‘No,’ he said. ‘It was exhilarating. To see so many enemies die at one time. I wish I could do it again.’
Now the fear was really growing. ‘So you will be the new Duke,’ said Lalitia.
‘For a while,’ he said, rising and drawing his dagger.
Lalitia sat very still.
‘I am so bored, Red,’ he said conversationally. ‘So little seems to pique my interest of late. Would you scream for me?’
‘Not for you or any man,’ she said. Aric moved in closer. Lalitia rolled away from him, her hand dipping down behind a satin cushion and emerging holding a thin-bladed knife.
‘Ah, Red, you were always such a delight!’ said Aric. ‘I am not bored at all now.’
‘Come any closer and you’ll never be bored again,’ she told him.
The door behind Lalitia opened and the Source priest Chardyn entered. Aric smiled as he saw him. ‘So this is where you’ve been hiding, priest? Who would have thought it? My men have searched the houses of your congregation. They didn’t think to check the homes of local whores.’
The burly priest stood very quietly for a moment. ‘What has become of you, Aric?’ he asked.
‘Become of me? What a ridiculous question. I am younger, stronger and immortal.’
‘Last year I visited you at Willow Lake. You seemed content. You were playing with a child, I recall.’
‘My daughter. A sweet creature.’
‘I was not aware you had a daughter. Where is she now?’
‘She died.’
‘Did you grieve?’ asked Chardyn, his voice low and compelling.
‘Grieve? I suppose that I must have.’
‘Did you grieve?’ asked Chardyn again.
Aric blinked. The man’s voice was almost hypnotic. ‘How dare you question me?’ he blustered. ‘You are a hunted – criminal. Yes, a traitor!’
‘Why did you not grieve, Aric?’
‘Stop this!’ shouted the noble, stepping back.
‘What have they done to you, my boy? I saw you with that child. You clearly loved her.’
‘Loved?’ Aric was nonplussed. He turned away, his dagger forgotten. ‘Yes, I … seem to remember that I felt . . .’
‘What did you feel?’
Aric swung back. ‘I don’t want to talk about this, priest. Look, leave now and I will not report that I have seen you. Just go. I need to … to talk with Red.’
‘You need to talk with me, Aric,’ said Chardyn. Aric stared at the powerfully built priest, and found himself looking into the man’s deep, dark eyes. He could not look away. Chardyn’s gaze seemed to hold him trapped. ‘Tell me about the child. Why did you not grieve?’
‘I… don’t know,’ admitted Aric. ‘I asked Eldicar . . . on the night of the killings. I couldn’t understand why I reacted in the way that I did. I felt. . . nothing. I asked if I had lost something when he gave me my – my youth.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He said I had lost nothing. No, that’s not quite right. He said I had lost nothing that would be of value to Kuan-Hador.’
‘And now you want to kill Lalitia?’
‘Yes. It would amuse me.’
‘Think back, Aric. Think of the man sitting with his child by that lake. Would it have amused him to kill Lalitia?’
Aric tore his ga’ze away from the priest and sat down, staring at the dagger in his hand. ‘You are confusing me, Chardyn,’ he said, and became aware of a pounding pain in his head. Placing the dagger on the table before him he began to rub his temples.
‘What was your daughter’s name?’
‘Zarea.’
‘Where is her mother?’
‘She died too.’
‘How did she die?’
‘I strangled her. She would not stop crying, you see.’
‘Did you kill your daughter too?’
‘No. Eldicar did that. Her life force was very strong. It gave me greater youth and strength. Surely you can see how good I look.’
‘I see far more than that,’ said Chardyn.
Aric looked up and saw Lalitia staring at him, an expression of revulsion on her face. Chardyn came closer, sitting alongside Aric on the couch. ‘You once told me that Aldania had been kind to you. Do you remember?’