Crypt of the shadowking - Mark Anthony [102]
"Eight. He'll be nine soon." Ravendas's eyes shone. Caledan looked at her, but he could not ask the question that lay bitterly on his tongue.
"How?" Her voice was exultant "It was all very simple, really. It was that last time I met you and my insipid sister, Kera, in Berdusk. After you spurned my advances, I finally realized I was going to have to devise some other plan…" She smiled evilly. "Do you remember the night you spent with Kera at the Running Stag, that inn in Berdusk? You and Kera had separate rooms-she was always such an annoyingly proper young woman-but that night she wasn't able to stay away from you. She stole into your room in the darkness and… well, the natural thing happened."
Caledan watched Ravendas with a growing feeling of disgust. "How did you know that?" It was one of his most private memories. He and Kera had made love the entire night without ever speaking a word. It had been wonderful.
Ravendas's eyes narrowed, like those of a cat about to Pounce. "It was not Kera in your arms that night, Caledan. It was I. I drugged Kera, donned her clothes, and slipped into your room. Earlier that night I had poured something into your ale to make you a bit more… pliable, shall we say? I left your bed before dawn, and nine moons later Kellen was born. And just like his father, he possesses a talent for music-and the shadow magic."
Caledan gazed at her in horror. He could find no words.
"How like Kera, that she never did tell you," Ravendas crooned.
"She knew?" Caledan said hoarsely. His throat tightened; he felt as if he was going to be sick.
"Of course. Sisters cannot hide such things from each other. But she was the sort of fool who chose to bear the pain alone to protect you. Nobility was always one of Kera's most tiresome traits."
The room seemed to be spinning in a haze of crimson. "Damn you," Caledan cried. "Damn you to the Abyss."
"Spare the dramatics, Caledan," Ravendas snapped. Her voice was like a slap to his face, clearing his head. "You see now that there is nothing you can do to stop me. I do not need your shadow magic. But I would still have you stand beside me. You are strong, brave, and not without some charm. Though you should shave more often." Her eyes glittered hungrily. "Will you kneel before me as your queen?"
Caledan gazed at her in revulsion. "Never."
Scarlet blotches bloomed on Ravendas's cheeks. 'Then you will die," she hissed. She pulled a cord that hung from the ceiling. Moments later the door to the chamber opened, and her guards stepped through.
"Take this lowlife to the dungeon," she commanded. "But take care not to kill him right away. I want that pleasure for myself."
Kellen leaned away from the door in the small anteroom adjacent to his mother's chamber. He had been listening to the loud discussion on the other side of the doorway. He had not understood much, but he had understood enough. Tears streaked his pale cheeks, and the look of calm melancholy in his green eyes was replaced by one of deep sorrow. He pulled something from the pocket of his dark tunic. It was the small wooden soldier.
"It's him," he whispered softly to the doll. "He's come for us. But she won't let him take us away. I know she won't."
He heard the kind man's voice speaking to him again.
She can't break you, not if you're strong.
He brushed away his tears then, his expression growing hard. He put the wooden soldier back in his pocket and left the small anteroom. It was time to practice his music for Lord Snake.
Caledan leaned against the rust-covered iron bars of the cell. The cramped room was damp and cold, the floor covered with sour, decaying straw. Moans of despair and agony drifted down the dim stone corridor. He felt his spirits sinking. He wished Ravendas would have simply killed him and gotten it over with. He didn't relish the idea of rotting to death in this cesspool