Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

that the servant had dropped the glass and run.

All Salome wanted was to lie, and think.

Dear gods, what she”d done last night had been so dangerous. Taking an Icarii lover.

The risk was…incalculable.

No matter what she”d said to StarDrifter (and he had known, curse him), Salome had

never taken an Icarii to her bed before. Many had made their interest known. One had even used

the same gesture of seduction to her that StarDrifter had used.

But Salome had resisted easily.

An Icarii lover had murdered her grandmother.

An Icarii lover had caused her mother to die of grief.

No cursed Icarii lover was going to cause her death.

Yet, last night, she had been unable to resist StarDrifter. Salome had no idea why. She

didn”t particularly like him and thought his beauty overstated. She loathed his arrogance and his

discernible contempt of her. She had heard all the stories about the SunSoars and the women

they destroyed.

She was strong enough to resist him, surely?

Yet she hadn”t. He”d teased her, tempted her, danced before her, and then flung out his

hand in that damned imperious gesture.

And Salome had simply capitulated.

No. She had not just “simply capitulated”; that made it sound far too innocent. Salome

had cast aside her entire world for him. If she”d been given a choice at that moment between

succeeding in placing Ezra on the throne and ruling through him, or having StarDrifter for one

night, she would have cast aside every one of her carefully nurtured ambitions for that one night

with StarDrifter.

Why? Why? Gods, he threatened her entire world. Even as lost in the throes of lust as

she had been, Salome had remembered, throughout their protracted, sweaty, exhausting coupling,

not to allow him to view her back. She hadn”t even allowed him to caress it.

She hoped he hadn”t noticed.

Salome lay in her bed for hours, the day warming outside, lost in her thoughts, terrified of

the consequences, but knowing that she would allow him back.

Just for one more night, perhaps.

She”d be careful.

He”d never know.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Royal Palace, Ruen, Escator

Maximilian had come back to Ruen because he had no idea what else to do. He couldn”t

find Ishbel on his own, and he knew he couldn”t afford the time to scurry helplessly about

southern Kyros in the hope of finding a clue. Somewhere. StarWeb and BroadWing and their

companions were searching. Malat—after some persuasion—was searching for her via his

network of agents and spies and guardsmen.

With that Maximilian had to be content.

He”d been away from Escator for almost seven months, and Maximilian couldn”t ignore

the fact he”d left his kingdom alone for all that time. Yes, the Privy Council had authority to do

whatever they needed to keep life running smoothly, but Maximilian had his responsibilities to

his kingdom even before his wife, and he”d simply had to return.

He felt keenly the embarrassment of returning without Ishbel. Escator had been preparing

a grand welcome for the new queen, and instead their king had slunk home in the middle of the

night, minus his wife, and with no idea where she was.

Maximilian had hardly been able to hold court, yet he”d had to, and had to bear the

curious looks and whispers and muttered sympathies. He”d hated himself for feeling the

embarrassment, knowing that Ishbel, wherever she was, was likely suffering far more than

“embarrassment.”

But most of all Maximilian hated himself for not being able to save her, or find her.

He prayed to all gods that BroadWing and StarWeb would have better luck.

At least he was home, and Maximilian took some comfort in that.

One of the first things he did, once he”d rested, was to talk with Vorstus.

“Elcho Falling is stirring,” Maximilian said without preamble when Vorstus walked into

the chamber.

“Truly?” said Vorstus, sitting down in a chair and folding his hands.

“How long have you known?” Maximilian said.

“A very long time,” Vorstus said softly, holding Maximilian”s gaze.

Maximilian turned on his heel, walked to a window, and leaned his hands on the sill to

stare out.

A very long time? Had Vorstus—and perhaps Light and Water—been manipulating his

life for all his forty years?

“You are the perfect man for it,” Vorstus said.

Maximilian still said nothing. He was angry, so angry he was afraid that if he let go of the

windowsill then he would physically attack the abbot. He didn”t know what to do, about Ishbel

or about Elcho Falling, but he did not trust Vorstus, and could not trust a single thing the man

said to him.

All Maximilian wanted to do was to take control of his life, but he had no idea how.

“There is something you should know,” he said finally, still staring out the window.

