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He can see the way the man stiffens. “I am an acolyte of Zai.”

“Is that why you hide your face?”

“It is my choice.”

“You choose to see all the world through a veil?”

The man makes another huffing noise. “Better that than being the type of filthy sinner you are implying yourself to be. I would advise you not to make such insinuations, which will likely end your attempts to make a peace treaty with Azuria before it has even begun.” He takes an audible breath. “I will leave you to rest.”

With that the man turns and stalks from the room.

Xan says nothing as he watches him go. He wets his lips. What an intriguing creature, this Baraboo.

But he should not let himself become distracted. He is not here to torment Zai’s most loyal servant. He is here for a reason. There was a plan. And although that plan was made before the death of Emperor Selim, the death seems fortunate. Not least because the new Emperor, this Atticul, appears to be a decadent fool.

He will be desperate to make this peace with Pluma to mark the start of his rule.

Perhaps this desperation will cause him to be so easy to manipulate that Xan will have time for distraction and still achieve his aims.

He cares not for any treaty that would force Pluma to become part of the Azurian Empire, but it is reason enough for him to be here and determine what he needs to know.

The Mother of Men has been searched and all his crew bound not to set foot on Azurian soil with threats of cruel death. But that does not matter. He is here, and here to learn. He will find the perfect moment to enact their plans. If Atticul means to ride north to put down this revolt from his brothers perhaps it would be better to wait and take the city while it is so weakened. And if that means he must wait until Atticul’s ascension that will give him plenty of time to negotiate Trysta’s release as part of the pretended treaty. An expression of good will.

She is here, he thinks, Trysta is here. Somewhere in this citadel. In the dungeons far beneath the palace. It sickens him to think she is so near and he cannot help her. But he will have revenge.

5

JEMEL

The following morning Jemel rises early to bathe before he begins his work for Doroth. He has only a little time before he attends the ceremony to commend Emperor Selim to Zai.

But before he begins, he makes his own daily rites to that same God, kneeling and offering his heart with hands pressed to his chest. Letting his mind empty as he waits to feel the rush of the blessing.

Such things should have lost their meaning, now he knows the truth. He knows what Zai is and has known for years. But some habits are hard to break. He cannot imagine who he would be without them.

When he told Doroth Zain of this, the High Word of Zai said solemnly that he did the same. He still makes his daily rites. He holds the knowledge of the truth about Zai alongside his faith in the religion that frames his life, and he has made peace with it.

Jemel is unsure if he has done the same.

He wishes Doroth Zain was here. He needs guidance. One of the Fae Princes is imprisoned in this citadel. He would like to know what is to be done about Lukas. If Atticul executes him what will that mean for stopping Ur-Durik? Surely they will be doomed without the Thief.

The Thief will be the traitor.

What does that line mean?

Should he, Jemel, try to rescue Lukas? How could that even be done?

He takes a breath and puts Lukas from his mind. This is the strange life of a man who still obeys the rules of a God he knows to be a demon. Still lights the candles and kneels each morning to be blessed, still veils his face and keeps himself clean and chaste, because what would he be without that part of him?

When he returns from washing at the bath house, he settles himself at his desk with the pages of Batreous’s writings, the commentary on the Books of Alios that still remain to be translated. And turns his attention to the defeat of the same creature he offers his devotion to.

Batreous’s writings have been of great use in the battle against Ur-Durik, many of them translated by the fae who charged Doroth Zain to his task. Jemel has heard much talk of this creature, but never met him. When Doroth Zain charged Jemel to continue this work, Perl had long ago left for a mission in the north.

Batreous’s commentaries on the Books of Alios are far from succinct. They are full of his own notes from his prophetic visions. He tells of the demon’s plans to rise again in detail and what must be done to defeat him, but he goes on so many tangents. His accounts of the realm of the fae, which he claims he plans to visit, and much about Pia and Prim, the fabled islands sunk from the Klish. In the pages Jemel has worked through, Batreous has re-told the story of the origin of the Bellator half a dozen times.

The tedious task is made more tedious because Batreous’s commentary assumes it is being read alongside the long lost Books of Alios. Although Doroth Zain had assured Jemel he knew of their location and that they would be retrieved. But Jemel has not had word from Doroth Zain in several moons now.

When the bells ring for mid-morning, Jemel tidies his papers and carefully hides them away in the locked linden wood box he keeps beneath his desk. In this box he stores this work along with some other secrets of his own.