Surrender to the Will of the Night - By Glen Cook Page 0,183

Gods. But Grandfather is a possibility.”

“I don’t see how …”

“I can skip there. And take you with me.”

“You can what?”

“Come here.”

Hecht did as she said, still distracted by the possibility of having to face an overwhelming Patriarchal force within a few days.

Heris seized him in a fierce grip, twisted, wrenched him violently.

Darkness followed.

* * *

Darkness swarmed with dreams that were mostly nightmares. Terror pounded Hecht. He was sure he would be trapped there forever.

* * *

“Damned good thing you had some get-acquainted time with the Construct,” Principaté Delari said. “That gave Heris the leverage she needed to drag you all the way through.”

Pale, exhausted, Heris still shook, minutes after arriving. There had been unexpected problems.

Also shaking, Hecht grumbled, “Wonderful. Marvelous. What the hell happened?”

“Calm yourself. I don’t know. I don’t use the Construct that way. Heris hasn’t had this problem before.”

Heris said, “Tell me what you saw, Piper. That might give me a handle.”

“Crawling chaos. Ghosts. Nothing that made sense. Nightmares and monster games. What should I have seen?”

“Double Great and I see the world without much color, other than reds and darkness. With everything moving a thousandth the speed of normal when we’re traveling.” She explained that her journeys took her through a thousand shades of red, few of them dark. She went where she wanted by thinking about it hard. Now that she was experienced, she could go places she had not visited before.

Hecht was frightened but also amazed because here he was in the quiet room of Muniero Delari’s town house, only minutes after Heris had taken hold of him a hundred miles away.

* * *

Anna and the children soon learned of Hecht’s presence. Principaté Delari had insisted that they move to the town house to shelter from Bronte Doneto’s malice.

Hecht thanked Delari for that, enthusiastically. Then he thanked Anna for swallowing her pride and letting the Principaté put the family where they would be harder to reach. “Lover, Doneto is a bad man.” He eyed Delari, wondering where the feud between the Principaté and the Patriarch stood.

Anna said, “Don’t pat my back before you hear the whole story.”

“So you did try to be stubborn, eh?”

“Absolutely. Nobody was going to bully me and my kids. Not even the Infallible Voice of God.”

“But?” Hecht was having trouble keeping his hands off her—though he did keep it clean enough for the presence of family.

“That new man at the Castella, Addam Hauf? He came to the house. He said Serenity wants to take us hostage. That was before the news about you landing in Vis Corcula.”

Delari said, “The Brotherhood of War has no affection for Serenity. Their obsession is the liberation of the Holy Lands. Serenity is interested only in his vendetta with the Connec.”

Hecht made a snorting noise.

Delari continued, “Serenity’s personal crusade has not gone well.”

Hecht then first heard about the death of King Regard. “Does that mean Pinkus Ghort is out there on his own?”

“No. There are several smaller Arnhander forces roving around, commanded by Society priests. Complete incompetents. However fierce she is, Anne of Menand can’t manage the intervention herself. With Regard gone she’ll probably abandon Ghort and Serenity.

“She’ll be scrambling to hang on to power till Anselin hears the news and comes home. Which he might not do. He has no love for Anne and might make her regret it if he does come home. He has an independent streak. He might not suffer the abuses that Regard did.”

Anna and the children grew more sour while Delari talked. They cared nothing about any of that. Hecht was their interest.

As they were his, for the moment.

He was startled by how much emotion seeing them brought upwelling. And how much guilt he felt on recalling his involuntary interlude with the Empress.

In truth, he doubted that Anna believed he would remain celibate while away. He was a man. Indulgence was expected.

Delari gestured at Heris, who said, “We’ll let you enjoy one another for a while, now. Piper. Remember. I need to get you back in time for your morning staff meeting.”

That did not improve Hecht’s temper. “Early enough for me to have time to get myself together?”

“Good idea.”

Heris and Delari began arguing softly. Hecht paid no attention. He gathered his family round, suddenly fearful that this might be his last chance to enjoy them all together.

Anna wanted them to be alone.

But the children were determined to get a share of him, too. Hecht was touched that the bonds of family included Lila, now.

He led everyone to a lounging room