Forest.”

It had been ridiculous of course, some heathen nonsense. A sop to his ego and an explanation for why Karo was so calmly obliging when it came to Rafus’s dalliances. But Rafus had simply accepted it. Voiced nothing about her strange ideas. It made Karo happy. For Rafus, that was the point. And although she had never expressed any further interest in the illegitimate sons Rafus fathered over the years of their marriage, she has never castigated him for them either, making her a rarity in Rafus’s life.

And a distinct contrast to Rafus’s second wife Ullinor, who he adored, not least for the three true born children she had given him, but who had been disgusted every time Rafus had to confess another misstep, another time he had spilled his seed on the wrong side of the sheets.

When Rafus had left Attar enraged by what had been done to Damon, it had not surprised him that Atticul and Ullinor had chosen to stay in the Tower of the Heir at the Rose Palace. Atticul, Rafus knew, was distancing himself from his father on purpose, ensuring his own place in the Royal Line remained secure. Ullinor had wanted to stay near her son and daughter. And Rafus could not blame her. It had only been a handful of moons since she had lost her Sweetpea.

But Karo, his perfect marble queen, had travelled with Rafus to Attar. And, truly, Rafus had never been quite sure why.

Rafus looks at Doroth Zain. “So this is about Karo’s great demon? Ur-Durik? Who will rise again and must be fought by my sons.” He tries to say it as if he believes it.

“Ah,” Doroth Zain says, “the demon who comes has many names. Ur-Durik, Diazuul, Zai.”

“Zai?” Rafus frowns. “Your own God? Your own God is this demon you battle?” He had not expected that.

“I have come to know much about Zai over the years,” Doroth Zain says. “And when, some years ago, a great truth was revealed to me, I knew at once that the story was true. Zai is the name of a demon. A demon that the worship of Azuria has only made stronger.”

Rafus finds all this confusing. But it is not unusual for Doroth Zain to rant confusingly about Zai. Although this is a new slant. He looks down and notices that on the table is a map. Like the one on the marble floor of the entrance hall in the Rose Palace. A map of the world.

Rafus looks at Doroth Zain. “So you must need Tobi to escape the Amber Forest if he is part of your army that will fight this demon Ur-Durik?” He cannot bring himself to call it Zai. Perhaps this is a test. Doroth Zain is trying to trick him into blasphemy.

“He must return. It is imperative. Although I cannot interfere with the workings of the Verilissia. But they know who he is. There are many of us who watch your sons.”

“Who watch my sons?”

“Yes. Many of us are aware of their importance. In Attar, in Ismagaar.”

“And in the Forest of Amber. You have someone there? Keeping Tobi safe?”