Over his shoulder, he replied, “I think it will do him no harm at all to be reminded that this is the first thing you look at when you wake up.” Point made, he left the window, going to the washbasin as he’d originally intended in order to brush his teeth. Around his toothbrush, he said, “He still doesn’t seem to have figured out that you’re the crux of his ambition and he needs to impress you to move ahead.”
Face shuttered, she asked, “Oh?”
“If you like the guy, I guess the next order of business is to make sure he’s your snake in the grass. Then when the day comes, he can help you spit your mother on her plans.”
He turned away to spit, but then the mirror caught his attention. After washing his face, he reapplied his eyeliner, making the lines nice and thick. His hair was getting kind of long, long enough to grow down over his ears, and he fingered it as he wondered where he might get it cut. It was the striking silence from the other side of the room that finally turned him around.
It had been several minutes since he’d spoken, and still Qanath was staring at him, expression arrested. “What?”
“You just…”
“Just what?”
“I had only kind of started to think…”
Shaking his head, he moved past her again in search of a shirt. “Am I, or am I not, the Embodiment of Vengeance? You think I can’t spot a good scenario for revenge? She bought that guy with your womb, it’s only right you go ahead and make the deal yourself.”
“You really don’t think less of me.”
He had been about to pull his pants on but tossed them on the bed and went to her. Going to one knee, he took her small hands in his. “When my world fell apart, you stood by me, and we’d barely even met. Now your turn’s come, I could do no less.”
“Your mother is a terrible person, not to mention totally wrong, it doesn’t take a genius to spot.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” he said levelly. “I hated Xar so much… but for six years he was my life. When he died, I didn’t even know who I was without him to teach me and worship me and order me around. When I went out the door that night, I was running scared, running from his death, and I went home as much because it was the last thing he ever said to me that could be interpreted as an order as because I actually wanted to. You walked a hundred miles by my side, kept me company and kept me safe while I figured that out. You never once tried to take the choice out of my hands.”
Her eyes misted over, but when she spoke, her voice was dry. “That’s not true. I’ve been trying to tell you since day one that you’re the Avatethura Master Havec anKebbal, you just wouldn’t listen.”
Laughing, he stood and reached again for his pants. “Anyway. My point is, I’m not going to turn around a week later and tell you how to be.”
She let go a shaky breath, and he realized she had genuinely been afraid he would turn his back on her. “Thank you.”
“Just returning the favor. So what’s the plan?”
“I don’t know.” Her tone was easier now, free from the tension that had choked her. “I guess it depends on whether I can work out a deal with my new partner.”
“I don’t see why not. Do you think he’s developed such a sense of loyalty to your mother that he would sacrifice his own ambitions to defend her on a point of principle?”
“Only one way to find out.”
The girl was already dressed and came to join him at the door. While he tied his boots, he asked, “What is that thing, anyway? Other than creepy.”
“What, Arandgwail? It’s a shyin. A conjured entity. A semi-permanent semi-static sorcerous construct powered by an open channel into barana rakis.”
“None of that meant anything to me.”
“A sentient creature born of whim and will? Honestly, Havec, this is very advanced, I don’t entirely understand it myself.”
“Oh-ho! No wonder you have a crush on him, he’s smarter than you!” She punched him on the arm and he let her. “You said ‘born of,’ does that mean he made that thing himself?”
“Yeah.”
Impressed in spite of himself, he asked, “He created that spooky demon creature from scratch?”
“It’s only sort of alive, it’s life is coterminous with his.”
He raised his brows.
“It can’t live if he dies,” she clarified, “or get too far away from him, I think.”
“Does it serve a purpose or is it just for show?”
“Shyins can do things human sorcery can’t. Spread illness, twist people’s thoughts and desires against themselves. Make them forget.”
Havec stopped tying his boot and slapped a hand across his face. “You swore sorcery couldn’t do that kind of stuff!”
“It can’t!”
“I see your point and it’s ridiculous.” She didn’t answer, and he put his hand down in order to fix her with a look. “That thing has a crush on me. Are you telling me it can just,” he waggled his fingers.
She made a face. “Possibly, but. Conjured entities have personality, but they don’t really have volition of their own.”
“You mean it wouldn’t do something like that without permission.”
She held up a cautioning hand. “It’s not ever going to leave you alone. I don’t think you can do anything that would scare it off. Sticking a sword through it will make its body bleed but won’t actually do it any harm.”
“It was definitely fixing to hex me last night,” he reminded her.
“You attacked it. It fought back.”
