Queen of the Darkness (The Black Jewels #3)(88)
Author: Anne Bishop

"What else could we do?" Lucivar replied wearily. "The girl has lost her mother, her village, everyone she knew. KaeAskavi’s the only friend she has left. There are pockets of fighting going on throughout Glacia, so placing her in another village… There’s no guarantee she would survive the next time a place is attacked. Marian and I would take her to live with us, but …"

Daemon shook his head. "You were right about that. She wouldn’t be able to handle being around Eyriens right now." Which was why Lucivar had insisted that Daemon come with him to Arceria in the first place.

"And we can’t take her anywhere else," Lucivar added grimly. "Not until we know if this attack was part of Hobart’s attempt to regain control of Glacia or if it’s something more. You said the girl was physically all right."

"She sprained an ankle, but the Arcerian Healers have the Craft to take care of injured limbs. Other than that, she was… unharmed." He couldn’t say the word "rape." He would never forget the fear that had jolted through him when he had crawled into that den and seen Delia—fair-haired, blue-eyed, ten-year-old Delia. She didn’t look anything like Jaenelle, except in coloring, but that had been enough to cause the memories of what had happened in Chaillot thirteen years ago to come rushing back at him. His hands had trembled as he’d cautiously examined her for injuries, as he had used a delicate psychic probe to answer that particular question. His hands had also trembled because she had been gripping a stuffed toy cat in one hand and a fistful of KaeAskavi’s fur in the other—which meant the cat had been literally breathing down his neck. It was the way she had held on to KaeAskavi that had forced him to leave her there. She needed to feel safe in order to heal—and snuggling up to four hundred pounds of muscle and fur obviously made her feel very safe.

Lucivar rested a hand on Daemon’s shoulder. "A few weeks among the Arcerians won’t hurt her. At least this way she can be ‘mothered’ without feeling like she’s letting someone take her mother’s place."

Daemon nodded. "Are you going back to Ebon Rih?" He had been planning to go to the Keep since Jaenelle was on her way there with Karla and Morghann.

Lucivar shook his head. "The High Lord asked me to report to him at the Hall. This side trip has delayed that report for a couple of days, so I’d better get my ass there before he decides to take a piece out of it."

"Then I’ll go with you."

When they reached the place where they could catch the Winds, Lucivar hesitated. "How is Karla? I didn’t get to see her before they left for the Keep."

Daemon stared at the unbroken snow. "She’ll live. Jaenelle thinks she can heal the legs enough for Karla to walk again."

"Jaenellethinks she can?" Lucivar paled. "Mother Night, Daemon, ifJaenelle isn’t sure, what was done—"

"Don’t ask," Daemon said too sharply. He made an effort to soften his voice. "Don’t ask. I… don’t want to talk about it." But this was Lucivar who was asking, so he tried. "There’s no antidote for witchblood. The poison had to be drawn into some part of the body in order to save the internal organs and then drawn out. It … killed a lot of the muscle, and that muscle had to be…" His gorge rose as he thought of the withered limbs that had been healthy legs.

"Let it go," Lucivar said gently. "Let it go."

They both took a couple of unsteady breaths before Daemon said, "The sooner we make our reports, the sooner we can go home." For him, home wasn’t a place, it was a person—and right then, he needed to know that Jaenelle was safe.

6 / Terreille

"Kartane sent a report." Dorothea carefully selected a piece of sugared fruit, took a bite, and chewed slowly just to make Hekatah wait.

"And?" Hekatah finally asked. "Has the Gate in Glacia been secured for our use? Is the village ready for our hand-picked immigrants?"

Dorothea selected another piece of fruit. This time she gave it a couple of delicate licks before answering. "The villagers were eliminated. So were the Eyriens."

"What?How?"

"The messenger who met with Kartane couldn’t find out what happened to the Eyriens, only that they had killed the villagers and had, in turn, been killed." She paused. "Lord Hobart’s dead as well."

Hekatah stood perfectly still. "And the bitch-Queen, Karla? Was that, at least, successful?"

Dorothea shrugged. "She disappeared during the fighting. But since Ulka died rather… dramatically… one would assume she consumed the poison."

"Then that’s the end of her," Hekatah said with a little smile of satisfaction. "Even if someone manages to figure out an antidote for the Hayllian poison in time, the witch-blood will finish things."

"Our plans for Glacia are also finished. Or hasn’t that occurred to you?"

Hekatah waved that away. "Considering what wehave achieved, that’s a minor inconvenience."

Dorothea dropped the fruit back into the bowl. "We’ve achievednothing*. "

"You’re becoming inflexible, Dorothea," Hekatah said with venomous sweetness. "You’re starting to act as old as you look."

Dorothea’s blood pounded in her temples, and she wanted—oh, how she wanted—to unleash just a little of the feelings that had been growing more virulent. She hated Hekatah, but she also needed the bitch. So she sat back and inflicted a wound that would hurt much deeper than any physical blow. "At least I still have all my hair. That bald patch is starting to ooze, dearest."

Hekatah automatically lifted a hand to cover the spot. With effort, she lowered it before it reached her head.

The impotent hatred in Hekatah’s dull gold eyes scared Dorothea a little but also produced a sense of vicious satisfaction.

"We can make do with sneaking through the other Gates," Hekatah said. "We have something better now."

"And what is that?" Dorothea asked politely.

"The excuse we needed to start the war." Hekatah’s smile was pure malevolence.

"I see," Dorothea said, returning the smile.

"The immigrants we had picked to replace the villagers will go to Glacia—just as they would have if Hobart had given us that village as payment for our assistance. We’ll also add a few immigrants from other Terreillean Territories. The escorts will be males who don’t know where the original village was located. Only the Coach drivers will be told where to drop off the happy families—and that won’t be anywhere near a settled area, so there won’t be any chance of detection. The escorts will, of course, be dismayed to see no sign of a village waiting for inhabitants." A dreamy look filled Hekatah’s eyes. "The company of Eyrien warriors who will be waiting for them will take care of things. The slaughter will be … horrible. But there will be a couple of survivors who will manage to escape. They’ll live long enough to get back to Little Terreille and tell a few people about how Terreilleans are being butchered in Kaeleer. And they’ll live long enough to say that two men had been giving the orders—a Hayllian and an Eyrien."