Harshini

“What have you ever done besides flaunt your royal superiority?”

“What have you ever done for me? You held me prisoner! You accused me of trying to murder your uncle. You kept me collared like a slave just for the sheer hell of it! And then you took advantage of me!”

R'shiel knew of Adrina's impressive temper, but it was the first time she had seen it in full flight since the morning Cratyn had tried to kill her. She stepped back from the couple with a faint smile and sat down on the cool white sand to watch the show. They had forgotten she existed.

“I took advantage of you?” Damin gasped in disbelief. “You devious little bitch. You came over the border dressed as a court'esa and spent the whole time acting like one! Ask Tarja if you don't believe me. You were all over him like a wet blanket any time he got within five paces of you.”

R'shiel hadn't known about that, but she found herself more amused than jealous at the idea. Poor Tarja. Fancy having to fight off Adrina when she was determined to seduce him.

“At least he treated me like a Princess! You treated me like a court'esa! You kept me collared and bound as if I was bought and paid for.”

“Oh, I've paid for you, Adrina,” Damin said with feeling.

“You think so? I've suffered the insults of your wretched mother. I've entertained your brutish Warlords. I've been kidnapped and beaten and locked in a dungeon. Even my slave was killed because of your damned throne. I've given up my whole life for you, you ungrateful bastard!”

“You manage to act in a civilised manner at a few dinner parties and that's supposed to justify the fact that I'm facing a damned civil war because of you?”

“I didn't cause your measly little war! The miracle is that you haven't gone and gotten yourself killed before now!”

“Well, maybe you'll get lucky again, Adrina, and I will be killed. Then you can go and find some other poor unsuspecting sod to marry you and give you a crown.”

The crack as Adrina slapped Damin's face echoed along the deserted beach with startling clarity. The argument stopped abruptly as Damin stared at her in shock. Even Adrina looked stunned that she had hit him.

For a long moment they stared at each other, not saying a word.

“I'm sorry,” the Princess said finally, drawing herself up with regal poise. “I shouldn't have done that.”

Damin hesitated for a moment then shrugged, rubbing the handprint that stood out against his tan in the twilight. “No. You don't owe me an apology, Adrina. I shouldn't have said what I did.”

“I still shouldn't have hit you,” she insisted.

“It could have been worse,” Damin replied, with a hint of a grin. “You might have been armed.”

Adrina's eyes blazed dangerously for a few seconds, then she took a deep breath, visibly bringing her anger under control. “You're lucky I wasn't,” she agreed. Then, with a tentative smile, she added, “I really don't want to be a widow again so soon.”

“No?”

“No.”

They said nothing for a time, the silence loaded with unspoken tension. R'shiel waited expectantly, then rolled her eyes. “Oh, for Founders' sake!”

They both turned to stare at her in horror.

“Do you mind?” Adrina asked, quite put out that she had witnessed their altercation. “This is private.”

“Actually, they could probably hear you back in Greenharbour. But don't let me interrupt you. You appear to be enjoying yourselves immensely.”

“R'shiel, do you think you could maybe... go away for a while?” Damin asked, a little more cautiously.

“Are you going to stop shouting at each other? I might as well stay here if I can still hear you anywhere in a five-league radius.”

Adrina looked at Damin searchingly then turned to R'shiel. “I think I've done all the shouting I need to for the time being. Would you mind, R'shiel? I think we have a few things to sort out.”

“That's something of an understatement,” she agreed.

“Why don't we go and find that spring?” Damin suggested. “I could do with something to drink.”

“You go on ahead,” R'shiel told them. “I'll see you later.”

Damin offered Adrina his hand and she took it willingly. With barely a backward glance they walked away, hand in hand.

“They make such a nice couple, don't they?”

R'shiel jumped at the unexpected voice and turned to find Kalianah sitting on the sand beside her.

“I wish you wouldn't just appear like that! Can't you warn me first?”

“What would you prefer? A fanfare?” The Goddess of Love was in her favourite form: a little girl. The slight breeze stirred her fair hair and she was smiling wistfully as she watched Damin and Adrina walk along the shoreline.

“Did you have anything to do with that?” R'shiel asked suspiciously.

“Much as I would like to have interfered, demon child, Damin Wolfblade belongs to Zegarnald. He takes a very dim view of other gods meddling with his followers. They did that all on their own. I'm afraid I can't claim any credit at all.”

Her words reminded R'shiel of something that she had forgotten until now. “Kali, have you seen Dace lately?”

“No. He's sulking, I think.”

“Why?”

“I don't know. Why do you ask? You're not thinking of becoming one of his followers, are you?”

R'shiel laughed at the mere suggestion that she would ever worship any of the creatures that the Harshini called gods. “Hardly. It's just something Damin mentioned a while back. He wanted to know if anyone had been stealing his followers.”

“With Dacendaran, it's usually the other way around,” Kalianah chuckled. “I can ask him if you like. Is it important?”

“I don't really know. Who would want to steal his people anyway?”

“All of us,” the goddess told her. “It's sort of a game, really. Particularly for gods like Dacendaran and Zegarnald.”

“What do you mean?”

Kalianah looked surprised that she had to explain it. “Life can't exist without love, which is why the others tolerate me more than most. But you can be human and not be a thief or a warrior. So gods like Dace and Zeggi have to work a bit harder to keep their people.”

“What would happen if nobody believed in the gods any more?”

“I don't know. I guess we'd fade away into the background. You can't kill a Primal God. To kill me, you would have to stop love. While ever there's a fox trying to steal eggs from a nest, or two rams willing to fight over a ewe, Dacendaran and Zegarnald will survive. But the Incidental Gods need humans. They need someone to acknowledge their existence, or they cease to exist.”

“So all I have to do to defeat Xaphista is make a few million Kariens deny his existence?”

“Basically,” Kalianah agreed. “How are you going to do that?”

“I have no idea,” the demon child admitted with a shrug.

CHAPTER 29

Once Damin and Adrina were out of sight, Kalianah lost interest in them and vanished without warning. With an impatient sigh, R'shiel scrambled up the sandy bank behind her and made her way through the trees, following