The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - By N. K. Jemisin Page 0,89

I meant to begin with your land, stomping it ever so thoroughly out of existence. In fact I should have begun doing so already, if not for the fact that the alliance I so carefully put together in that region is now falling apart. She resumed pacing, glancing back at me over her shoulder, turning the wand delicately in her hands. I thought at first the problem might be that old High North woman youve been meeting at the Salon. But I looked into that; shes only given you information, and most of it useless. So youve done something else. Would you care to explain?

My blood went cold. What had Scimina done to Ras Onchi? Then I looked at Sieh, who had recovered himself somewhat, though he still looked weak and dazed from pain. He was not healing, which made no sense. I had stabbed Nahadoth in the heart and it had been barely a nuisance. Yet it had taken time for him to heal, I recalled with a sudden chill. Perhaps, if left alone for a while, Sieh would recover as well. Unless Itempas had trapped the Enefadeh in human form to suffer all the horrors of mortality. They were eternal, powerfulbut not invulnerable. Did the horrors of mortality include death? Sweat stung the cuts on my hands. There were things I was not prepared to endure.

But then the palace shuddered. For an instant I wondered if this tremor signified some new threat, and then I remembered. Sunset.

Oh demons, Viraine muttered into the silence. An instant later I and every other person in the room was thrown sprawling in a blast of wind and bitter, painful cold.

It took me a moment to struggle upright, and when I did, my knife was gone. The room was chaos around me; I heard groans of pain, curses, shouts of alarm. When I glanced toward the lift, I could see several people crowding its opening, trying to cram their way in. I forgot all of this, though, when I looked toward the center of the room.

It was difficult to see Nahadoths face. He crouched near Sieh, his head bowed, and the blackness of his aura was as it had been my first night in Sky, so dark that it hurt the mind. I focused instead on the floor, where the chains that had held Sieh lay shattered, their tips glistening with frost. Sieh himself I could not see entirelyonly one of his hands, dangling limp, before Nahadoths cloak swept around him, swallowing him into darkness.

Scimina. There was that hollow, echoing quality to Nahadoths voice again. Was the madness upon him? No; this was just pure, plain rage.

But Scimina, who had also been knocked to the floor, got to her high-heeled feet and composed herself. Nahadoth, she said, more calmly than I would have imagined. Her weapon was gone, too, but she was a true Arameri, unafraid of the gods wrath. How good of you to join us at last. Put him down.

Nahadoth stood and flicked his cloak back. Sieh, a young man now, whole and clothed, stood beside him glaring defiantly at Scimina. Somewhere deep inside me, a knot of tension relaxed.

We had an agreement, Nahadoth said, still in that voice echoing with murder.

Indeed, Scimina said, and now it was her smile that frightened me. Youll serve as well as Sieh for this purpose. Kneel. She pointed at the bloody space and its empty chains.

For an instant the sense of power in the room swelled, like pressure against the eardrums. The walls creaked. I shuddered beneath it, wondering if this was it. Scimina had made some error, left some opening, and now Nahadoth would crush us all like insects.

But then, to my utter shock, Nahadoth moved away from Sieh and went to the center of the room. He knelt.

Scimina turned to me, where I still half-lay on the floor. Shamed, I got to my feet. I was surprised to see that there was still an audience around us, though it was now sparseTvril, Viraine, a handful of servants, perhaps twenty highbloods. I suppose the highbloods took some inspiration from Sciminas fearlessness.

This will be an education for you, Cousin, she said, still in that sweet, polite tone that I was coming to hate. She resumed pacing, watching Nahadoth with an expression that was almost avid. Had you been raised here in Sky, or taught properly by your mother, you would know this but allow me to explain. It is difficult to damage an Enefadeh.