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“So Arhys is saved, I will take the risk!” said Cattilara.

Arhys drew a sharp breath of protest and shook his head.

“Seems almost worthwhile to me,” muttered Illvin darkly.

“But it’s not a risk. It’s a certainty. And Arhys dies the same, and Cattilara is destroyed.”

“But when, how long, that’s the question!” Cattilara argued. “All sorts of other things could happen before . . . then.”

“Yes, and I can tell you some of them,” said Ista. “Illvin, I am sure, studied the theology of death magic in the Bastard’s seminary. I had a closer acquaintance with it, once. Arhys isn’t alive now. The demon captured his severed spirit and returned it to haunt his own body. A familiar, congenial abode, I suspect, in some ways. But he is cut off from the support of his god, and his spirit is equally torn from the nourishment of matter. He cannot maintain life, except by what is plundered from Illvin, nor increase it, nor engender it.”

Cattilara flinched, hunching her shoulders in protest.

Ista felt her way further into the dark consequences. “So his fate must be the fate of the lost spirits. Slowly to fade, to blur, to grow unmindful of himself, the world, his memories—his loves and hates—to forget. It is a sort of senility. I have seen the blind ghosts drifting. It is a quiet damnation, and merciful—for them. Less merciful for a man still in his body, I think.”

“You mean he’ll lose his wits?” said Illvin, aghast.

“That’s . . . not so good,” said Arhys. “I have not so many to spare as you.” He attempted to smile at his brother. The attempt failed miserably.

Ista bit her lip and forged on. “I have a guess why the demon gives Illvin so little time, barely enough—no, not even enough—to eat. Why their shares are so very uneven. I think, when Illvin is awake, the demon . . . loses ground, maintaining Arhys’s body. For every hour of waking life given to Illvin, the dead body decays a little more. In time, the rot shall start to be evident to the senses of others.” It was evident to her heightened sensitivity already, now that she knew how to look. I do not love my new education. “Is that the fate you desire for your handsome husband, Lady Cattilara? A senile mind trapped in a decomposing body?”

Cattilara’s lips moved, No, no, but she did not speak. She hid her face against Arhys’s knees.

Gods, why did you give this vile task to me? Ista spoke on, relentlessly. “Illvin is dying too, being slowly drained of more life than he can replace. But if Illvin dies, Arhys will . . . stop, as well. Both their mother’s sons lost together. Not her wish, I can assure you. Which end will come first in this evil race, I cannot guess. But that is the ultimate arithmetic of demon magic: two lives traded for one, then that one subtracted. Leaving, for all your pains, nothing. Do I have my tally theologically correct, Lord Illvin?”

“Yes,” he whispered. He swallowed and found his voice. “Demon magic—the divines say—invariably engenders more chaos than it ever produces order. The cost is always higher than the prize. Some who dabble in demons try to spread the cost to others and keep the prize for themselves. It seldom works for long. Although it is said that some very wise and subtle theologians, Temple sorcerers, can use the demon magic according to its nature, and not against it, and yet effect good. I never quite understood that part.”

Ista was very unsure about her next move, but it seemed the logical progression. She had a profound mistrust of logic; it was quite as possible to reason one’s way, step by slow step, into a mire of deep sin as it was to fall into it headlong. “I have now heard depositions from all concerned here except one. I think this demon has acquired the gift of speech. One wonders from whom, if it can make . . . bilingual puns, but anyway. I would speak with it. Lady Cattilara, can you let it come up for a time?”

“No!” She frowned at Ista’s look, and added, “It’s not me that’s the problem. It tries to get away.