Lirah looked up at Froi a moment, but she seemed far away.
‘Everyone believes the downfall of Charyn began with the godshouse slaughter and the sacking of Serker, but I know it began with the battle between the Oracle and the King over Arjuro of Abroi.’
Froi couldn’t fathom such a thing. Arjuro was a drunk with no hope. How could he have ever provided Charyn with anything?
‘Despite the tension that was brewing between the Oracle’s godshouse and the palace, the brothers from Abroi refused to involve themselves. They began and ended the day greeting each other across the gravina. When they walked through the Citavita together, people would stop in awe. They were beautiful to look at, with their dark curls and fierce blue eyes. They may have come from nothing, but they held a fascination for those around them. The King tried to do everything he could to use them to his advantage. He believed that if Gargarin spoke to his brother, and his brother came to be the physician in the palace, then Arjuro would also convince the Oracle to sanction any plans the palace had to wrest control from the Provincari. But the brothers made a pact to never allow the godshouse or the palace to come between them.’
‘How did you meet the brothers?’
‘I first made Gargarin’s acquaintance in the palace.’
It seemed difficult for Lirah to say Gargarin’s name.
‘We spent a lot of time in a cave the brothers called theirs at the base of the gravina.’
‘I know it,’ Froi said, thinking of the first time he saw Gargarin.
‘De Lancey of Paladozza would be there too. It was all quite primitive at times,’ she said quietly. ‘They were strangely raw in their youth.’
‘And then?’
‘And then the godshouse was attacked, supposedly by the Serkers. It was a massacre. Forty of the Priestlings were killed. One day later, the palace riders found the Oracle with Arjuro of Abroi in the cave I spoke of. He claimed that he had not been present in the godshouse on the night of the massacre and had returned to find the carnage. He had found the Oracle Queen maimed, violated and close to death, and he had sworn to do anything to protect her.’
‘How did the palace know where to find him?’
‘He was betrayed. De Lancey did it without realising.’
‘De Lancey of Paladozza?’ Froi asked, surprised. He was the son of the Provincaro who had taken the brothers into his home.
‘They were lovers. Whatever De Lancey did, I’m sure he’s regretted it. After the capture, the palace held Arjuro in the godshouse on his own. Said it was a sound punishment to keep him chained inside the Hall of Illumination where most of the slaughter took place. During the next nine months, Gargarin was allowed to visit him. He never believed his brother was responsible and worked tirelessly to have him released.’
Lirah looked up at Froi, anguish in her eyes.
‘But ambition is an ugly thing and on the night of the lastborn, the King asked Gargarin of Abroi for the allegiance he had always desired from his prized pet.’
‘What type of allegiance?’ Froi asked, his blood beginning to run cold.
‘The type that ensures a man must sell his soul.’
Lirah walked away, her back to him, and Froi saw her stagger. If it were anyone other than Lirah he would have held out a hand to her. But Lirah did not seem the type of woman who invited help from any man. When he could see that she was composed, he walked around to face her.
‘What did he do, Lirah?’
‘Unbeknown to the people of Charyn, the King ordered Gargarin to kill the Oracle and the child she bore. To toss them out of the palace window into the gravina as though they were garbage.’
‘What?’
‘And the King’s guards dragged Arjuro to the balconette of the godshouse, chained him there and made him watch. It’s why Arjuro has never spoken to Gargarin again. That, and the fact that Arjuro spent more than eight years in the cell below this one for supposedly conspiring with the Serkers.’
‘Is that what you believe?’ Froi asked. ‘About the Serkers?’
She shook her head. ‘Never. If anyone knows the immoral habits of the Serkers, I do. But I would bet the life of this kingdom on the fact that no Serker would enter the godshouse and desecrate it. They may have resented the Oracle over the years for instructing them on how to live their lives, but they would never have despoiled the godshouse. The Serkers were begot from the Ancients. No province was more devoted to the gods.’
‘Gargarin couldn’t … I don’t believe you, Lirah.’
She studied him carefully and a cruel smile crossed her lips. ‘Oh, I see,’ she said, bitterly. ‘Gargarin of Abroi bewitched you, did he? Don’t worry. He’s done it to the best of us.’
‘I’m bewitched by no man,’ Froi said furiously.
‘Then why are you here asking questions?’
‘Because I needed to know whether he was worth saving.’
Lirah stared. Froi saw something flare up in her eyes.
‘Saving? Aren’t you here just to plant the mighty seed of Charyn?’
‘I’m not here to plant a seed, Lirah, and if anyone can tell me about the King’s chamber, you can.’
Suddenly Lirah grabbed his face viciously.
‘Who are you?’
Froi was silent a moment.
‘I’ll find a way to set you free,’ he said quietly. ‘There’s a cloister in the kingdom of Sendecane. At the ends of the land. You take her there,’ he ordered. ‘She can live in peace and this kingdom can forget her. This land can forget her.’
‘And what makes you think that I would protect her? I tried to drown Quintana, remember? I’m the scum of this earth in your eyes.’
‘She’s your daughter. There’s no greater bond than between a mother and her child.’
Lirah of Serker laughed with little humour. ‘Let me tell you a truth, Serker savage,’ she said. ‘And then I want you to leave and not come back. I gave birth to one child on that wretched night. He was a boy child, torn from my loins and given to Gargarin of Abroi to toss from the palace window into the gravina below. I woke up with the Oracle’s bastard in my arms. Quintana the Wretched. Quintana the Cursemaker. Quintana the Whore.’
There were tears of fury in the woman’s eyes. ‘And she gnawed at my breasts day after day screaming for her own mother, because that savage babe knew the truth. That I grieved my son until I had nothing left inside to give to her. So when you slit Gargarin of Abroi’s throat, you tell him. Tell him that on that cursed night he didn’t murder the son of the Oracle. He murdered mine.’
Chapter 16
Froi crouched by the side of the bed, waiting. He wanted to be the first thing Gargarin saw when he woke. Wanted to see the fear. He had been trained by Trevanion to watch for the signals that showed the difference between a man sleeping and awake. He saw the flicker on Gargarin’s face and a moment later Froi held a hand to the man’s neck.
‘I could snap it in an instant.’
‘Then why didn’t you when you had a chance?’ Gargarin asked.
‘Because I wanted to hear the truth from your mouth first.’
The silence stretched without a flicker of emotion on the other man’s face. Gargarin of Abroi could do uncomfortable silence better than anyone Froi knew. Even Perri.
‘I never took you for a murderer,’ Froi said bitterly.
Gargarin sighed, as though a truth was revealed that had been waiting a long time to reveal itself.
‘There are rules, even amongst the most base of men,’ Froi hissed. ‘I’ve done things that shame me still, but if I killed a newborn babe I’d dash my head against a rock rather than live one moment with such blackness staining me.’
Gargarin refused to look away. ‘I did what I had to do and I have no shame. And I’ll not explain myself to you. I’ll not explain myself to those who refuse to listen to the truth but still judge me. And if I had to do it again, I would not change a single thing that took place that night. Nor would the Oracle expect me to.’