Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

“Maximilian—”

“Don”t you ever step in my way again!”

Isaiah gave a little nod, and the faintest suggestion of a bow from his shoulders.

Maximilian stared at him, then turned back to the side table and downed what was left of

the wine in the glass. “Get out,” he said.

“We leave within days for the north, Maximilian. You know why we head north.”

Maximilian sloshed some more wine into the glass. The last thing he wanted to do now

was talk about Elcho Falling.

“Travel with us, you and your party. There is no point in your breaking away to travel

independently. After all,” Isaiah added softly, “we head in the same direction. North, to Elcho

Falling.”

“And the Skraelings you go to meet? Your allies?”

“They are under the control of Kanubai. Neither I nor Lister can do anything about them,

Maximilian. I am sorry.”

Maximilian drank the glass of wine in one gulp, spilling a little of the liquid down his

chin. He wiped the dribble away with the back of one hand. “Get out.”

“While with me, you will be treated with all honor and—”

“Get out!”

Isaiah turned on his heel and left.

Axis escorted StarDrifter and the rest of the group back to the palace, StarDrifter carrying

a blanket-wrapped bundle that piqued Axis” curiosity, although for the moment he kept his

questions to himself. Isaiah”s armed men trailed them, closely enough to earn black looks from

Serge and Doyle.

There were even more black looks at the palace where Serge and Doyle reluctantly

handed over their weapons, before the palace chamberlain, polite and unquestioning, even

though the night”s events must have been extraordinary to him, escorted them to their various

apartments. Axis left StarDrifter and Salome in their apartment, to bathe and refresh themselves,

before heading to the guards” main equipment room and securing two swords for Serge and

Doyle. He liked and trusted the two men instinctively, knowing he would have been glad of them

in any command of his, and knew also that they would fret constantly until they had weapons

with which to guard Maximilian.

Axis was pleased to see that Maximilian had been allocated what amounted to a small

wing of the palace with at least five bedchambers and four reception rooms. Serge, Doyle,

Venetia, and Ravenna were all staying in Maximilian”s quarters. Once Axis had delivered the

swords to the relieved and grateful Serge and Doyle, he stood in the anteroom looking at the

closed door to Maximilian”s private bedchamber, wondering how Maximilian was, but knowing

that the last thing the man needed now was a stranger prying into his heartache.

After a quick glance up and down the corridor—Isaiah had stationed guards at several

points—Axis left Maximilian and his companions and went to rejoin his father and whoever

Salome might prove to be.

“Maxel?”

His bedchamber was lit with only a single lamp left to burn low, and it had taken

Ravenna a few moments after she”d closed the door behind her to make him out as he sat on the

floor, hunched into a corner.

Her heart almost stopped. Maximilian looked as lost as he had when she and Garth

rescued him from the Veins.

Ravenna walked over to sit beside him. Now that she was closer she could smell the wine

on him.

“Maxel,” she said softly, and he tipped his head and looked at her.

“Oh, Maxel,” she said, appalled at the haggard lines running down from eyes and nose,

and the tears in his eyes.

He sighed, picking up one of her hands. “I was unutterably cruel to her, Ravenna. I

couldn”t help myself. What is it, then, about the human spirit that makes us act so?”

“I wish I had left the Lord of Dreams earlier,” she said, “and married you myself, Maxel.

I would never have left you.”

He laughed, softly, and a little bitterly. “Marsh women marry no men, Ravenna. And they

stay with men even less time than Ishbel stayed with me. They need men to sire their babies, and

then they abandon the men who love them and take their babies with them. How much better are

you than Ishbel, Ravenna?”

She froze, appalled at being compared to Ishbel even more than the personal attack.

“Oh, gods, I am sorry, Ravenna. You of all people did not deserve me to say that to you.

I”m sorry. I”m sorry. Don”t go. Please, don”t go.”

She relaxed a little. “Ishbel has hurt you, Maxel.”

