Traitor's Moon

for sheer malice, Lhaär and her lot would be it. It’s clear they don’t regard Tírfaie as equals. Perhaps they wouldn’t count killing one or two as any great crime.”
    â€œAn interesting thought,” said Seregil. “And their religious zeal seems to have grown in my absence. I’ve seen that wreak more havoc than magic when it comes to war.” Still, he didn’t sound convinced.
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    They spent the night in a ruined hut, huddled miserably together under damp blankets as they ate a cold supper of dried venison, cheese, and rainwater. A wind came up soon after sunset, finding its way through every hole and chink of their paltry shelter, stirring the soaked clothing that lined the hut’s one sound wall.
    Pressed shoulder to shoulder with Alec, Seregil rested his head on his knees and tried to ignore the fits of shivering that shook him, and the way the slightest movement sucked cold air in around the edges of the blankets. He wasn’t dangerously cold, just miserably uncomfortable.
    As usual, Alec warmed faster. “Come here,” he said presently, pulling Seregil to sit between his legs, back to Alec’s chest. He rearranged the blankets into a better cocoon around them and wrapped his arms around him. “Better?”
    â€œA bit.” Seregil jammed his hands under his armpits to warm them.
    Alec chuckled next to his ear. “I don’t think you’d have survived where I grew up.”
    Seregil snorted softly. “I could say the same about you. I had some lean times and harsh lessons, wandering around Skala.”
    â€œThe Rhíminee Cat.”
    â€œI was a lot of things before that. Ever wonder why I was so generous to whores, back when you first met me?”
    â€œNot until just now.” Alec’s voice carried a note of weary resignation.
    Seregil stared out a hole in the roof, watching the dark shapes of branches tossing in the wind. “Being back there, in Sarikali—it’s like—I don’t know, like being there clouded my mind. Considering the shambles we’ve left behind, I’m not sure how useful I’ve been to Idrilain, or to Klia.” He took a deep breath, fighting down a surge of guilt. “We should have been able to learn more, do more.”
    Alec’s arms tightened around him. “We would have, but Phoria cocked it up for us. And you’re right about us being the only ones who could get to the coast. You’re probably right about Emiel.”
    â€œMaybe, but I feel as if I’ve been sleepwalking since we arrived.”
    â€œI believe I pointed that out to you, not so long ago,” Alec noted wryly. “It wasn’t just you, though. Aurënen’s a damn hard place for nightrunners. Too much honor.”
    Seregil chuckled. “Whatever happened to that honest Dalnan lad I took up with?”
    â€œLong gone, and good riddance.” Alec shifted his legs to a more comfortable angle. “Do you really think Korathan will listen to you?”
    â€œWould I be here if I didn’t?”
    â€œThat’s no answer.”
    â€œI’ll have to make him listen.”
    They fell silent, and presently Alec’s even breathing told Seregil that he’d fallen asleep. He shifted against Alec’s shoulder, mind still racing.
    Perhaps he had needed to get clear of Sarikali’s powerful aura. The rhui’auros’s convoluted words, his own strange dreams, his pathetic efforts to prove himself worthy—where had it all gotten him, except deeper into confusion? He was sick to death of the whole business and longed for the dangerous, straightforward life he’d left behind in Skala. Something Adzriel had said to him, when they’d seen each other so briefly in Rhíminee just before the war, came back to him.
Could you ever be content to sit under the lime trees at home, telling tales to the children, or debating with the elders of the council whether the lintel of the temple should be painted white or silver?
    His new sword lay close at hand, and he reached out, running his fingers over the hilt, thinking of how he’d felt, grasping it for the first time. Whatever the rhui’auros or Nysander or his family or even Alec thought, he was good at one thing, and one thing only—being a nightrunner. Courtier, wizard’s apprentice, diplomat, honorable clan member, son—failed efforts,