“Yes?” Vorstus said.

“Are you aware of something called the Twisted Tower?”

“Yes. The Persimius kings passed down the knowledge of Elcho Falling via a memory

palace, a storage place for everything they needed to know. You would have been taught how to access the Twisted Tower at an early age.”

“I was nine when my father first began to teach me.” Maximilian turned about, looking at

Vorstus steadily. “But did you know, Vorstus, that the Twisted Tower is all but empty? That I

can do little more than raise Elcho Falling when it is needed, but that I no longer have access to

the knowledge to enable me to wield it fully? Did you not ever consider the possibility that the

Twisted Tower would have deteriorated over the centuries, and that knowledge would be

forgotten?”

Vorstus rose to his feet. His face was tightly controlled, his eyes flinty. “Then what has

been lost needs to be regained, my Lord of Elcho Falling. That shall be your responsibility.”

With that Vorstus left the room, leaving Maximilian staring after him in silent, impotent

rage.

Five days after Maximilian had arrived home, he was interrupted during a meeting with

Egalion by the arrival of one of the Emerald Guard bursting into Maximilian”s private chamber

without even knocking.

“My lord, forgive me,” the man said, sinking briefly to one knee, “but there is urgent

news.”

Maximilian had stood as soon as the man entered. “Yes?”

“BroadWing EvenBeat is home. Just now arrived. My lord, he—”

The man got no further, for Maximilian was now staring over his shoulder.

BroadWing was slumped in the doorway, barely able to maintain his feet.

“Dear gods,” Maximilian muttered, knowing instinctively that Broad-Wing brought

disastrous news.

Egalion and the Emerald Guardsman helped him to a chair.

“Send for Garth Baxtor,” Maximilian said to the guardsman, and he nodded, and left.

“BroadWing,” Maximilian said, sinking to his haunches beside the Icarii birdman”s chair,

“you need attention, and food and drink. Perhaps—”

“What I need,” said BroadWing, “is to tell you what has happened. Everything else can

wait.”

Maximilian felt sick to the stomach.

“We found Ishbel,” BroadWing went on without preamble. “She was being taken through

the FarReach Mountains down to the Tyranny of Isembaard. Escorted by eight men. She was

drugged, helpless. I am sorry, Maximilian, she did not look well.”

“Gods…” Maximilian muttered.

“We decided—oh, stars, I decided, to try to rescue her. She looked so ill…so helpless…”

“BroadWing,” said Maximilian, “don”t blame yourself.”

“Shit,” BroadWing muttered. “I thought I had a brilliant plan. But it was shit,

Maximilian. Shit. It killed StarWeb and the others.”

Maximilian looked away.

“The men who had her commanded a frightful power. Dark and shadowy. None of us

could withstand it. StarWeb and the others…exploded. There was nothing left of them.”

Kanubai, thought Maximilian. It must have been Kanubai”s power. Shit! Kanubai had

Ishbel? Had he risen already?

Maximilian felt a moment of complete panic. What should he do?

“But you escaped,” Egalion said.

“I would have died, too,” said BroadWing, “save that just as these men turned toward me,

a band of armed men arrived. They attacked the eight who had murdered my companions, and

drove them away. They saved my life.”

“A mercy,” said Maximilian, “and one I am most profoundly grateful for. BroadWing, do

not blame yourself. You did more than I could ever have expected of—”

“There”s more,” said BroadWing. “The leader of the armed men was Axis SunSoar.”

For a moment there was complete silence as Maximilian and Egalion stared at

BroadWing.

“No,” said Maximilian, “that cannot be. You must be mistaken.”

“I am not mistaken,” BroadWing whispered. “Your wife, Ishbel—should she still be

alive—is now secreted within the Tyranny of Isembaard, and she is in the hands of the StarMan

himself, Axis SunSoar, returned from death.”

“Oh, my gods,” Maximilian muttered. “What else can go wrong?”

Garth Baxtor had arrived just after that, and had seen BroadWing taken to a room and

given medication and food. Then he hurried back to Maximilian”s chamber, where Maximilian

sat with Egalion. A moment later Vorstus joined them, earning himself a dark look from