Hurling the water to the floor, she poured the last of the wine into the goblet. He took it from her with a trembling hand and drank deeply. ‘I am so tired.’
‘Then go to your room and sleep.’
For a moment he was silent, his expression thoughtful. ‘I am not a vain man,’ he said at last. ‘I know that you find me attractive. And I truly believe you are the most divine of women. Why then do we never sleep together?’
‘This is not the time to talk of it, Saro,’ she told him.
He smiled. ‘I know the answer – but I wanted to hear you say it. You are a mercenary. When your contract is finished, you move to the highest bidder. It would complicate matters if you were emotionally involved with one of the four Dukes. Not so?’
‘Exactly so,’ she agreed. ‘Knowing this, why do you persist?’
‘I yearn for the unattainable,’ he said. His expression softened. ‘Do you trust my word, Karis?’
‘I have no reason to doubt it.’
‘Then grant me permission to stay until dawn. I have the need to feel the warmth of human skin against my own. I shall not make any attempt to seduce you – that I swear.’
‘What of your mistress? Is her skin not soft and warm?’
‘May I stay?’ he said.
She looked at him, then sighed. ‘You may stay -until dawn.’
Sirano rose and slowly stripped away his clothes before stumbling to the bed. When Karis pulled back the coverlet and slipped in beside him his body was cold to the touch. Putting her arms around him, she drew him close.
‘She is dead, Karis,’ he whispered. ‘Her body is no longer soft and warm.’
‘You sacrificed her?’
‘With my own hand.’
Karis did not speak. His breathing deepened and soon he was asleep in her arms. But no sleep came to Karis. The girl had been no more than eighteen, and was besotted with Sirano, her doe-eyes never leaving his face. She lived to please him. Now she had died to please him.
Karis lay still for some time, then eased herself away from the sleeping man. Rising silently, she moved to where her clothes lay discarded on the floor. Slipping her dagger from its sheath, she returned to the bed. One thrust was all it would take.
In the lantern light his face looked very young, boyish
and innocent. You are not innocent, she thought. You are a killer, succumbing to evil.
A brilliant light shone down upon the bed, illuminating his face, and Karis swung round. The western wall was glowing bright, as if lit from within. A tall figure emerged from it; his face was slender, and framed with white fur save around the eyes and nose. Karis flipped the dagger, then hurled it. It sailed through the figure and clattered against the far wall.
‘You have nothing to fear, child,’ whispered a voice inside her head.
‘Who are you?’ she asked, aloud. Beside her Sirano stirred and woke.
‘I am Ranaloth,’ said the apparition.
‘The spirit of the Pearl,’ said Sirano. ‘Are you ready to give me what I want?’
‘I cannot. Nor should you make any more attempts to steal it.’
‘I will beat you, Eldarin. Just as I destroyed your people. You cannot stop me.’
‘You are not quite correct. I could stop you. I could kill you, child. Instead I appeal to you, Sirano, not to continue. The Pearl is more important than your ambition. And should you succeed, you will unleash a terror you cannot control.’
‘Empty words,’ sneered Sirano.
‘The Eldarin do not lie, Duke of Romark; we put that behind us a thousand years ago. You see the Pearl as a weapon, as an aid to your dreams of conquest and immortality. But it is not a weapon. And it will not, even if pierced, give you what you desire.’
‘Do not seek to fool me, old man,’ said Sirano. ‘I am a Master of Spells. I can feel the power within the Pearl, and soon I will draw it to me.’
The figure stood silently for a moment, then Ranaloth spoke again. ‘A long time ago the Eldarin faced another evil,’ he said. ‘We contained it, removed it from the world. The Pearl holds that evil at bay. Do not . . .’ Suddenly the light around the apparition flickered and the old man staggered. ‘Your sorcerers continue to attack us,’ he said. His shoulders slumped, and he spread his hands in a gesture of hopelessness. ‘Now,’ he said, an infinite sadness in his voice, ‘it is too late.’ Turning to Karis, he told her, ‘Leave this city and take to the high places. Your world is finished. Desolation and horror await you.’