Stalking Darkness

say nothing.”
    Taking the final page of the manuscript, he twisted it into a tight squib and tossed it into the fire.
    Alec rocked back on his heels, watching in silent consternation as the parchment blossomed into flame. When it was consumed, Seregil knocked the ash to bits with the poker.
    “But what about Nysander?” Alec asked. “What will you tell him?”
    “Nothing, and neither will you.”
    “But—”
    “We’re not betraying him.” Seregil took Alec by the shoulders, more gently this time, drawing their faces close together. “You have my oath on that. I believe he already knows what we justlearned, but he can’t know that you know. Not until I tell you it’s safe. Understand?”
    “More secrets,” Alec said, looking solemn and unhappy.
    “Yes, more secrets. I need your trust in this, Alec. Can you give it?”
    Alec looked sidelong at the fire for a long moment, then locked eyes with him again and replied in halting Aurënfaie,
“Rei phöril tös tókun meh brithir, vrí sh ’ruit’ya.”
    Though you thrust your dagger at my eyes, I will not flinch
. A solemn oath, and one Seregil had pledged him not so long ago.
    Seregil let out a small, relieved laugh. “Thank you. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll take a rest. Why don’t you go have a look through those books we found?”
    Alec got up to go without a word. But he paused in the doorway, looking back at Seregil still sitting by the fire.
    “What does
talí
mean? Is it Aurënfaie?”
    “Talí?”
A ghost of the old grin tugged at one corner of Seregil’s mouth. “Yes, it’s an Aurënfaie term of endearment, rather old-fashioned, like beloved. Where’d you pick that up?”
    “I thought—” Alec regarded him quizzically, then shook his head. “I don’t know, at one of the salons, probably. Sleep well, Seregil.”
    “You, too.”
    When Alec was gone, Seregil walked to the window and rested his forehead against one cold pane, staring out over the dark garden.
    Stone within ice. Secrets within secrets. Silences inside of greater silences
.
    In all the time he’d known Nysander, he had never felt such distance between them. Or so alone.
    Several days passed before Alec realized that they were not going to talk of the matter again. Despite his oath, it troubled him greatly. This silence toward the wizard seemed to create a small cold gap in a relationship that had been so seamlessly warm and safe. For the first time in months he found himself wondering about Seregil’s loyalties.
    Try as he might to banish such thoughts, they nagged at him until at last he came out with it as they were out walking in the Noble Quarter one evening.
    He’d feared that Seregil would evade the question or be annoyed. Instead, he looked as if he’d been expecting this discussion.
    “Loyalty, eh? That’s a large question for a thinking person. If you’re asking if I’m still loyal to Nysander, then the answer is yes, for as long as I have faith in his honor. The same goes for any of my friends.”
    “But do you still have faith in him?” Alec pressed.
    “I do, though he hasn’t made it easy lately. You’re too smart not to have noticed that there are unspoken things between him and me. I’m trying hard to be patient about all that, and so must you.
    “But maybe that’s not the real issue here. Are you losing faith in me?”
    “No!” Alec exclaimed hastily, knowing the words were true as he spoke them. “I’m just trying to understand.”
    “Well, like I said, loyalty is no simple thing. For instance, would you say that you, Nysander, and I are loyal to Queen Idrilain and want to act in the best interests of Skala?”
    “I’ve always thought so.”
    “But what if the Queen ordered us, for the good of Skala, to do harm to Micum? Should I keep faith with her or with him?”
    “With Micum,” Alec replied without hesitation.
    “But what if Micum, without our knowledge, had committed treason against Skala? What then?”
    “That’s ridiculous!” Alec snorted. “He’d never do anything like that.”
    “People can surprise you, Alec. And perhaps he did it out of loyalty to something else, say his family. He’s kept faith with his family but broken faith with the Queen. Which outweighs the other?”
    “His family,” Alec maintained, although he was beginning to feel a bit confused.
    “Certainly. Any man ought to hold his family above all else. But what if his justified act of treason cost hundreds of other families their lives?