desperately-as the branches of the trees lashed at him, as he heard the hooves of his mount break onto the hard- packed dirt of the Avi. .
. . as the world darkened around him even though the sun had finally touched the horizon. .
. . as he groaned and was lost in that darkness. .
Ana cu’Seranta
“I’m sorry it had to be this way, Ana.”
Seated on the small bed in the cell, Ana’s head turned at the sound of the tenor, familiar voice. Kraljiki Justi was standing at the door to her cell in the Bastida’s tower-the same cell Karl had once inhabited. She was bound as he had been, with the vile silencer pressing into her mouth and her hands confined with chains, her hair matted and dirty and caught in the straps of the gag.
They had brought her here directly from Oldtown, in a closed carriage that went careening through the city in a rush. She had no idea where Karl was, or Mahri who had betrayed them.
But she knew now who had wanted her. She wondered how long she had to live.
The Kraljiki glanced around the cell. “I’m told your Numetodo lover lived here, until his escape. Poor Capitaine ci’Doulor was here for a time, until he was moved to, ah, less palatial accommodations. And now you. .” He stepped forward, with the easy, athletic grace she remembered. He sat down on the table in the room, regarding her.
“I don’t admit mistakes easily, Ana,” he said. “But I made one in aligning myself with ca’Cellibrecca and his serpent of a daughter, a mistake worse than I could have imagined, when the best choice for me-it pains me to admit-was the one my matarh had already suggested. I’m hoping it’s not too late to rectify that.” He gestured to the gardai outside the cell. “Remove her bonds,” he said, and he watched as they unlocked her hands and undid the straps from the tongue-gag. The gardai moved back a step but, she noted, didn’t leave. She rubbed at her wrists and worked her jaw.
“I’m sorry to have brought you bound like a condemned heretic, Ana,” Justi said. “But would you have come if I’d simply asked?”
“No,” she answered sharply, not caring about the impoliteness.
“Where is Karl?”
“In the cell a floor below you. Unharmed.”
She nodded. “You have me in front of you now, Kraljiki. What do you want?”
“It would seem,” he said, “that I’m in need of an Archigos.
Ca’Cellibrecca has abandoned Nessantico to be on the side of the Hirzg; I will put a new head on the body of the Concenzia Faith, so that all will know that ca’Cellibrecca’s voice is false.”
“Choosing the Archigos isn’t the role of the Kraljiki,” Ana told him.
“The Concord A’Teni must do that.”
Justi gave her a smile that vanished in the next moment. “The a’teni are frightened of the army coming to Nessantico-those who are still here. Ca’Cellibrecca has left them bereft; they’re afraid that ca’Cellibrecca will remain Archigos if the Hirzg prevails, and they’re just as frightened that he will fall with the Hirzg. I’ve already spoken to the a’teni, and they. . well, let me just say that I’ve convinced them that as long as they remain in Nessantico, it’s in their best interests to follow my preferences.”
“And which of them have you chosen, and why should it matter to me?”
Justi smiled. It was a strange, apologetic smile. “I’ve chosen none of them,” he said, the words thin and high. “I’ve decided that I will promote a young o’teni to the position.”
It took a moment for the import of his words to register. Ana started to protest in shock and disbelief, but Justi waved her silent. “A moment,” he said. “Choosing one of the existing a’teni simply won’t have the symbolism and import that I require. Archigos Dhosti had picked you out, elevated and obviously favored you. Your talent with the Ilmodo is undoubted. I can’t bring the dwarf back, so I will choose his favorite, for the signal it will send to the rest of the Holdings.”
“You can’t be serious. I’m only an o’teni, and too young. And Concenzia has already cast me out.”
“Too young?” The odd smile emerged again. “You’re nearly the same age as my matarh was when she became Kraljica-if anything, I would say that enhances the symbolism, don’t you think? And it was ca’Cellibrecca who cast you out-and he has already shown where his loyalty lies.”
Ana was still shaking her head, but Justi continued speaking into her disbelief. “I offer you two choices, Ana. If you wish, you can remain here in the Bastida and you can watch from the balcony and see whether Nessantico falls to the Hirzg and his pet Archigos; I would remind you that ca’Cellibrecca has already displayed his attitude toward you and the Numetodo. I daresay that he’d be pleased to find you and ci’Vliomani conveniently jailed so he can do what he loves to do with Numetodo. And if
Ana felt nothing but loathing for the man. “Or?” she asked.
Justi gave a high bark of a laugh. “Or you may take my second choice: you can become Archigos and ca’ rather than cu’, and help me bury the man who would bury you. You can bring justice to the man
who murdered Archigos Dhosti.”
He was so smug, so certain. Ana rubbed at her wrists, chafed by the manacles. She wanted to spit at him, to refuse for the momentary satisfaction it would give her. But she didn’t. Couldn’t. “You plotted with ca’Cellibrecca against the Archigos, you and Francesca. You used me, Kraljiki, and now you want to use me again.”
He waved a careless hand. “All true. Just as you tried to use me for ci’Vliomani’s sake, and for Archigos Dhosti’s as well. Well, neither of us got what we wanted, did we? So let us use each other again, Ana, this time to better effect. Do you still want a marriage to the Kraljiki? If you do, I will call an a’teni here immediately and have it done. I will become Justi ca’Seranta. Whatever you want. But I need an Archigos and I need one swiftly, and you’re the best choice I have.”
Ana scoffed. “Marry you? I’d sooner cut off my hands myself and tear out my own tongue than do that. I know what you do when those around you are no longer convenient. I watched the Kraljica die. I watched your matarh draw her last breath. Marry you?” She gave a single bark of harsh laughter. “I think not.”
If he was offended, it didn’t show on his handsome face. “I’ve come to believe that it’s better to choose our own times than to wait, Ana.
I chafed under my matarh’s thumb for decades, waiting and waiting
for mine, and I finally realized that I might wait forever, that I might die before it came. I understood that Cenzi wanted
You don’t like everything power brings you? Too bad. Cenzi has seen fit to offer you, through me, the chance to take the globe of the Archigos and use it. You can take what He offers, or you can refuse and pray to Him as Nessantico falls around us. What would Cenzi prefer you to do? What would Archigos Dhosti tell you? What would Envoy ci’Vliomani say?”
She knew. She already knew, but she shook her head. “I won’t marry you, Kraljiki, and I won’t necessarily do what you ask. Understand that if I am Archigos, I
Justi inhaled. He nodded. “I would expect nothing different from you. I accept those conditions.”
Ana nodded. The fear in her was subsiding, but it was replaced by a newer, darker one.
“Then we will go down and we will release Karl ci’Vliomani, Kraljiki.
Now. Any other Numetodo in the Bastida will also be immediately released. When I see that has been done, we can talk further.”
Another breath. Another nod. Justi waved in the direction of the cell door. “After you, Archigos Ana ca’Seranta,” he said. “I took the liberty of ordering the Concord A’Teni to meet, and they are anxiously waiting for us.”
