Estred joyfully shouted his name when he emerged from the opening in the broken wall to where the free traders still waited. She rushed toward him, her enthusiasm blunted as she demanded to know what was wrong with Siora. Gharek strode past her without answering, his eyes trained solely on Halani, who met him halfway.
“Help her,” he begged the healer.
Halani motioned for him to lay Siora on the ground in front of her. With his hands free, he reached inside his shirt to grasp the charm. Maybe it would help. Both he and Halani gasped when he brought forth a blackened disk of distorted silver and a handful of charred stems, which was all that remained of the dried herbs. The life magic of the charm had been drained dry.
Gharek cursed and shrugged off the charm, setting it aside. He lifted one of Siora’s hands to kiss her palm. “Stay,” he told her, praying she listened, praying she heeded his beseeching. “Stay and allow me the privilege of becoming worthy of your faith in me.”
He looked to Halani when she laid a hand on his arm. “All will be well, Gharek,” she said, a terrible sympathy in her solemn gaze.
The most inane, foolish, and outright false statement everuttered by anyone, in his opinion, and he’d love to punch whoever it was that first coined it. Instead he nodded and held on to Siora’s limp hand while Halani did her work as a healer and her draga husband turned Midrigar into an inferno to rival Kraelag’s destruction.
EPILOGUE
Siora stood with Gharek and Estred among a crowd of free traders and watched from a distance as the walls of fair Domora collapsed under the sorcerous power of the Windcry. A strange keening sound drifted toward her, along with the low rumble of stone as it disintegrated into rubble. Siora couldn’t tell if the first noise was that of the artifact as it sang destruction or the wail of the people who’d assumed themselves safe within the city’s confines.
“It seems Zaredis’s plan worked after all,” Gharek said beside her. “Tovan can’t hold Domora against him, not even with help from his navy. Zaredis’s forces are larger, stronger.”
His words carried neither triumph nor joy, only a grim acceptance that made Siora wish for a different fate for the city once thought of as the jewel in the Empire’s crown. She sighed. “How much blood will be spilled today so that one man might wrest the throne of a dying empire from another?”
“Far more than either one deserves,” Malachus said from nearby. He stood behind Halani, his arm draped loosely across her shoulders. “I have no good memory of Domora, but it was never my home. Those who fight there will do so to save what they consider theirs from others who’ll try to take it. Only the few faithfulactually fight for the generals they serve under.” His gaze slid to Gharek. “Or am I wrong about that, cat’s-paw?”
Gharek shook his head. “Not wrong. As a soldier, I fought so I’d get paid and send those monies back to my family. As the cat’s-paw, I did Dalvila’s dirty work to provide a better life for Estred.” He glanced to where Estred played with a group of free trader children, laughing and running as they all chased a ball thrown between them. “Misguided though it might have been.”
Siora recalled the barbarian mage, both pale and colorful. “What about Rurian?”
He gave a huff of disdain. “One of the faithful few. I’m certain he’s the one who figured out how to make the Windcry work. No doubt he’s beside Zaredis now even as we speak. Loyal minion to the end.”
Another high singing sound, fading in places as it carried on the breeze, reached them. Another part of the girdle wall fell amidst a colossal plume of dust.
“I’ve seen enough.” Halani stepped out of Malachus’s embrace. She tucked a spiral of curly hair behind her ear and turned away from the sight of the besieged city. “The chaos and the fighting will spread beyond Domora. We’ve been here too long.”
A chorus of low-voiced agreement followed her remarks. Malachus watched her leave to descend the ridge on which they stood, accompanied by Kursak, Asil, and several of the free traders. A few, less troubled by the sight of Domora’s fall, lingered to observe a little longer. The children continued their game farther down the hillside, Estred still among them. Siora noted how Gharek kept one eye on her and one on the draga.
Malachus nodded briefly to Siora before settling animplacable gaze on Gharek. Her stomach fluttered, instinct warning her she wouldn’t like what he was about to say and neither would the cat’s-paw.
