Page 49

KERIK

Back in Perl’s chamber Kerik sits down on Perl’s fine bed. His back is sore, more painful now than during the flogging when his blood was high. Spitting at Vane was, he thinks, perhaps a little impulsive. But it had seemed like the only thing to possibly do in the moment. And a little sharp pain was a bearable price for such a thing.

Perl is sitting beside Kerik on the bed. Kerik can smell the guilt coming off him.

“Did you enjoy that?” Kerik says, in the hope of cheering him.

Perl’s response is cold. “Even less than you did.”

Kerik sighs. He reaches out and touches Perl’s cool hand. “You did what you must,” he says. “We both did.”

When Perl looks at Kerik his face is pained. “How you can describe what I just did to you in such terms is impossible to comprehend.”

“Truly,” Kerik says, looking Perl in the eyes. He turns around and cups Perl’s cool face. “You did not break me. I am strong. I can take a light flogging like that. You should see what they do to people in the Punishment Square in Attar.”

Perl swallows. “I have seen.”

Kerik wonders who Perl has seen flogged. But there are floggings almost daily in Attar. If he has visited the Jewel of the Empire he has likely seen one.

He says nothing more.

Perl says, “Lie on your belly. Let me at least see what I can do for you.”

Kerik turns and spreads himself over Perl’s silken bed covering. The position makes him more aware of the state of his back. It is throbbing, paining him far more than he wants Perl to know about.

Perl’s cold fingertips touch his sore skin, featherlight. Kerik inhales. But Perl’s touch is not painful. Far from it. Perl’s fingers dance over Kerik’s skin and while the touches are cool, from each of them a soft warmth spreads across Kerik’s flesh. Pain is washed away by the feel of it.

Kerik revels in the sweet sensation for long moments, before looking around to see what Perl is doing. His face is a pale mask of concentration. His fingertips glow softly in the darkened room, transmitting a kind of energy into Kerik’s broken skin.

“You’re doing healing magic?” Kerik says.

“Yes,” Perl says. His voice coming out like a gasp.

“Does it hurt you?”

Perl pauses. Kerik can see something in his face, something beyond the mask of concentration that could be pain or exhaustion. “It is complicated,” Perl says eventually. “It does not feel good.”

“But you can heal with magic?” The thought is quite thrilling. The power one can wield with magic seems to have no end.

“In a way,” Perl says. He takes his hands from Kerik’s skin and shakes his wrists. “It is difficult and takes a lot of my own energy. In some ways it would be just as effective and simpler to use an ointment. Although that is not really the way of things here. The fae methods for doing things, with magic, are sometimes not as effective as mortal ways. We do sometimes use calidrus birds to enact the spell. It avoids the discomfort.”

Kerik looks around. “Birds?”

“The white and silver birds you will have seen in the Ice Hall. Many fae keep them as pets. They are birds that have the same healing magic. I do not have one, however, and I could not ask for one directly after whipping you, or it would be obvious I was mitigating your suffering.”

“But if you have such a bird, or used the magic directly, can you heal any wounds that way?”

“No. Much like mortal healing, not everything can be fixed,” Perl says, rubbing his hands together.

Kerik rolls over. His back no longer feels sore, although he can tell that it is swollen. His arms still ache from the whipping post chains and the lacerations inside his mouth pain him, perhaps worst of all. He runs his tongue around the insides of his cheeks, inspecting the damage.

“Why did you do it?” Perl says, and at first Kerik thinks he is asking why Kerik demanded to take the whipping. But then Perl says, “Why ever did you spit at Vane and undo your work in the test?”

“He said something I did not like.”

Perl looks pensive. His jaw is tense. “Again? Kerik Darekul, if you cannot swallow your suffering when one of the fae mocks you then I doubt you will be able to pass these tests.”

Kerik shakes his head. “Vane wasn’t mocking me this time. He was mocking you.”