Edge of Darkness ~ A Darkness & Light Novel Book Three (24 page)

Bolin spun, and in three strides would have had Maurar out of his chair by the throat if Dain hadn't intercepted him.

"Bolin, don't."

"You are nothing more than a murderer." Maurar's voice shook, and spittle flecked his lips.

"The pain of your loss has caused you to forget yourself, Elder." Dain turned toward Maurar, but kept a hand against Bolin's chest to keep him in place. The elder paled in the face of the Emperor's anger. "The Greensward does not exist outside the empire, and as such, is under my hand. You would all do well to remember that."

Maurar's expression pinched. He levered himself to his feet, and the hair on Bolin's arm stood on end. The Greensward's wards shivered as the elder drew from the power of the land in what could only be interpreted as a threat against him.

Bolin curled his lips in a feral smile. "Please," he said to Maurar, "give me a reason."

Maurar's eyes flicked to him, hatred darkening his expression. The spell he had started to weave lingered a moment longer, then faded to nothing. The elder tipped his head to Dain, a forced smile replacing the scowl. "You are welcome to stay the night, my Lord."

"We shall remain in Galys Auld until I decide otherwise," Dain said. "Be very careful how you tread, Danya Maurar. Emperors are notoriously possessive. Should I feel the Greensward does not have the best interest of the empire at heart, I may be tempted to leave my detachment here."

The elder's chin came up, his eyes rounding. "You would not dare."

"Dare?" Dain left Bolin to put himself directly in front of Maurar, his power shimmering around him like a cloak. "Tell me, Elder, would you
dare
to prevent me from doing so?"

Maurar's lips quivered as he struggled against outrage to form words.

"You do not know me, Danya," Dain said, and though he kept his voice soft, it carried across the now silent courtyard with all the strength of his position. "I am, by nature, a quiet man. I lack my sire's temper, for which you should be very grateful at the moment. I do, however, possess his fanatical love of the empire, and his certainty in the supremacy of the Imperial line. If you think to put the Greensward in a position at odds with my desires, you will suffer the consequences. You and whichever elders are fool enough to stand beside you. The power of the Greensward is substantial, however, I would suggest you not test it against that which runs in my blood."

He turned and strode past Bolin. "Lord General, with me."

Bolin tipped his head in acquiescence. He avoided looking at Maurar, partly because he found it difficult to keep from smirking, and partly because, if he did, he would be tempted to run his dagger through the man's chest.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Bolin rapped on Dain's door early the next morning. He gave the four Imperial Guards standing stiffly at attention in the hall a curious look before entering the Emperor's rooms.

"On your way to speak to the elders?" Dain asked from the bedchamber as Bolin made his presence known.

"Aye. I assumed you would want to join me?"

Dain stuck his head into the room. "I think it would be for the best. You look like you haven't slept, and I don't trust Danya Maurar not to take advantage of your temper."

"You're right on both accounts," Bolin said.

"Give me a few moments to finish getting ready. I'm not used to doing this without several handfuls of servants and attendants bustling around."

Bolin resorted to pacing as he waited. His thoughts bounced from Nialyne to the elders, and finally landed on Ciara. His hand drifted to his neck, his finger tracing the pendant. The warmth that spread through him came not only from the magic lingering in the talisman, but the memory of lying with Ciara in his arms. The way she looked up at him with her sleepy smile, the wild tangles of hair framing her face. She had given herself to him completely, without reservation, as he knew she would. In return, he had done the same, something that had caught him by surprise. Never before had he so completely lost himself to a woman. Everything he was, everything he had, was in Ciara's hands to do with as she pleased. He would give her whatever she desired, would move the earth itself should she ask, or die in the trying. The realization both amazed and worried him.

"Do you realize, when you're brooding, it feels just like a storm building on the horizon?"

"I'm not brooding." Bolin turned to face the Emperor, and his brows rose. "But I am, apparently, underdressed."

Where Bolin wore a simple belted tunic and soft britches in the Greensward's colors, the neck and hem richly embroidered, but bearing no other ornamentation or badge of office, Dain had opted for formal robes of silver beneath deep blue. At his hip hung the ornate Imperial sword handed down from one emperor to the next since the days of Hefrin the First, and on his brow sat a circlet of silver set with blue stones. His long black hair glittered like raven's wings as he lifted his shoulders in an uncharacteristic shrug at Bolin's scrutiny.

"I felt Danya Maurar needed a reminder of who, exactly, I am."

Bolin placed a hand over his breast and bowed from the shoulders. "It doesn't hurt to remind me from time to time as well, Your Majesty."

"I'll keep that in mind." Dain tipped his head toward the door. "Shall we, Lord General?"

