The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(34)
“Guess who I’ve just seen!” said Nia cheerfully, stepping over the ruin of the desk and crouching down before him. “Eliza! Such a treat! She looked very well, I thought. Oh, I know, you’re disappointed, you’d hoped your Emmisariae might get to her first. But they’re even more stuck than you are, you see. And Eliza wasn’t with the Sorma anyway, so they wouldn’t have found her. She’s terribly like her mother, with the lies and rebellion, isn’t she? Shall I tell you where she was? Or can you guess? She’d been in Tian Xia! Keeping in touch with Swarn and the Oracle. Obviously she doesn’t think the Mancers can teach her everything she wants to learn. Clever girl. Oh, I can see you’re very worried now. I’d think it was concern for dear Eliza if I didn’t know you better. She’s fine. I’ve given her something to do that will keep her busy and out of my way for a while. If she’s as bright as I think, it won’t actually get her killed, but she’s rather unpredictable so it’s difficult to say. It should tire her out at the very least. I don’t want her putting up a fight and taking up loads of my time when I get back. Yes, that’s right, we’re going on a trip, Papa! Are you excited? Come on.”
Kyreth was heaved to his feet like a puppet having his strings pulled and the blocks of marble fell away from his hands. At the same moment, the fog lifted from his mind. He stood towering over her with all his power. He knew at that moment that it was hopeless. His Magic was slow and he was alone. He was no match for her alone. Not anymore. She looked him in the eyes, waiting, with a slight smile, for him to understand how helpless he was, how little she feared him.
“It is me you want,” he said hollowly. “Do your worst but let Eliza and the Mancers be. Return to Tian Xia and they will not pursue you.”
“Such egotism!” said Nia. “It’s true I’ve something particular in mind for you, Papa, given our long history, but I’ve no reason to harbour warm and fuzzy feelings for those that did your bidding. No, the Mancers must pay for what they participated in, and as for Eliza, she’s far more mine than yours. You like to think you’re protecting her but the truth is we both want to make use of her power. My way is more efficient, that’s all. If you could do what I can, you would. Don’t pretend otherwise. There is no moral high ground between you and me, and justice doesn’t interest me, but retribution does. Now, tell me,” and she stepped closer to him, touched a hand to his cheek, “when I was just a little girl, did you ever look at me and fear, even for a second, that I might be stronger than you one day and demand retribution?”
Kyreth said nothing.
“You didn’t, did you?” whispered Nia. “It never even occurred to you. Such arrogance! Of course, you were very young then, hardly older than humans live to be. And so ambitious! You always wanted to be the Supreme Mancer. As soon as you were made an Emmisarius, free to leave the Citadel on your very own shiny dragon, you had plans. Yes, I know. But how did you think it would turn out? Did you really imagine you could woo my mother, that she would fall in love with you and willingly bear you a child? You weren’t chosen to father the Shang Sorceress back then but you thought you would single-handedly take over the line of the Xia Sorceress. So what did my mother say to you when you propositioned her? Do you remember what her face was like? Did she laugh? Did she spit on you?”
Nia circled Kyreth slowly then grabbed his face between her two hands, pulling it down towards her own face.
“It must have been terrible,” she hissed, her eyes inches from his. “Whatever she said or did, it must have cut you so deeply. And did you imagine that the child she bore unwillingly, cursing it in her womb, would be a true and loyal daughter to you? Did you think that? Or perhaps you only thought you would always be strong enough to keep me in check.” She squeezed his head harder and shook it, then pressed her forehead to his. “But you were wrong, you were so wrong every time. You were wrong to think my mother could love you. You were wrong to think you could take by force what she would not give. You were wrong to think I would be the daughter you hoped for. And you were wrong, Papa, to think I would never be strong enough to make you pay.”
With that she hurled him to the ground so he lay gasping amid the rubble of his desk. For a moment she stood over him, breathing hard. Then she leaned over and pulled him up by his arm.
“Come on.”
The Sorceress and the Supreme Mancer crossed the grounds together, the white tiger loping ahead of them. They could see five bright specks in the southern sky.
“There goes Eliza with your dragons,” said Nia. “Good for her. She’ll figure out soon enough what I’ve made for her but if I know our Eliza she won’t just give up. Do you know how I sent her hopping off that way? I threatened Rea. Such a loyal child, isn’t she! But you don’t know what that’s like, of course. What is it that makes your daughters despise you?”
“Do not speak for Rea,” said Kyreth. The words tasted of gunpowder in his mouth.
“Oh yes, your dutiful daughter Rea. But she wasn’t keen on your choice of husband for her, was she? I don’t imagine you were invited to her wedding with Rom. Oh, and then she did everything she could to keep your grandchild from you! Why do you suppose that is?”
“Rea is my true daughter,” Kyreth said. He could not bid himself be quiet.
“Oooh, your true daughter!” cried Nia. They were almost at the dark wood. “Do you mean as opposed to me? What kind of daughter am I, then?”