books, a writing box and a silver sand-shaker. ‘I had a look around while I was waiting for your men to lose their ardour for slaughter.’
He moved to the desk, scanning the objects on it but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. ‘And?’ he prompted.
With a twitch of her fingers Zhia caused one of the books to rise up, green light playing around the edges and illuminating the monogram on the front. ‘I noticed an enchantment on one of the books and found it bore my brother’s initials.’ She let the book fall into his hands. ‘Is this the journal you were looking for?’
Doranei looked it over. It did indeed have entwined Vs on the cover, just as the novice Mayel had described to him. This had to be what Azaer had wanted from the abbot in Scree — what the shadow had sacrificed possession of the Skull of Ruling for.
When he tried to open it he found the pages stuck together, and when he ran his finger down the edge he saw a tiny spark of light and felt something as sharp as a knife slice his skin. He withdrew his hand hurriedly.
‘It’s a simple magical lock; it will not tax your king’s mages for too long,’ Zhia assured him, ‘but right now, it is time for you to leave.’
The look on her face told him not to argue and he realised she was right. He had already stayed longer than he’d planned; it was time to make good their escape.
‘Thank you,’ he said awkwardly.
Without warning Zhia made up the ground between them and grabbed him by his brigandine. Pulling him close she kissed him hard and fierce. When she withdrew the taste of her lips and the heady scent of her perfume remained.
‘Do not thank me,’ she said, her face unreadable. ‘Every step in your war against the shadow takes you further into pain. This may bring you a league of hurt.’
‘It is necessary,’ he croaked. ‘I do what I must.’
She gave him a weak smile. ‘As do we both.’
This time it was Doranei’s turn to pull the vampire close, half-lifting her off the ground and kissing her before he fled through the door. When he had gone she stared after him, her lips pursed tight. With a wave of the hand she extinguished the flames and was left alone with the shadows.
‘Do not disappoint me,’ Zhia said softly. The shadows did not reply.
CHAPTER 15
It was not yet midday when Count Vesna reached the Tirah-Tebran border, and already he’d had enough. Advance warning of what was waiting there failed to lessen his disgust when he saw the banners in the distance — banners that had no place in this suzerainty. In contrast, the ruby shard upon his cheek tingled at the prospect of violence.
At his side General Lahk observed them impassively, his only sign of disapproval the ordering of his personal standard be carried by the advance scouts, alongside the red banners of mourning. The general was also a marshal of Tebran, and it was into his small domain they were riding. Lahk’s obedience to tradition was absolute, but Vesna doubted Suzerain Temal or Scion Ranah would care about the small rebuke, if they even noticed it.
They had spent the previous night at the manor of Suzerain Tebran, once one of Lord Bahl’s fiercest supporters; renowned for his strength, but now a broken man, drinking himself to death. His parchment-pale skin hung loose on his body, and when Vesna had broken the news of his scion’s death in battle, he hadn’t been sure if the suzerain had even heard him. Muttered apologies were all Tebran had given, and it had been left to his daughter, Anatay, to tell them why through her own grief.
‘He was frightened for me, frightened for us all. There was only one of his hurscals here; the rest were with you, my Lord. He had to grant them leave to stay, to march under arms in the suzerainty.’
Vesna scowled and felt his armoured fist tighten around the reins. Threatening the weak to claim the protection of the law? It made the God in him bay for blood. Each suzerainty was a self-contained domain, subject only to the Lord of the Farlan — to ride battle-ready in another’s suzerainty without permission was tantamount to a declaration of war, but with his troops not yet returned from the Circle City, Suzerain Tebran had nothing to back up his authority.