the Tomb of Kharnaces. The nagataaru demanded that she go to Callatas at once, to tell him where the lost relics were hidden. Then Callatas could claim them and work the Apotheosis, and Kalgri could gorge herself upon the death of an entire world.
With some effort, she ignored the Voice’s demands.
She did not care about Callatas or his Apotheosis. Callatas had created her, true. She had been one of his first experiments, using the knowledge and lore he had discovered in the Tomb of Kharnaces. The experiment had succeeded beyond Callatas’s expectations. Kalgri could not harm Callatas, but neither could he force her to obey him. She was too strong for that. Of course, the nagataaru within her feared the nagataaru within the Grand Master, so she wound up usually doing Callatas’s bidding sooner or later.
A part of her, a very large part, considered telling the Grand Master what she had learned. Callatas would work his Apotheosis, continuing his insipid quest to undo whatever wrong had sent him upon his path, and countless millions would die. The Voice wanted to do that at once, and Kalgri almost agreed.
Almost.
She would tell the Grand Master about the relics eventually…but first she would use them to kill Caina Amalas.
And a lot of other people.
Here was another tactic she could steal. Caina recruited capable allies.
And Kalgri knew just where to find willing help.
###
Cassander Nilas strode into his study with a scowl. He had a headache.
More precisely, he had headaches.
The Provosts of the Umbarian Order had sent him to Istarinmul to secure the aid of the Padishah against the Empire, and after a year he had failed to budge Erghulan Amirasku and Callatas from their neutrality. The High Provost herself was becoming restless with Cassander’s lack of progress, which was not a safe position. Callatas had promised to aid the Order if Cassander killed Caina Amalas, but so far Cassander had failed. His first attempt had failed rather spectacularly, and his spies and summoned servants had been unable to find the damnable woman since.
He took a step into his study and froze.
His study occupied the top floor of the Umbarian Order’s embassy, with a balcony overlooking the courtyard below. The balcony doors stood open, moonlight spilling across the floor. Cassander raised his right hand, drawing upon his power. An armored gauntlet of black metal covered his right hand, the back adorned with a single crimson bloodcrystal. The enspelled gauntlet let him use pyromantic sorcery without the homicidal insanity that usually accompanied fire sorcery.
If any assassins had entered his study, they were going to die screaming.
A shadow moved in the corner.
Cassander pointed at the shadow, summoning power. It was a woman in a Ghost shadow-cloak, and for a ludicrous instant he wondered if Caina Amalas had arrived in person to assassinate him. The woman drew back her cowl and threw back the cloak, revealing a slim figure in black clothing and leather armor the color of blood, a pale, pretty face, a ragged mop of blond hair, and blue eyes that burned with madness.
No. Not madness.
Cassander rebuked himself. He dared not underestimate this woman. By any conventional measure, Kalgri was insane, her mind twisted out of all recognition…but she was not irrational. She followed her own internal logic, and what her internal logic wanted was to feast on the pain and death of her victims.
If she decided that Cassander was an enemy, she would come after him without hesitation, and he was not entirely sure he could stop her.
Best not to find out, then.
“My lady Huntress,” said Cassander with his most charming smile. “A Ghost shadow-cloak? I daresay it suits you.”
“Bah,” said Kalgri, shaking the cloak. She stepped towards his desk, running a gloved hand over the papers there. “I’m too pale now. Black washes me out. I look positively sallow.” She giggled. Cassander had seen many terrible things and defeated many foes, but Kalgri’s giggle was still one of the more disturbing things he had heard. “One must look one’s best when killing one’s foes. Mustn’t one?”
“Is that why your nagataaru rebuilt you with the features of Caina Amalas and Claudia Aberon Dorius?” said Cassander. When he had first met the Red Huntress, when he had hired her to kill Kylon of House Kardamnos, she had looked Istarish. Now she had the blond hair of Claudia Dorius and the blue eyes and facial features of Caina Amalas. Kalgri looked like she could have been Caina’s sister.
Kalgri’s blue eyes snapped to him, and for a moment