333 AR Autumn
Waning
‘How does it work?’ Jardir asked, staring in fascination at the Skull Throne, now sheathed in electrum. She had drawn the thick curtains in the throne room, allowing his crownsight though sunset was still an hour away. He could see the steady stream of power the throne radiated in every direction. Its centre shone hot with concentrated magic, like a miniature sun.
‘Your throne now projects a-’ Inevera began.
‘-warding field,’ Jardir finished for her. ‘Not even the princes of Nie will be able to approach my seat …’ He turned, following the path of the magic, looking through the great stone walls as easily as one might look through glass. ‘… for miles.’
It was truly amazing. The Crown of Kaji could repel alagai as well. Jardir had mastered its power in recent weeks, learning to extend the protection far beyond his physical reach. No alagai could approach within a quarter mile of him, but that he willed it. He could protect an army on the field, but this, this protected the entire inner city and beyond. The demons might strike at his walls, even knock them down, but they would never get past them.
He looked back at Inevera, his mouth curling in a smile. ‘I did not ask what it did, beloved. I asked how it worked.’
Inevera’s aura flushed with shock, and then disappointment that she would not be able to parade around the marvel she had made, revealing its power to him in teasing bits.
Let her have the moment next time, he chided himself. With this gift, she has earned it a thousandfold.
To his surprise, Inevera laughed. Not the bark of derision she threw now and then, but a full laugh, infectious and true. There was no more beautiful sound in all Everam’s creation.
‘You never cease to amaze me, Ahmann,’ Inevera said. ‘Every time I begin to question, you remind me you truly are Shar’Dama Ka.’
Jardir might have doubted, but her aura swelled with pride and he knew she meant every word. He reached out, touching her cheek, and watched the shiver it sent through her spirit. ‘I understand perfectly … Damajah.’ He bent and kissed her, feeling himself flush at the passion she was radiating. She might lie to him when she thought it necessary, but Inevera’s love for him was true. What more could a man ask in his Jiwah Ka?
She took a step back when he broke the kiss, reining her feelings in. He was amazed at her control, watching the hot chaos of her aura quickly become cool, ordered. Now was not the time.
‘The skull of an alagai prince has been added to your sacred throne, amplifying the wards that have adorned the skulls of martyred Sharum Ka for centuries,’ Inevera said. ‘We used almost all the electrum to coat it …’
‘Almost?’ Jardir asked, smiling.
Inevera returned the grin, showing him her dice, now safely encased in the bright white metal. ‘You have your tools, and now I have mine.’ Her aura said she had coated more than just her dice, but he let her have her secrets. She was his Damajah, and it was fitting she wield power of her own.
‘I was right to give the metal to you,’ Jardir said. ‘Abban would have found a clever use for it, no doubt, but would never have thought of something so …’
‘Altruistic?’ Inevera supplied, and he had to laugh.
‘Unprofitable,’ he agreed.
‘I do not trust the khaffit, husband,’ Inevera said.
‘Abban is as loyal to me as you are,’ Jardir said.
Inevera shook her head. ‘He is loyal to himself first, and you second.’
Jardir nodded. ‘The same could be said of you, Bride of Everam.’
‘There is a difference in serving the Creator first,’ Inevera said.
‘Yes,’ Jardir agreed. ‘And no. No mortal man or woman can truly trust another, beloved. And yet somehow we must find a way, if we are to win Sharak Ka. Waning is upon us. Now is the time to face the dark, not worry about poisoned blades at our backs.’
Inevera opened her mouth to reply, but Jardir touched a finger to her lips. ‘You are the Bride of Everam, wife, yet I am the one with faith. Not just in the Creator, but in His children.’
‘Faith never gets the weaving done, my mother used to say,’ Inevera said. ‘The Creator helps those who earn it.’ Her aura called him a brave fool.
‘“The Creator helps”,’ Jardir repeated. ‘Do you think it coincidence we found the sacred metal of Kaji just weeks before the greatest test of my reign? We do not fight Nie alone, even if He does not strike the alagai down Himself. And if I am to deliver this world, I must believe that for all our differences, no one, man, woman or child, wishes it to fall to the alagai.’
Inevera did not argue further, but her aura remained unconvinced.
‘Your mother was a weaver?’ he asked, trying to change the subject. ‘I assumed she was dama’ting.’
Inevera’s aura suddenly went wild. There was shock, and fear, and a secret. Enough to fill him with questions, but not enough to answer them. He wondered if this was what reading the alagai hora was like for her.
‘You never speak of your family,’ he pressed, watching closely.
Inevera’s aura showed her searching desperately for a way to evade the question and change the subject. She gave off the scent of a cornered animal that would rather flee than fight. But then her chest rose and fell several times in rhythm, and a wave of calm spread over her.
‘Most dama’ting are the daughters of our order,’ she said. ‘Some few others are called by the dice in Hannu Pash. We cut off all contact with our families when called, and they do not know our fate from the moment we are taken.’
It was fascinating. Every word she said was true, and yet it read on her aura as a lie. ‘But you did not.’
Inevera smiled. A practised distraction while she breathed herself into serenity. She was wondering how much he knew, if he had been spying on her. She was carefully choosing words to reveal nothing she did not wish.
Jardir was tiring of the game. ‘Jiwah, you will stop your dissembling.’
His tone was harsh, and he watched as she leapt on it, using the excuse to get angry as a way to avoid the topic. Her brows drew into the thundercloud she had practised to perfection.
He smiled. ‘Stop that, too.’ He moved to her, taking her in his arms. She stiffened, and there was a token resistance as he pulled her close. ‘Do you love me, jiwah?’
‘Of course, husband,’ Inevera said without hesitation.
‘And do you trust me?’
There was a spike in her aura, and the slightest delay. ‘Yes.’ It wasn’t a lie, not precisely, but neither was it truth.
‘I do not know what secret you hold about your family,’ Jardir said. ‘But I see that you hold one, and that dishonours me.’ Inevera pulled back and tried to speak, but he shook his head. ‘When we wed, it was more than a union between us. Your family became mine, and mine yours. Whatever it is, I have a right to know.’
Inevera stared at him a long moment, her aura so chaotic he could not guess what her response would be. But then it calmed once more. ‘My parents are alive and in Everam’s Bounty. They are a source both of pride and of shame to me, and I fear for them if our relation is revealed.’ She met his eyes and bowed. ‘It was wrong of me to keep this secret from you, beloved. For this, I apologize.’
Jardir nodded. ‘Accepted, on one condition.’
Inevera raised an eyebrow.
‘I want to meet them,’ Jardir said.
‘I do not think that is wise, husband,’ Inevera said. ‘They would be in danger …’
‘I am Shar’Dama Ka,’ Jardir said. ‘I have hundreds of relatives. You think I cannot protect them?’
‘Not without costing them the simple life they enjoy now, far from palace intrigue,’ Inevera said.