Page 77 of Mistress of Bones
“This is Virel Enjul,” Azul continued. “He agreed to accompany me from my trip to Valanje.”
De Macia gave him a short nod, still taking the measure of him. “A pleasure, sirese. My family and the Del Arroyos go back a long time.”
There was a note of warning in her voice that Enjul registered,then discarded. He didn’t care for games, and if he were to reveal his true self, not even a captain could stop him from doing as he wished. Sancians might look toward the Lady Dream and the Blessed Heart, but they were aware of which gods held the true power.
“De Macia,” he responded curtly.
The captain’s gaze returned to Azul, her expression warm. “Would you rather not stay with us, Azul?”
Azul took her proffered hand and the sheets of metal. Enjul saw the glint of bright blue, and his lips curled. Part of him hoped Sancia followed through with the lift on Anchor mining. Let it fall into the Void when it ran out of the gods’ bones while he watched from Valanje.
“Thank you, Captain, but I’ll stay here with my brother,” Azul said. “You have my gratitude for providing these for me.”
“I will look for you at the balls.”
“And I for you.”
A few more niceties followed, then the captain and her guards were gone, the front door closed by one of the servants. Azul thought to evade him by scurrying into one of the parlors.
He followed, somewhat surprised when she didn’t slam the door in his face. But the doors in this building were thick and heavy, and she must have realized it would take more effort than it was worth.
“Are these the invitations for Noche Verde?” he asked, coming to stand by her side.
She seemed to recoil slightly, but he thought more from surprise than disgust. He wasn’t sure if the knowledge pleased or disappointed him.
“Yes.” Azul handed one over to him. “As we agreed.”
He examined the small piece of white ladine metal, hammered down and polished into a smooth surface. A tiny square of true Anchor had been encrusted by the engraved names of the regent and the king.
“I suppose they do it so it’s not easy to fake entrance,” Azul murmured, almost to herself. She rubbed the Anchor in her invitation, then touched the one dangling from her ear.
When they were back in Valanje, Enjul would make sure they disposed of it properly.
After he was done with the other malady. That one, he would not allow to survive his visit. Azul would get an opportunity because he understood her grief. And now that the idea of her being by his side had entered his mind, he found it hard to give up. But the other? His smile was instinctive, nearly unnatural in its greed.
His god had struck down Isadora del Arroyo but hadn’t touched Azul. Perhaps this was why the Lord Death had kept him alive at the docks of Diel: not to go after her and treat her like something to be studied but to form an unstoppable pair. He who made death his life, and she who lived to defy death. After all, hadn’t Death and Life started all?
The other malady, however, would soon join the Lord Death.
His hands tightened around the invitation.
“What will you do once you find the other necromancer?” Azul asked as if she held the power to read minds.
“I will make sure they cease to exist.”
She flinched at that. “If they are high up in the court, as we suspect they are, you won’t get away with their murder.”
“That is for me to worry about, isn’t it?”
She abandoned his side to stare at the patio. When she looked back at him a few seconds later, there was venom in her words. “I hope they catch you and throw you into a hole with no door.”
“Of course you do. That way you’ll be free to steal your sister from the Lord Death. But perhaps this time you won’t be allowed to call on her soul. Now that the god knows about you, he might not part with her as easily as you think.”
Her sharp inhale told him Azul had not thought of this. “Perhaps the Lord Death can’t do anything about it,” she said through gritted teeth. “Perhaps it is time we take control over our lives. Over our souls.”
He laughed at that. “The gods gifted us life, and so our lives belong to them.”
“Does a child belong to their parents forever?” she retorted. “Dothey need to follow directions for the whole of their lives? No. There is respect, but a person gets a choice outside their parents’ opinions.”