“You’ve lived among us for nearly a fortnight now. Taken shelter with us, shared food. This free trader band did the same for me when I first came to these lands.” He shrugged. “They’re generous. I think to a fault sometimes.” His face hardened, and Siora swallowed a gasp as a shadow of something not entirely human moved behind his eyes.Not a man, she reminded herself.Only a being dressed as one.“That generosity only goes so far.” He glanced at Siora, regret replacing the strange shadow in his eyes. “I once denied you sanctuary with us because of the danger you represented.”
No one with their wits still about them wanted the notorious cat’s-paw stalking them. Despite Siora helping Malachus rescue Asil, the free trader band had too much to lose by offering her a place among them. Sometimes doing what was right and doing what was necessary conflicted too much with each other, and hard choices were made. She didn’t resent Malachus for the one he made. “I understand,” she said. “Then and now.”
She fully expected him to say the free trader band would continue east to find relative safety among the Gobani peoples and their allies, the nomadic Savatar. Their guests would not be invited to travel with them. Instead Malachus caught her off guard.
He bowed to her briefly before returning his attention to Gharek. “While Asil has been quick to forgive what you did, Halani hasn’t. Nor have the others. You abide with us for Siora’s sake and that of Estred’s.”
Gharek’s expression remained impassive. “Of course. I’dexpect as much. Give us the rest of the day to gather our things, and we’ll be gone by tonight.” He shot a quick look to Siora as if to ask for her agreement. She didn’t hesitate, nodding a yes in answer to his silent question.
Malachus observed their interaction, and for a moment his features softened before turning stern once more. “I’m not finished. Siora and Estred are welcome to stay with us for as long as they wish, become part of our family and live as free traders themselves. You,” he said, pointing at Gharek, “are not.” At Siora’s gasp, a gleam of sympathy lit his gaze. “You have until sundown to decide what you wish to do.” He left them to join Halani, gesturing to those still on the ridge to follow him down the slope to the waiting wagons where the rest of the camp were busy packing up to travel during the night.
“I never expected such a kindness. But maybe I should. They’ve helped us without hesitation several times before this.” Gharek stared at Malachus’s retreating back, puzzlement lining his forehead in shallow grooves.
Siora moved closer to him and rested her hand on his arm. At her touch, his regard shifted from Malachus to her. “I think it will take time before your view of others isn’t quite so dark, even when you have proof of good intentions and well-meaning motives.” Gharek was still broken, but there was a different light in his eyes now, a spark of renewed hope, a willingness to try to repair inside him what had been shattered years ago. She too watched Malachus for a moment, smiling when he pulled Halani into his arms and held her as close as her pregnant belly would allow. “Maybe with time Halani will soften and find it in herself to forgive.”
“If she had done to me and mine what I did to hers, therewould be no forgiveness. Ever.” He said the words without anger, without resentment. Just a simple statement of fact and beneath it an unspoken warning: woe betide any who harmed his loved ones, for there would be a harsh reckoning. Gharek of Cabast was not Halani the free trader.
A sick feeling settled in Siora’s stomach when Gharek’s gaze settled on Estred and turned bleak. “Malachus is right. Just as you were once, I’m a threat to his family now. I’m still a hunted man, and even if these free traders have a draga who can turn a city into an ash heap and break a thousand-year-old curse traveling with them, the danger isn’t lessened by that fact. It would be wrong of me to stay, even if he’d made the offer. But Estred...” He turned, lifted Siora’s hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “And you would be safe among them. Part of their family, with other children for Estred to grow up with and be accepted by. For you to find home and hearth and speak to ghosts among people who’ll view your gift with admiration instead of suspicion.”
Her nausea grew worse with every word. Siora licked her lips before speaking, the inside of her mouth dry with fear. “You’d leave Estred for others to raise? After all you’ve been through for her?” She didn’t dare ask if he’d leave her. She didn’t want to hear that answer.
Gharek closed his eyes, the anguish in his expression so surprising, so awful, that a despairing sound escaped past Siora’s lips. When he opened his eyes again, the bleakness there was even deeper, darker. “You once said being her father should inspire me to be a better man, not a worse one. Giving her up to protect her was never an option until now. She’d be safer with them than with me, Siora. You know this.”