The guards fell in around them, two to the front, two to the rear. They drew more than a few looks as they passed through the square with its bubbling fountain, following the paved path to the Grand Hall.

They hadn't quite reached the decorated archway leading into the Hall when Bolin pulled up short. A sudden surge of panic swept over him. He'd been going over things in his head; what he needed to say, how he needed to say it, no different than the hundreds of times he'd done the same on the road from Nisair. Until now, however, he hadn't thought about the fact he would actually be saying the words out loud. Doing so would give Nialyne's death both accreditation, and finality. As ridiculous as it sounded, the realization terrified him.

"Bolin?" Dain rested a hand on his arm. "Goddess's blood, man, you're shaking. What is it?"

Bolin shook his head and backed a step. "Nothing. I… nothing. I just need a moment."

"If you need me to do this--"

"No. It falls to me."

Blyth stepped from the shadow of the archway, saw them and started over. Her gentle smile vanished as she drew closer, her eyes softening with sorrow and understanding. She bowed low to Dain, then reached to take Bolin's hand in both of hers.

"We should, perhaps, postpone this meeting until another day," she said.

"I would rather not," Bolin said, surprised how raw his voice sounded. He looked over Blyth's head to the Hall's entrance. "I'm fine. Really. I just fully realized, when I walk into that chamber, Nialyne won't be there." He lowered his gaze back to the elder. "Will her seat be vacant?"

Galys Auld's Grand Hall served many purposes, not the least among them as a meeting chamber. At such times, the elders sat on a low, crescent-shaped dais, not one of the chairs any more remarkable than the others because, in theory, in this chamber, no elder stood above any other. Still, in the unspoken hierarchy of the Greensward, the elder with the strongest power had the final say in most matters. That had always been Nialyne, without question, and so she had always sat in the centermost seat, more by her compatriots' deference than her own choosing. Maurar sat at her right. Blyth at her left.

Blyth's expression clouded. "It should remain so, but Danya Maurar has not arrived yet, and you know him as well as I."

Bolin drew a deep breath in through his nose, drawing his strength from the power that flowed so freely around him. Nialyne's power hummed in concert and, for once, Bolin surrendered himself to its caress. He rolled his shoulders back, extended his arm to Blyth, and tipped his head to Dain.

"After you, Your Majesty."

"No, my friend." Dain stepped beside Bolin. "In this instance, we arrive as brothers."

So they entered the hall, three abreast. Dain's guards took up positions just inside the doorway. Blyth left them in the center of the room to assume her usual seat. The rest of the elders were already seated, all save Maurar who stood on the dais between the two remaining empty chairs. His gaze swept over the others, carefully avoiding Bolin and Dain, though by right he should have tendered the Emperor the respect due him. He turned, as though considering claiming Nialyne's customary chair, and Bolin's muscles tensed.

Before anyone else could make a move, Dain stepped forward, the regal nature of his bearing and the unmistakable pulse of his power froze any other action. "Elders of the Greensward, my heart is heavy with sorrow for the empire's loss. Even as the Halls of the Goddess are brightened, our world has dimmed."

He produced a sprig of white hart blossoms, leaned forward, and placed them in Nialyne's chair, then dropped to one knee and bowed his head in reverence. Maurar's expression soured, and Bolin thought the elder might remove Dain's offering. To do so would have been an egregious affront, and even Maurar didn't dare insult the Emperor to his face.

Dain rose and returned to Bolin's side. As their eyes met, Bolin sent out a silent wave of gratitude for Dain's tact and foresight. He couldn't have guaranteed he wouldn't have forcibly removed Maurar from Nialyne's chair had the elder claimed it as his own. That day would come soon enough, but Bolin didn't care to witness it.

As Maurar finally took his seat, Bolin stepped forward and addressed the elders. He found his gaze locked on the flower Dain had brought as he relayed the events leading up to Nialyne's death. He distanced himself from the telling of it, as though watching from the wings as someone else delivered the dispassionate account. Even as he told of holding Nialyne in his arms as she gifted him the power she had held, he did so without emotion. If he allowed even a breath of grief to edge past the wall he'd constructed, it would have shattered.

"And yet you hold yourself blameless?" Maurar's quiet question slid into the silence following Bolin's accounting.

He shifted his gaze to the elder, brow furrowed, not sure he'd heard clearly. "Did I say as much, Danya?"

Blyth opened her mouth to speak, and Bolin raised a hand to stop her.

"This is not a trial," Dain said from behind him. "Danya Nialyne chose her path of her own volition, full well knowing what risks she may encounter."

