Crown of Shadows - C. S. Friedman [153]
Lowering his head in shame, he whispered, “You don’t understand.”
“As one who has lived in the public eye for almost fifty years, I do understand,” His tone was bitter, unforgiving. “I understand more than you know.” He paused for a moment; his condemnation was like a gust of hot wind, that made Andrys’ face flush even redder. “I won’t have this mission compromised by a moment of weakness, Mer Tarrant—not yours, not mine. Remember that.”
He left the tent as silently as he had come, but something of his condemnation seemed to remain behind him: Andrys could feel it as he turned the bottle over and over in his hand, hungering desperately to open it and swallow its precious contents, but knowing in the tortured depths of his heart that there would be no place and no time safe enough to do so until this campaign was over. Then even that vestige of the Holy Father’s presence faded, and he was alone at last. Just him and the bottle. Just him and the night.
Just him, and the Hunter in his soul.
Thirty-three
“We’re WHAT?”
“Going west,” the Hunter repeated, in a voice that was so maddeningly calm Damien wanted to choke the life out of him. “Toward the pass that lies near the Forest. You remember, we discussed it last night.”
“I know, I just ...” He shook his head, torn between anger and amazement. “Just like that? You woke up and decided that we’d wasted the last ten hours, time to pick a new direction?”
“Not at all,” Tarrant said coolly. “The decision was made long before that.”
“You mean you lied to me.”
“I regret that it was necessary.”
He almost hit him. Really. Even though it wouldn’t do any good. Even though the Hunter could Work the earth-fae and stop him faster than he could carry through the blow. It would feel that good just to try it. Only the look in those pale, cold eyes kept him from moving. The utter calm in them, and the unshakable certainty. Before those things he quailed.
“Think about it,” Tarrant urged. “Our enemy has the power to read what’s in our hearts. Which means that we can have no secrets from him. Unless he doesn’t bother to look for secrets. Unless he thinks he knows all there is to know.”
“So, in other words, you set me up. You told me we were going east when you never intended to, so that Calesta would believe it.” His hands had curled into fists of their own accord; he forced himself to open them. “And what made you so sure he would look into my heart, and not yours? Wasn’t that a hell of a risk to take?”
The pale eyes, golden in the Corelight, glittered with disarming intensity. “We already know he’s not watching us every minute. What else explains the Locatings I worked in Seth? The one I conjured while we were in flight was masked by an illusion meant to mislead us, but the one before that wasn’t. Such trivial games were of no concern to him when he thought he had us cornered. He has a war to fight, remember.” He nodded west, toward the distant Forest. “No doubt he’s anxious to focus on it.”
With a hot flush Damien remembered their flight through Seth, and his own angry cries. Dammit, man, you’re going the wrong way! Remember the map? He hadn’t noticed that the two images Tarrant had conjured didn’t match up. He had trusted in the Hunter’s power....
“In the face of Iezu illusion,” Tarrant said, answering his thoughts, “even my own Workings must be suspect.”
“How do you know he’s reading my mind?” he demanded. “What if you’re his source?”
“Unlikely. Of the two of us, I would be more likely to recognize signs of his interference. With you ...” He hesitated. “No offense, Vryce, but you’re hardly well versed in demon recognition.”
“He could fool you if he tried.”
“But he’d have to work much harder at it. And I’m willing to bet that the Iezu, like men, prefer the path of least resistance.”
“Yeah, but can we be sure of that?”
“No,” he admitted. “It’s a gamble. A last-ditch effort in a game where Calesta controls most of the pieces. I’m sorry I had to plan it alone, but sharing my fears with you would have meant sacrificing the effectiveness of the feint. And seeing how