“And I have hurt her, and now you. I have come out of this night the worse, I think.”

They sat silently a little while, their hands still loosely interlinked.

“Are Serge and Doyle here? And your mother?” Maximilian said eventually.

“Yes. They are settled outside, all nervy at the thought of being ensconced in Isaiah”s

palace.”

Maximilian smiled a fraction at that.

“StarDrifter and Salome are here, too, and settled in their own quarters.”

“Was Axis happy to see his father?”

“I have never seen two men happier to see each other.”

“Then I am glad some joy has come out of this day.”

“Well…” Ravenna smiled. “Now StarDrifter has the task of explaining to Axis how he

managed to sire Salome”s mother on Axis” old lover.”

Maximilian managed a more genuine smile. “Ah, those SunSoars. I hope they manage to

somehow complicate Isaiah”s life, as they complicate everyone else”s. That might be some small

punishment for him for stealing away my wife.”

“Maxel, what are you going to do?”

“I don”t know, Ravenna. I just don”t know. Here I sit, huddled on the floor of the palace

of the man who is about to invade the Northern Kingdoms. I don”t even know what is happening

in Escator. What the fuck am I doing, Ravenna? I—”

“You are doing the best you can, Maxel.”

“Oh, don”t try to placate me, please. If only…if only I”d not dreamed of a family. If only

I”d not set out on a quest for a dammed, damned bride. If only…”

“And that is futile, stupid talk. But you are tired, and tonight has not been pleasant for

you, and so I shall forgive you.”

Maximilian chuckled. “Did you treat the Lord of Dreams with this much contempt,

Ravenna?”

“Yes. He grew tired of me and asked me to leave.”

“And that I do not believe.” He squeezed her hand, turning his head once more so he

could look at her directly. “He would have gone down on his knees and begged you to stay.”

She smiled, hesitated, then leaned forward and kissed him softly on his forehead.

“Ravenna…”

“Let me stay with you tonight, Maxel.”

“I would be poor company for you, my sweet marsh woman. My breath stinks of wine,

and my heart aches for—”

“Don”t say her name again, not tonight.” Ravenna kissed him again, this time softly, on

the mouth.

There was a part of Maximilian that knew he should pull back. He understood that

tonight, blackened as it was by strong, bitter emotion, and by the shock of meeting directly with

the embodiment of Water, was the worst time of all to succumb to Ravenna”s seductions.

But then there was also a part of him that thought that, as Ishbel had abandoned him for

another, while he had abandoned a kingdom for her, then perhaps he should no longer deny

himself the comfort that Ravenna offered.

Surely he should be allowed a little revenge. Just this once.

Her fingers and mouth were trailing over his face and neck now, and Maximilian allowed

himself to sink into their promises and comforts.

“Skip, trip, my pretty man,” she murmured in his ear, recalling the song she had once

used to summon the Lord of Dreams to her side. “Skip, trip, into my hand.”

He shuddered, and took her shoulders in his hands, and kissed the angle of her jaw, and

used the wine as an excuse for what he was doing.

Skip, trip, into my heart.

Isaiah went straight to the apartment he shared with Ishbel.

She sat on the floor, against the wall, arms about knees, unwittingly echoing

Maximilian”s distress.

“Did you know Maximilian was coming for me?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” Isaiah said.

She raised her head and looked at him, her eyes full of black bitterness. “How can I ever

trust you again?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sakkuth, Isembaard

Axis was sitting on a wooden chair at the table in StarDrifter”s and Salome”s apartment.

He”d tipped the chair back, balancing himself with one foot, and was now staring aghast between

Salome and his father as StarDrifter finished his tale of who Salome was, and how she”d come to

be with him now and bearing his child.

“Embeth,” Axis finally managed. “Oh, stars, I”d never thought of her once I”d married

Azhure. She is as much my guilt as yours, StarDrifter. I hadn”t even realized she was your lover

at Carlon. And to think that she bore a child, and died in the doing…