Read Online Dark Lord's Wedding by A.E. Marling - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: A.E. Marling
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a fire of pink and blue sparks. They zipped along her spine and into her heart, quickening her pulse, dilating her eyes.
In one facet, Hiresha the Flawless stood over a king stricken by plague. Servants wiped pus from his lesions with silk. He was a tyrant, and curing him would doom many. In the other facet, Hiresha the Exile leaned over a girl dying of miner’s lung. With each wheezing cough, more of her hair fell out. Black strands littered her frond cot. If Hiresha’s magic saved her, the Dominion of the Sun might learn of it, and all would be lost.
“Nahui,” Hiresha said to the girl, “has your pee turned red?”
“No.” She gasped and tried to grin. “It’s pink.”
Blood seeped into her urine. The girl had been doubly poisoned by being forced to mine. “I told the King’s Spear to let you rest. He should’ve allowed you rest.” The king shouldn’t have sent children to work the mines. Hiresha shouldn’t have asked him for laborers. She might’ve ripped the gemstone roughs from the ground herself. She would have, if her power lent itself more to such undertakings, if such displays wouldn’t have revealed her magic to the Dominion.
“Need to work.” Nahui hopped to her feet then crossed her twig arms over her chest and fought for breath. “Going to earn the best name.”
“Your name right now is beautiful, Nahui.” Even if it only meant “fourth child.” Hiresha coaxed the girl to lie back down. “The one you receive on your renaming day will be even greater.”
The girl would only live that long if Hiresha cured her with an enchantment. If the Dominion learned Hiresha had such spellcraft they would try to capture her. They needed her to make land ships to cross the desert for an invasion. Tens of thousands might die if Hiresha helped one. The equations were clear, the balance lopsided.
All Hiresha had to do was let the girl die. Nahui’s own people didn’t consider her human yet, only a number, a might-be until she turned seven and was renamed. It was immaterial she had sickened working for Hiresha.
The girl would die. Everyone expected her to. Soon Hiresha could whisk all the amethysts mined into the deeper jungle. She could break her engagement with Tethiel. Hiresha could work in peace, out of harm’s way and away from harming others.
Neither would she be able to help them.
Hiresha had sworn to improve the world with her magic. Sacrificing a girl for gemstone hardly seemed a worthy precedent.
The girl hacked and made choking sounds. Drool trailed down her chin.
“We haven’t much time before your mother returns with the water.” Hiresha wiped the girl’s mouth with a robe sleeve. “Can you keep a secret?”
“I love secrets.”
“This one is important. Telling might hurt many people.”
“Love secrets.” The girl mumbled, her eyes fluttering closed.
Vibrations of fate passed through Hiresha. This earthquake only she could feel. Her hand was less than steady as she slipped a jewel behind the girl’s ear.
“I’m giving you a lucky stone,” Hiresha said. “It’ll protect you until you earn your brilliant new name, yet you must promise not to tell anyone about it.”
The girl fiddled with the jewel in her hair. “It’s stuck.”
“Promise me, Nahui. You must promise.”
The girl gazed up with eyes bloodshot from coughing. “Promise.”
In another facet, a different Hiresha gave the king an emerald mantis brooch. It would cure his pox. It would also weaken his heart over two months until the organ burst in his sudden death. One Hiresha killed, the other cured. Perhaps the balance was right. Or the dying despot was a sign to the exile Hiresha, to the Lady of Gems in her dawn facet, that she should let the girl expire. If it was prophetic, Hiresha ignored it.
The facets spun about each other and then diverged in a lucid gleam.
Hiresha was carving and polishing the day’s amethysts. The leaves trembled almost imperceptibly from the footfalls of men
In one facet, Hiresha the Flawless stood over a king stricken by plague. Servants wiped pus from his lesions with silk. He was a tyrant, and curing him would doom many. In the other facet, Hiresha the Exile leaned over a girl dying of miner’s lung. With each wheezing cough, more of her hair fell out. Black strands littered her frond cot. If Hiresha’s magic saved her, the Dominion of the Sun might learn of it, and all would be lost.
“Nahui,” Hiresha said to the girl, “has your pee turned red?”
“No.” She gasped and tried to grin. “It’s pink.”
Blood seeped into her urine. The girl had been doubly poisoned by being forced to mine. “I told the King’s Spear to let you rest. He should’ve allowed you rest.” The king shouldn’t have sent children to work the mines. Hiresha shouldn’t have asked him for laborers. She might’ve ripped the gemstone roughs from the ground herself. She would have, if her power lent itself more to such undertakings, if such displays wouldn’t have revealed her magic to the Dominion.
“Need to work.” Nahui hopped to her feet then crossed her twig arms over her chest and fought for breath. “Going to earn the best name.”
“Your name right now is beautiful, Nahui.” Even if it only meant “fourth child.” Hiresha coaxed the girl to lie back down. “The one you receive on your renaming day will be even greater.”
The girl would only live that long if Hiresha cured her with an enchantment. If the Dominion learned Hiresha had such spellcraft they would try to capture her. They needed her to make land ships to cross the desert for an invasion. Tens of thousands might die if Hiresha helped one. The equations were clear, the balance lopsided.
All Hiresha had to do was let the girl die. Nahui’s own people didn’t consider her human yet, only a number, a might-be until she turned seven and was renamed. It was immaterial she had sickened working for Hiresha.
The girl would die. Everyone expected her to. Soon Hiresha could whisk all the amethysts mined into the deeper jungle. She could break her engagement with Tethiel. Hiresha could work in peace, out of harm’s way and away from harming others.
Neither would she be able to help them.
Hiresha had sworn to improve the world with her magic. Sacrificing a girl for gemstone hardly seemed a worthy precedent.
The girl hacked and made choking sounds. Drool trailed down her chin.
“We haven’t much time before your mother returns with the water.” Hiresha wiped the girl’s mouth with a robe sleeve. “Can you keep a secret?”
“I love secrets.”
“This one is important. Telling might hurt many people.”
“Love secrets.” The girl mumbled, her eyes fluttering closed.
Vibrations of fate passed through Hiresha. This earthquake only she could feel. Her hand was less than steady as she slipped a jewel behind the girl’s ear.
“I’m giving you a lucky stone,” Hiresha said. “It’ll protect you until you earn your brilliant new name, yet you must promise not to tell anyone about it.”
The girl fiddled with the jewel in her hair. “It’s stuck.”
“Promise me, Nahui. You must promise.”
The girl gazed up with eyes bloodshot from coughing. “Promise.”
In another facet, a different Hiresha gave the king an emerald mantis brooch. It would cure his pox. It would also weaken his heart over two months until the organ burst in his sudden death. One Hiresha killed, the other cured. Perhaps the balance was right. Or the dying despot was a sign to the exile Hiresha, to the Lady of Gems in her dawn facet, that she should let the girl expire. If it was prophetic, Hiresha ignored it.
The facets spun about each other and then diverged in a lucid gleam.
Hiresha was carving and polishing the day’s amethysts. The leaves trembled almost imperceptibly from the footfalls of men
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