“Coveted is not the right word. I only…”
“Only didn’t want to let go of so much as a single grain of wheat once it was in your hand. Isn’t that right?”
Sabina shrugged.
“But I did let go. You aren’t in my hands anymore.”
“Have you forgotten what I sacrificed in the process?”
“That woman and the child? Did you think I would forgive a woman who bore the child I myself could not have? A commoner without so much as a family name, thinking she could go on living happily with a man like you. Isn’t that arrogance? She was only a concubine, anyway…”
Laban clenched his fist, then struck at empty air. His voice rose before he could stop it.
“Iolle was my wife!”
Sabina gazed steadily at him. His sister, who had once seemed a goddess, had never learned to exchange her own unhappiness for another’s. She struggled to fill what she lacked, yet saw other people’s losses as nothing but losses. Her beautiful face now looked distorted.
At the same time, Tina and Gene appeared over it in his mind. Laban had sworn to protect them. He would not lose them helplessly as he had lost Iolle and Belleias. For that, he must not grow excited. He forced himself to calm down.
“A fine place to share such tender feelings. Don’t you think?”
Sabina responded at once.
“It would have been finer if you hadn’t brought up unpleasant things. We have so many memories here.”
Neither had been here in twelve years. The white house high on a hill above the capital had been the villa of Ekenos’s mother, their grandmother. All the brothers and sisters remembered playing here as children. After their grandmother died, no one lived in it. A maid came now and then to clean. In other words, it had been the perfect place for nineteen- and twenty-one-year-olds to play with fire.
“If we’d run far away as we planned then, somewhere like Piroas, things would be very different now. Wouldn’t they?”
Would Sabina have become someone other than the woman before him? There was no way to know. Would he have discovered her true nature in time and parted from her in disgust? Or would she still possess the kindness of the barefoot girl she had once been?
Despite all their promises, in the end only Laban had gone to Piroas. Though he had not gone alone.
“I don’t know. But I think you might be happier now than you are.”
“I’m not. I haven’t filled the palace with my children!”
“How unfortunate. The goddess who blessed you seems to have forgotten one thing.”
“A very important thing. In the royal house of Epherium, a childless woman is nothing but a scarecrow. Once someone bears a child, I won’t even be part of the scenery. Whether she comes from a fine family or not, whether she’s beautiful or not, whether she’s cultivated or the daughter of the great Ekenos, none of it matters. Only whether she’s borne a child! Isn’t it unbearably disgusting?”
“You’re right, Sister. But that doesn’t seem to be the only disgusting thing in the world.”
Sabina paid no attention to his words. Absorbed in her own thoughts, she suddenly said,
“That’s why I can’t forgive that girl.”
Laban grew tense at once and spoke slowly.
“Iolle is already dead.”
“Who is talking about her? I mean Erektina. The lowborn, ignorant dancer who bore Roandros a son.”
Laban tilted his head.
“I remember her. Didn’t she die a long time ago?”
Sabina suddenly burst into shrill laughter.
“You’re a good actor. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was true.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re hiding them. That woman. That child.”
Laban pressed his lips together, then sighed.
“Incredible. Where did you come by such a delusion? In a dream?”
“Something like that. But much more reliable than a dream. Come, tell me. Where are they? How are they living?”
“If you’re going to accuse me without a shred of evidence, am I supposed to humor your fantasies? Very well. They’re in heaven, and I visit now and then. Both are well. Naturally. It is heaven. Satisfied?”
“Do you think I’m asking because I don’t know where they are? I’m listening to see how much truth you’ll tell me. Enough nonsense.”
“Why don’t you stop talking nonsense yourself?”
Sabina approached until she stood directly before Laban and raised her eyes to his. He did not retreat.
“You lost that woman you called your wife and your child. So when you saw Erektina and Polytimos, you pitied them. That’s why you secretly got them out through the Full Moon Gate. You came back alone and nearly got caught, but invented that story about a brothel and escaped. Did you think I believed it? I’m not a fool. Do you think I don’t know that you aren’t the sort to visit brothels? You’ve always been like that. You know only one woman. And you like fairness. So you must have looked after them. To spite me.”
“I see. You killed Iolle and Belleias too. From what you’re saying, I’ve saved the two people you were trying to kill, just as you killed the two I cherished. If that were true, it would be admirable work. I almost wish it had happened. But to do that, I’d have had to find His Majesty’s favored concubine, whose face I didn’t even know, recognize her at once, make a plan, and send her abroad. Difficult work, even for me. What a pity.”
“Why wouldn’t you know her face? When she gave birth, I had a flower palanquin sent around with maids throwing gold coins!”
“Don’t assume everyone in the world takes the same interest in the things that interest you. His Majesty’s having a prince had nothing to do with me. And I had no need of gold.”
