Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [149]
"As to Dagmar's motives, we shall know them soon enough," Liriel proclaimed wrathfully. "Perhaps you cannot look beyond a woman's pretty face, but by the power of Lloth, i can!" The drow snatched up her obsidian pendant and brandished it purposefully.
A look of horror crossed Fyodor's face. "Do not," he admonished her. "Little raven, have nothing more to do with this goddess!"
An inhuman rage rose in her like a dark, crackling flame. Liriel recognized in it the touch of the Spider Queen, and too late she remembered the cruel rituals required of the drow priestesses who served her. The jealous goddess did not allow her clergy to form close attachments of any kind and was particularly offended by the idea that a priestess might become fond of a mere male. Often were the females of Menzoberranzan required to sacrifice their mates, their lovers, and even their sons to appease the Queen of Spiders. Lloth would not long countenance an alliance with a human male, especially if that male presumed to intrude upon Liriel's devotion and duties. Fyodor did not realize how precarious was the path he trod. Until this moment, neither had Liriel.
"Do not speak ill to me of Lloth," she warned him. "i am pledged as priestess to her. This i did, in exchange for the Elfmaid's magical escape."
Fyodor gasped and reached for her hands. "That was the doing of your goddess? Liriel, it is no wonder you wept, knowing to what you had given pledge! Never have i felt such despair in a place, or such evil!"
"Or such power," she added coldly.
"But at what price?" he persisted. "How can good come from evil? i fear for you, little raven, and for what you might become. Already you have taken a slave and accused a good woman of treachery."
His words held enough truth to sting her, and she snatched her hands away. "Have a care how you speak to me," she snarled. "Need i remind you that i could command you to rip out the heart of that 'good woman'?"
A stunned silence met Liriel's words.
For what seemed like a very long time, she and Fyodor merely stood and stared at each other. It was obvious the man was shocked by this outburst, but no more so than Liriel herself. For the first time ever, the young drow heard in her own words the echo of her grandmother's malevolent voice. For a moment, the ancient evil that was Matron Boerne had lived and breathed and found a home in Lire's heart.
"i didn't mean it," she whispered.
Fyodor nodded, silently accepting her words. But Liriel knew by the sadness in his eyes that he doubted the truth of them-and he knew she doubted it, too.
impulsively she threw herself into her lover's arms, wishing to recover the closeness they once knew. Fyodor held her lightly, but beneath her seeking hands the muscles of his shoulders and chest and arms were tensed, forbidding. He offered no response to her, and no welcome. Liriel raised questioning eyes to the young man's face.
"My lady, would you command this of me, as well?" he asked in a tight voice.
Stunned by this accusation, Liriel fell back from the unwilling embrace. Through the transparent window of Fyodor's eyes, she read both his profound pain and rigid pride, and suddenly she understood the depth of the blow that she had dealt his honor. By the very suggestion that he might do evil at her bequest, she had gone against his dearly held faith in her as wychlaran, and in himself as a berserker knight pledged to a worthy lady. And noble and selfless though he might be, his own very personal pride was also deeply wounded. Most painful of all, Liriel saw that Fyodor had come to fear, and to regret, the link that had been forged between them.
With a little cry, she tore herself from him and raced wildlyaway.
This time, Fyodor did not follow.
After