“Yes.”
“Damn! I wish you’d killed him!” Then he reflected. “Well, maybe not. Then you’d have held the throne. I might have a better chance against Eric than I’d have had against you. I don’t know. What are your plans?”
I decided upon complete honesty.
“We all want the throne,” I said. “so there’s no reason to lie to one another. I’m not about to try killing you for it—that would be foolish—but on the other hand. I’m not about to renounce my claim because I’m enjoying your hospitality. Random would like it, but he’s pretty much out of the picture.”
“No one has beard from Benedict for some time now. Gerard and Caine seem to he supporting Eric, rather than promoting their own claims. The same goes for Julian. That leaves Brand and our sisters. I don’t know what the hell Brand is up to these days, but I do know that Deirdre is without power, unless she and Llewella can raise something in Rebma, and Flora is Eric’s creature. I don’t know what Fiona is up to.”
“And so that leaves us,” said Bleys, pouring us each another drink. “Yes, you’re right. I don’t know what’s going on in everyone’s head right now, but I can assess our relative strengths and I think I’m in the best position. You made a wise choice in coming to me. Support me, and I’ll give you a regency.”
“Bless your heart,” I said. We’ll see.”
We sipped our whiskies.
“What else is there to do?” he asked, and I realized that the question was important.
“I might raise an army of my own, to lay siege to Amber,” I told him.
“Where among Shadows lies your army?” he inquired.
“That, of course, is my affair.” I said. “I don’t think I’d oppose you. When it comes to monarchs. I’d like to see either you. me, Gerard, or Benedict—if he still lives—upon the throne.”
“Preferably you, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Then we understand one another. So I think we can work together, for the time being.”
“And I,” I agreed, “else I would not have delivered myself into your hands.”
He smiled within his heard.
“You needed someone,” he said, “and I was the lesser evil.”
“True,” I agreed,
“I wish Benedict were here. I wish Gerard bad not sold out.”
“Wishes, wishes,” I told him, “Wish in one hand and do something else in the other, and squeeze them both and see which comes true.”
“Well taken,” he said.
We smoked a while in silence.
“How far can I trust you?” he asked.
“As far as I can trust you.”
“Then let’s make a deal. Frankly, I had thought you dead for many years. I hadn’t foreseen your showing up at a crucial time and pressing your own claim. But you’re here, and that’s that. Let’s form an alliance, combine our forces and lay siege to Amber. Whichever of us lives through it winds up on top. If we both do, well—hell!—we can always fight a duel!”
I thought about it. It sounded like the best deal I’d get anywhere.
So I said, “I’d like to sleep on it. Tell you in the morning. okay?”
“Okay.”
We finished our drinks then and fell to reminiscing. My shoulder throbbed a bit, but the whisky helped, and the salve which Bleys had supplied. After a time, we were almost maudlin.
It is strange, I guess, to have kin and to be without kinship. for as long as our lives had led us along our separate paths. Lord! We talked the moon out of the heavens before either of us grew tired. Then he clapped me upon my good shoulder and told me that he was beginning to feel his load and that a servant would be by in the morning to bring my breakfast. I nodded, we embraced. and he retired.
Then I moved to the window, and from that vantage I could see down far into the chasm.
The campfires below burned like stars. There were thousands of them. I could tell that Bleys had assembled a mighty force, and I was envious. But, on the other hand, it was a good thing. If anyone could take Eric, it was probably Bleys. He wouldn’t he a bad thing in Amber; it was just that I preferred me.