Page 96

TOBI

THE BRIDE HOUSE, CERULEUM

Tobi stands outside the door to his mother’s chamber and takes a breath.

Doroth Zain has told him much that he is struggling to order in his mind. Including the fact his father is dead. Killed by a gang of ruffians after gold when he went out alone to visit a pillow house. It seems, Tobi thinks, a fitting way for him to die. The father he barely knew. But there was so much more. A strange letter from Damon and Lukas, that Doroth Zain read to him. Explaining that they were in Attar and he should join them, for he was in danger. That danger, Doroth Zain explained, was partly from Chancellor Vindar, but more gravely, because Tobi and his brothers are part of some great prophecy. Diazuul is not done with him.

Since that long conversation, with Harok sitting beside him patiently, though he understood not a single word of it and Tobi struggled to explain what Doroth Zain was saying in Ambolk, Tobi has been to the Bride House stableyard to fetch Baby. He needs her beside him for this. His fingers press into her fur as she stands at his side, Harok and Doroth Zain behind him, about to see his mother.

His mother, Doroth Zain has also told him, is gravely ill. Her madness grown so acute that the Brides of Zai struggle to get her to eat or stop her harming herself.

He dreads what he will find, but he steps through the door.

Mareena sits on a small hard chair beside a window that looks down on the narrow streets of Ceruleum. In the distance Tobi can see the Ivory Palace, the glittering towers that according to Doroth Zain, will soon be the property of his nephew Umbert, presumed to be named Crown Prince of Azuria at Atticul’s ascension.

Atticul is Emperor. Selim was killed four days ago. By Lukas. Tobi finds himself considering, that once, his only reaction to this news would be to wonder if this ought to be something he adds to his performances.

Mareena looks up as Tobi walks in. She stares at him, her expression blank.

“Mother?” Tobi says.

Mareena’s pale hair is wild and tangled around her face; her dark skin sunken and grey. She simply continues to stare at Tobi. She does not know him.

Tobi can’t stop his tears. This is why he stopped coming to see her. He cannot bear this. He turns and finds Harok behind him. He presses his face to Harok’s chest. He is sobbing and Harok holds him, drawing him in tight to the warmth and strength of the body of his Irgorye.

But then, from behind him, “Ashaki?”

Tobi pulls out of Harok’s embrace and turns. Mareena is leaning down from her chair, holding out her arms to Baby. And Baby is padding forward.

“She knows your beast, Suskara,” Harok says in a low voice.

Tobi watches as Baby reaches Mareena and she buries her face in soft fur.

“Yes,” Tobi says, tearfully. He watches his mother fussing and petting Baby, then says, “Ashaki. Mother it’s me. Tobi. Tobi and Ashaki.”

Mareena looks up. She looks at Tobi and says, “Tobi?” but she sounds unsure.

Tobi looks at Harok. “She knows Baby, but she does not know me,” he says in Ambolk.

Harok just nods.

Tobi turns to Doroth Zain. When he looks to him, he realises something, he sees it in Doroth Zain’s face. There is more to this. It sickens him. He swallows and says, “You know don’t you? You know what caused her madness.”

Doroth Zain nods. “I do, yes.”

Doroth Zain does not explain further, so Tobi says, “Irgo Harok thinks it might have been something that happened to her in the Rose Palace. And, I had a vision of her, while I was in the forest. She told me that she touched the statues in Selim’s shrine and the evil sent her into madness.”

Doroth Zain nods. “How it happened, I do not know, but when some of the strange words she was saying were reported to me by the Brides who cared for your mother, we came to understand that somehow, a piece of Ur-Durik had lodged itself in her. It is what caused her madness. That shard of darkness inside her.”

Tobi looks at his mother with wide eyes. So it is true. The same demon that was inside Harok, caused his mother’s madness. A shard of the demon that almost destroyed his lover is what caused his mother to lose her mind. He turns around to Harok and says in Ambolk. “Diazuul piece inside mother. From statues in Attar.”

Harok looks at Tobi for a moment, his expression moving from blankness to confusion as if he is unsure what Tobi has said. But then he nods. He walks across the room to Mareena and bends to look into her eyes. Mareena does not react to him, as if he is not there at all. Softly Harok says, “Diazuul?”

Mareena’s eyes suddenly open wider. They look dark. Her expression changes. She is smiling at Harok. She lifts a hand and reaches for Harok’s cheek. Harok jumps back, out of reach. When he turns to look at Tobi, his face is pale.

“Diazuul,” he says again. A soft confirmation.

Tobi swallows hard. He looks at Doroth Zain. “Diazuul, Ur-Durik, was inside Harok until four days ago.”