Read Online Michelle West - The Sun Sword 03 - The Shining Court by The Shining Court - Free Book Online

of allegiance. I am her willingness—in tangible form—to cooperate with the man whose life is the protection of the Kings.
    "And in return for this, she partakes of the information I receive as a member of the Astari."
    "You tell her nothing."
    "I
tell
her nothing, but she is not naive enough to believe that the value of my service is dependent on open words. Can you separate your knowledge, your experience, from yourself in any meaningful way? Can you act upon things that you know as if you don't know them, and never have?"
    The silence lasted a full thirty seconds before she realized it was a question he meant her to answer.
    It lasted a little bit longer before he accepted the fact that she wouldn't.
    "No," he replied. "You can't. No more can I. You can, if you desire, lie about your knowledge."
    Her lips thinned.
    "The Terafin was always wise enough not to put me in the position of having to lie; she understands the politics of what she does—and doesn't—choose to do." He turned. "And perhaps that's not true. She has forced the issue once or twice in my tenure as part of Terafin. And each time I've managed to balance. The House is of value to me. The Terafin is a woman I admire, and she acts, in as much as any ranking member of the patriciate can, with conscience. Perhaps more so than Duvari." He shrugged. "Is this what you came for?"
    Silent, she shook her head.
    "So. You will go South without the army. But you will not go without the permission of The Terafin."
    "No."
    "And you will not take your den."
    "No."
    "Jewel, I fail to see—"
    "I came to tell you that what one woman accepts with ease, another might reject."
    "Were we speaking of women?"
    His smile slid off the mirthless ice of her expression. "Here's something you can give to that bastard."
    He knew she meant Duvari.
    "You don't have to thank me. I imagine you'd find out anyway, in time. Does he have members of other Houses doing the same dance?"
    "Of course. I am the only open member; the only ranking member. And to be honest, he does not put much of his effort into the Houses. They war amongst each other, but they have never had any pretensions to either of the thrones."
    "True enough."
    "Your information?"
    "I know who The Terafin will make her heir."
    "I hope she doesn't intend to announce that information prematurely; it certainly didn't extend the life of the previous heir."
    Her laugh was an angry laugh, ugly with harshness, something that shouldn't have been able to go on as long as it did, it sounded so forced. She shoved her hair out of her eyes, catching strands of it in her House ring. Hurt, as she pulled them out. "The life of the heir is almost never at risk. Not this heir."
    He was absolutely silent then.
    "That's right," she said softly. "It's just me, Jewel the power monger. I guess I've gotten what I wanted."
    "Jewel—"
    "And what I
want
, what I want from
you
, patris of the fence-sitters, is commitment."
    "Then ask," he said, and she thought he was paler although it was hard to tell, "when you take the title."
    She hadn't thought she'd continue. Would have been smartest not to. But her words were tumbling faster than she could catch 'em; she couldn't shut up.
    "I won't
be
here to ask. I'll be in the South, searching among the slaughtered for gods only know what. And you know what? It'll make what we found in Cordufar look pretty. It'll be—"
    He caught her. Shook her. She didn't fight.
    But she didn't stop. Flow broken, the words took a moment to reassert themselves. "Gods, worse; I can hear it now, and I'm not even on the road. And while I'm not here—while I'm not here, everyone will come
this
close to death—but I can't see who will cross over. I can't see whose bodies are lying in the wake of the Terafin War. And I want—I don't want—I can't save—"
    "Jewel."
    "I'm sorry, Devon," she said, her voice breaking, growing quieter and smaller in the wake of the command he had made of her name. "But I don't want her to die. And I