Death Sworn(18)

The Elders’ voices were dim and distant in her mind: He will kill for reasons that make sense to no one but him.

But he always has a reason.

“Thank you,” the master said behind her. Who was he saying it to? “You may go.”

She whirled, tears tracking down her cheeks. The master’s eyes were still gentle—terribly, horribly gentle. He smiled at her, utterly calm, as if Jastim was a chess piece he had flicked off the board, not a human boy with scared blue eyes whose blood and bones were now splattered on the rocks below.

Ileni walked across the small room, feeling the master’s gaze on her back, between her shoulder blades. Sorin waited until she was only a step away, then turned and led the way out.

The master’s voice stopped her when she was already in the doorway. “Sorceress?”

She stopped with one hand on the doorpost, not quite able to look back at him.

“If you assume everyone here is about to attack you, you’ll go through a lot of defense spells.” He chuckled, low and dry. “And you’ll need to preserve your power, won’t you? For as long as you can.”

He knew. How could he possibly know?

She gave up on the pretense of dignity and fled, almost falling down the stairs in her haste to get away.

She and Sorin were halfway down the steps before she could speak. “You knew what you were bringing that boy up there to do.”

Sorin said nothing. He was a step ahead of her, so she couldn’t see his face.

She stumbled, and reached out to steady herself on the wall. “How could you do it?”

“Would you have me arrange for him to live forever?” Sorin asked softly. “We all die, eventually. Jastim’s death had a purpose. Death, to us, is not something to fear. It is simply a tool. Any one of us would die if so commanded by our master. Any of us would be glad to.” His tone twisted slightly. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“So you would waste your life—”

“Not wasted.” Sorin’s voice was firm. “The master does not waste lives. If he spent Jastim’s death to impress you, there’s a reason that was important.”

She couldn’t imagine the master caring whether she was impressed with him. Even if she was the most powerful Renegai sorceress born in centuries. Or had been thought to be so, once.

But the master knew she wasn’t. He had gained that information, somehow, just by looking at her, just by talking to her for a few seconds. She wrapped her arms around herself, then forced them back to her sides before Sorin saw.

When would the master tell him—tell everyone? He could jerk away her pretense of power, and leave her at his students’ mercy, any time he wanted.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and she quickened her pace. But Sorin sped up, too, so she was still staring at the back of his head. “So you’re just his tools? No thoughts or will of your own? You don’t care?”

“Not quite.” Sorin still hadn’t glanced back at her. “I assure you, every person in these caves is doing his best to ensure he is too valuable to be given that command.”

He did slow down then, and Ileni found herself striding beside him. He didn’t look at her—his profile was carved in stone—but it was as good as an invitation to keep talking. “Your master said you could ease my transition. Is that your task—to make sure I obey, and kill me if I don’t?”

Sorin turned sideways, cutting in front of her. She half-pulled up a defense spell before she realized that they had reached the narrow entrance back into the main caverns, and she had almost walked past it. She sighed and let the spell go. The master of assassins was right. If she didn’t become less jumpy, her power would be completely drained in a week.

Tonight’s events were certainly not going to help her be any less jumpy.

“My task is to protect you,” Sorin said.

“And you don’t think there might be more to it than that?”

Sorin made an irritated gesture. “I don’t presume to guess the master’s motives. I can’t fathom his reasons for wanting me to help you, just as I wouldn’t try and figure out his purpose in tonight’s summons.”

“Then you’re stupid,” Ileni said, more sharply than she had intended. “I know what his purpose was. To make sure I’m as afraid of him as everyone else in these caves.”

“Did it work?” Sorin asked.