When Laban did not stir, Sabina’s brow twitched and she blinked several times. Her certainty seemed to waver.
“No. You’re lying.”
“Really. Have you received an oracle somewhere? If you’re so certain, why did you do nothing for three years? I may have wandered far and wide, but I’ve returned for Father’s death anniversary every year.”
Sabina pursed her lips, then turned sharply and called,
“Ayub!”
Laban said inwardly, Yes. I knew you would appear.
The door to the terrace opened, and a hooded man entered and bowed to him. He had prepared himself for it, but could not help growing tense.
Ayub spoke.
“We meet again after yesterday. This place has a fine view. Even waiting outside is not dull. I hear the two of you used to play here as children.”
“Spare me the pleasantries. Since you’ve come, I suppose you’re the one who delivered the oracle?”
“I handle evil spirits. I am far removed from gods.”
“Do spirits work as spies these days? Have they been following me for three years before finally reporting that Laban hid a woman in a distant country? Must I take a vow of chastity to avoid suspicion?”
Ayub bowed once more.
“I beg your pardon in advance, for I must now speak of something unpleasant.”
Laban frowned. Ayub turned toward Sabina.
“Some years ago, at Your Majesty’s command, I set an evil spirit upon His Majesty’s favored concubine Erektina and her son. An evil spirit is the embodiment of appetite. It will not return to the earth without chewing the flesh and bones of those whose scent the summoner has given it. When the spirit disappeared, I was certain that the two people were dead, and so reported to Your Majesty. No bodies were found. A spirit leaves little after devouring someone, but I did find it somewhat strange that not a single strand of hair remained. Still, there was blood, and I made the report I did. Your Majesty naturally accepted it. For once a spirit has tasted blood, it cannot simply withdraw.”
Laban had heard enough from Tina to guess what had happened. Hearing it so plainly was horrifying all over again. Sabina lifted her chin for him to continue.
“You may not know this, but one cannot set a spirit upon the same person twice. In truth, there is no need to do so. Thus, there was little I could do, though I always harbored a slight doubt. Then, when I saw Lord Laban at Your Majesty’s family residence last night, I suddenly understood. It is an exceedingly rare occurrence. In all my years at this work, I have never seen it before, nor do I know the reason. But when, for some cause, a spirit returns to the earth without killing its appointed target, the unfinished sorcery remains attached to that person.
“The sorcery used to summon a spirit is simple, and precisely because of that, the pressure driving it toward completion is very strong. The longer it remains unfinished, the more persistently its power circles around the person. It is like drawing the same circle on a sheet of paper, over and over with a brush. In time, does the paper not tear? Something like that happens, and the pressure of the spell gradually breaks the natural flow around its target. Mages seem to call such flows tributaries of magical power. I do not use magic, so I merely call them natural energies. An ordinary person suffers no harm in daily life, but practitioners of sorcery or magic, like myself, readily notice the broken places. I saw them around Lord Laban yesterday.”
“Indeed? I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but you saw something around me and decided its cause was a spell you put on a woman several years ago? Very impressive reasoning. As though every sorcerer and mage in the world were your student.”
“How could I make so presumptuous a claim? There is a reason.”
Ayub pulled back his cloak and exposed his forearm. It was densely covered with small tattoos like symbols. All were ancient characters called Ipnysh. Laban recognized them at once, having once studied the classics. But their forms had been altered: some were reversed, two combined, or other marks added. He had heard that characters distorted in this way were used for curses and evil sorcery.
On the single forearm before him, he could see more than twenty. Ayub pointed to one.
“Look.”
It combined the character Gimela, meaning love, lover, blind devotion, or sacrifice, with Tetra, meaning downfall, destruction, failure, or parting. It was larger and clearer than the others. More precisely, it looked like a fresh brand made only yesterday, black as though burned into the skin.
“It changed like this yesterday. Forgive the liberty, but if I do this…”
Ayub reached out and grasped Laban’s arm. The character in question turned red like the tip of a pipe. Smoke began to rise, along with the smell of burning flesh. The visible part of Ayub’s face twisted. At last, he stumbled back as though fleeing.
“Now… do you understand what has happened?”
Laban tried to drive away the fearful presentiment creeping over him.
“No. You explain it.”
“I engraved this mark in order to cast the spell upon Erektina and Polytimos. That it reacts to Lord Laban means that the targets of the spell, those two, have been beside him. And for a very long time.”
When Laban could not answer, Sabina spoke.
“Well? Will you explain now?”
“I… have nothing to say. If you believe a trick this man has devised, what excuse of mine could persuade you?”
“So you refuse to admit it?”
“I don’t know that woman. That’s all I have to say.”
Silence fell. Laban wondered what would happen if he stormed out of the room now. He wanted to. If only he could ride away. If only, like the mages, he could vanish from this place.
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