Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

could deny what was happening, but then her innate inner discipline reestablished itself, and she let go.
    She'd always been able to be strong when she had to be. She looked around, unhurriedly, her face calm and composed, though there was no hiding her puffy eyes or the damage to her makeup. Lewis rose to his feet, just a little unsteadily. He took a step towards Douglas, and then stopped, held where he was by what he saw in his friend's face. Jesamine looked accusingly at Anne, but she shook her head slightly.
    She hadn't told Douglas what she'd seen earlier.
    "Lewis," Douglas said, and his voice was so flat, so empty, it was like a slap in the face. "What have you done, Lewis? I sent you out to stop a riot, not get involved in one. What did you think you were doing?
    How many people did you kill out there? Do you even know? I made you my Champion; it's important that you're seen to be impartial at all times. You can't get involved in political struggles. Once it was clear they weren't going to listen to you, you should have withdrawn. Not drawn your weapons against civilians. You looked like a butcher. My butcher."
    "Those civilians were killing Paragons," said Lewis, meeting Douglas' gaze steadily. "They would have killed me. They did their best."
    "You made a bad situation worse," said Douglas. "I had to call on the oversoul, to shut the riot down.
    God knows what the espers will want in return, for that service. All because you failed me, Lewis."
    "What was I supposed to do? They'd gone crazy, all of them! I can't work a miracle every time!"
    "Then what use are you to me?" Douglas said coldly. "I need to be able to rely on you, Lewis."
    "You can! You know you can, Douglas. You know . . . I'll do the right thing."
    "I don't know anything anymore! I was ready to give up my Crown for you, Lewis, and then I come here, and I find you . . ." Douglas looked at Jesamine for the first time. "How can I do what I'm supposed to do, when I can't trust anyone anymore?"
    He turned abruptly, and stalked out of the infirmary, his back very straight, his head held high, but none of them could see his face. Jesamine squeezed Lewis's hand, once, and then hurried after Douglas. Lewis sat down again, his legs all but collapsing under him, and stared at the floor, broken and hurt beyond anything Brett Random's disrupter could have managed. Anne walked slowly over and sat down beside him. She sighed heavily, and leaned back against the open regeneration machine.
    "Some days . . . things wouldn't go right if you bribed them."
    "Maybe I should have died," said Lewis. "Maybe . . . that would have been best, for everyone."
    "Oh shut up," said Anne. "I'll work something out. Though God alone knows what, or how. You couldn't have screwed this up worse if you'd tried, Lewis. You must know this can't go anywhere. There's no
    possible future for you and Jesamine. Too many vested interests have committed themselves to the new King and Queen. The momentum we've built up is unstoppable. Any change now, and there'd be riots in cities all over the Empire. A Royal wedding, a golden couple for a Golden Age, could heal the rifts in society, change the atmosphere, get people talking again instead of shouting. You can't be allowed to interfere, Lewis. Too much depends on everything going ahead as planned."
    "I know," Lewis said miserably. "I'd already decided I was going to leave. Get the hell offplanet and disappear. Let someone else be the Champion. I never wanted the job anyway. Let Finn have it. He'll do a better job. He understands politics and he's never had any bothersome emotions to get in the way."
    "You can't resign as Champion, and you can't leave," Anne said remorselessly. "So far, there hasn't been even a whisper of gossip, and we have to keep it that way. You just up and go, abandoning your best friend on the eve of his wedding, and people would be bound to wonder why. Sooner or later, someone would discover the truth. Someone always does. And a scandal like this . . . would be the end of Douglas as King All the various causes and politicians would have a field day. I don't even want to think about what it would do to the balance we've been carefully creating in Parliament . . . No; Lewis. You're not going anywhere. You're going to stay here and tough it out, until we can figure out some way for you to credibly retire, and disappear into the background. Maybe a family emergency . . . Virimonde's a long way from anywhere . . . Give me time