Traitor's Moon

Sarikali is more like Rhíminee after all.”
    It was a depressing thought.
    Rhaish í Arlisandin dismissed the women as soon as their Skalan visitors were gone, then knelt beside Amali. Her air of quiet triumph sent a chill through him; for a moment he could scarcely feel the ground beneath his knees.
    â€œBy the Light,” he gasped, clutching at her wrist. “Amali, what have you done?”
    She raised her chin proudly, though he saw tears standing in her eyes. “What had to be done, my husband. For Akhendi, and for you. The Haman is no man of honor; the violence is his.”
    She reached out to him, but Rhaish shied away. The terrible mix of sorrow and adoration in his wife’s face scorched him like wildfire, even as the world grew darker around him. Staggering to a nearby chair, he covered his eyes with his hands.
    â€œYou would not confide in me, my husband!” she said imploringly. “Yet I could see your anguish. When Aura placed the means in my hands, I knew what I must do.”
    â€œThe Lightbearer had no hand in this,” he mumbled.
    Alec and Seregil went straight to Klia’s chamber. Though she had not yet regained full consciousness, it seemed right to be in her presence as much as possible, as if they could lend her their life force through sheer proximity.
    It was also the most securely guarded room in the house. Two Urgazhi were stationed outside her door. Inside, Beka sat dozing at the bedside. She jerked awake as they entered, one hand flying to the hilt of her knife.
    â€œIt’s just us,” Seregil whispered, approaching the bed.
    Klia was asleep, but there was a hint of color in her pallid cheeks. A sheen of sweat stood out on her brow and upper lip.
    â€œShe still can’t speak, but Mydri got a little broth into her,” Beka told them. “She’s been like this most of the day, though she opens her eyes now and then. It’s hard to know if she understands what’s said to her yet.”
    Alec caught his breath as a sickly odor assaulted his nostrils. Klia’s left hand was bandaged from fingertips to wrist, and angry red lines of infection arced up the inside of her forearm. Those hadn’t been there at dawn.
    â€œAmali says Emiel definitely attacked her,” Seregil told Beka.
    She closed her eyes wearily. “I knew it. Did she say why?”
    â€œNo. I think I’d better have a talk with Nazien, though I’m not looking forward to it.”
    â€œWhat about the Virésse?” she asked.
    Seregil scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. “Finding the ring in Ulan’s fishpond should be pretty damning evidence.”
    â€œShould?”
    â€œWell, dropping the ring right outside his own bedchamber door is either the most daring or the most stupid thing I’ve seen in a while. I haven’t decided which yet.”
    â€œIf the Haman are our poisoners, they could have dropped it there to make Ulan look guilty,” said Alec.
    â€œThat begs the question of whether they support the repeal of the Edict. Nazien might want to see Ulan dishonored, if he was serious about supporting Klia after all. Otherwise, he would have supported him. As for Emiel, he was on the side of the Virésse, so it’s unlikely he’d have been behind such a ruse.”
    â€œWe might have just missed seeing the murderer,” Alec said glumly, thinking of the unseen visitor who’d interrupted their tossing of Ulan’s chambers.
    Thero slipped in just then, and the others greeted him with hopeful looks.
    â€œNothing yet,” the wizard told them, leaning over Klia’s bed to pass Seregil the ring. “If only I could question her about that night.”
    â€œOur assassin chose his moment well, whoever he was,” Alecmuttered. “If we do clear Haman or Virésse, that still leaves most of Sarikali suspect.”
    â€œEven if I were free to go about reading minds, it would take months,” added the wizard.
    Beka took the poisoner’s ring. “A lot of good this does us, if you can’t divine any more than you have of it.”
    â€œI told you, I wasn’t meant to. Someone has masked it so that I can’t trace it to its owner,” Thero snapped. “This is a real wizard we’re dealing with, not some hedgerow conjurer.”
    â€œThen for all we know, the man we’re looking for has escaped already,” she fretted, handing it back to him.