"She chose her path for me." Bolin kept his eyes on Maurar. "No one here is fool enough to believe otherwise. I would have gladly gone to the Halls in her stead. I would do so now, without hesitation, if it meant returning her to your arms. Do you honestly think I will not bear the burden of her sacrifice for the rest of my days?"

"Fine words and empty platitudes." Maurar's face wrinkled in distaste. "You and death are bedmates. It follows at your heels like an obedient dog. Nialyne wasted her life on you. How many times did I try to tell her you would drag her to her ruin? You should have remained gone the first time you left. You stole her from me. From all of us."

Bolin backed as Dain stepped suddenly before him, his eyes dark, his power rising around him. "Do not."

Bolin only then realized the Greensward's wards were screaming in defiance. He glanced down, surprised to see the witch's oily magic dripping from his fingers.

Do it"
the voice whispered.
The world won't mourn one less pompous ass. He desires to be in his beloved's arms once again? Then send him to the Halls.

"Lord General, leave. Now."

Bolin squeezed his eyes shut, his pulse hammering.

"Call the guard," Maurar said. "I want him in chains."

"Leave." The Emperor signaled two of his guard and turned Bolin by the arm. "See the Lord General to his room."

Bolin went without further argument, his steps wooden. He would have killed Maurar if Dain hadn't stopped him. What in the Goddess's name was wrong with him? He had failed Nialyne, brought her shame and dishonor, had brought Dain shame and dishonor.

"Remain here," he told the guards when they reached his rooms. "No one but the Emperor is allowed entry."

Bolin stood in the quiet of his room, heart threatening to shatter his chest, palms slick with sweat, a tremor working its way through him. He raised his left hand and stared at his now empty palm, then clenched his fist tightly enough to drive his fingernails into his flesh. Beyond the horror of what he would have done, rose an even greater one. Not only was he unaware of drawing on the witch's magic, he had done so within the Greensward.

The tremor became too much to fight, and Bolin leaned back against the door. He slid to the floor when his legs refused to hold him any longer. Burying his head in his arms, Bolin gave in to the shame and horror buffeting him in equal measure.

***

The ceiling came into view first. Bolin stared at it, trying to recall when and how he'd gotten into bed. Part of the answer came when he rolled his head on the pillow and found Dain standing by the window, hands clasped behind his back, his robes exchanged for only slightly less formal attire. He flicked a look Bolin's direction, then returned his gaze to the scene beyond the window. A light breeze stirred his hair and drew Bolin's attention to the fact the Emperor had not removed his coronet. Not a good sign.

"I have done my best to placate the elders," Dain said. "In your defense, Maurar was just as prepared to kill you, as you were to kill him. He even went so far as to threaten me after you left. I stopped myself short of claiming his head. I do not believe, however, he will make that error ever again. Both of you are grieving, and neither of you holds any love for the other. That, in no way, excuses your behavior. It merely gives a partial explanation for the inconceivable depths of your lapse in judgement."

Bolin propped himself up on his elbows. His skull ached, but the steady throbbing he felt didn't come from any physical injury.

"Those are my wards you feel," Dain said to Bolin's unspoken question. "At the moment, they surround both you and Maurar. I am still attempting to work out what to do with the pair of you."

Bolin swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. "You may want to have me executed."

"Danya Maurar as well, then?" Dain shook his head, still looking out the window. "No. I think not."

"Dain." Bolin waited for the Emperor to face him. "That wasn't a flippant request. I wasn't even aware of drawing on the witch's magic. To be honest, most of the time I can't even find it, which is disturbing enough. I like to believe I would have caught myself before actually turning it on Maurar, but I can't seem to say that with any amount of conviction. What I do know, is I should not have been able to bring it forth within the Greensward."

"So, you are willing to concede the Goddess and Thadeus are correct in their assessment?"

Bolin wanted to deny it, but the words jammed behind his teeth.

"Then we need to get you back to Nisair as quickly as possible. The Goddess gave you no indication what Darkness plans?"

"Beyond using me? No. We can assume it hopes to destroy her. To destroy Light and take its place. To do so will mean eliminating all other possible threats."

"Such as the Imperial bloodline."

"Aye. The mages, as well. Even the Greensward. Any source of power great enough to stand against it."

Bolin dropped his head into his hands, not even lifting it when a gentle knock on the door heralded Blyth's appearance. She carried a tray with a large mug and a pitcher of steaming water. She said nothing as she mixed something in the mug and then came to stand before Bolin. He never saw her hand move when he looked up, and actually heard the slap before the sting of it across his cheek registered with enough force to make his ears ring.

She shoved the mug at him. "Now, drink this."

Bolin was too stunned not to comply. He started to speak, but Blyth stopped him.