large, dark—and for a moment, entirely unblinking. To her great surprise, she realized that the Winter King was angry. She glanced at Avandar, and found that he was staring at Evayne in a similar fashion.
“Viandaran,” Evayne said softly.
He said nothing.
“Tor Amanion.”
It was Jewel’s turn to stare, gaze riveted, at the Winter King. He raised his head, reminding everyone present of the tines that were now his only crown.
“I did not lie to you, when we met,” Evayne told him softly. “But at least in your case, I do not have to wonder what atrocity I will commit in future to earn your present hatred. You will serve a Lord who will stand, in the end, against the Lord of the Hells, as promised.”
“You knew him?” Jewel asked.
“No; that is far too broad a statement. But we have spoken, in the past, and we speak, briefly, now.” She left the table’s side and walked toward the Winter King, pausing less than two feet from his lifted face. What she said to him, Jewel couldn’t hear, and if she received a reply at all, that, too, was lost. But she turned her back upon the Winter King. Given the Winter King’s anger, Jewel wouldn’t have.
“Your permission, Terafin.”
Shadow stepped on Jewel’s foot. Jewel ground her teeth.
“She is dangerous,” the gray cat growled.
“So are you and you come and go as you bloody well please.”
“You could force them to leave,” Evayne said.
“How? They’re cats.”
“Yes, but they are your cats, at the moment—inasmuch as they are anyone’s. If you so chose, you could limit their movement in your lands; you could deny the Winter King; you could order Lord Celleriant into the heart of the wilderness. Without your permission, none could return.”
“The god-born?”
“No. And yes. You could force me from your roads if you so chose.”
“Because you’re a seer?”
“No. Because my father is on the plane, and was at my birth. They are not wrong in their advice; I am a danger, and a threat. Our goals, in a broad sense, overlap, as do our gifts and some of our skills. But there are choices I will make—and have made in the past—that you would never countenance in pursuit of those goals. There are battles and wars that I have seen—and participated in—that you have yet to witness, and if we are very, very lucky, might never occur at all. I have your gift, and you mine, but that is not all that separates us. There is no one, nothing, that I have not considered sacrificing in order to ensure the survival of Man.
“And that will not change, Terafin. Grant your permission, or no, I will do what I must.”
“You already know that I’ve granted you that permission.”
Evayne said nothing.
“You have to know, if you’ve seen my lands in the future, unless you haven’t been able to walk them. Why are you even here to ask at all?”
“Because permission, now, must be granted.”
“And you couldn’t have asked as a younger Evayne? You faced a god when you were ten years younger than I am now.”
“I do not choose the age at which I appear, Jewel. But had I been younger, had I dared to touch that book as I did today, it would have taken months to recover—if I could recover at all. The robes are not proof against injury, and my power at that age was so new I might have lit a fire in my own defense, no more.”
Is this how we change the future? Jewel thought, watching Evayne in silence. Is this a game that I want to play, given what’s at stake?
“Terafin,” Avandar said. “You must come to a decision. If time does not pass in a recognizable way in the hidden realm, it passes—quickly—in this one; the Kings will need to know that you have once again resumed your duties; The Ten will likewise need to be informed.”
“Understood.” She hadn’t taken her eyes off Evayne’s shuttered expression. “I want you to explain something to me before I grant what you ask.”
“There are matters of which I am forbidden speech,” Evayne replied, “although perhaps that will matter less in the scant years remaining.”
“You’ve seen this book before.”
The seer nodded.
“Where?”
Evayne turned toward the Winter King. “With your permission, Tor Amanion?”
The Winter King inclined his head as he turned to face Jewel. Jewel, who rode him, who listened to his advice even when it was frequently unwelcome.
“In the Tor Amanion,” Evayne said, after a pause. “In the Sanctum of the Sen.”