“Hope is a bitch,” I told him. “It keeps you alive when all you want is to die.”
Saiman turned his head and looked at me, his eyes full of winter. “He was draining my blood. As fast as I could make it. When he took it, my body reacted and cannibalized reserves to make up for the shortage.”
“What did he do with it?”
“I don’t know.”
“There was another creature in the castle with divine blood,” I said. “An animal. A saber-toothed tiger.”
“I heard it roar once,” Saiman said.
“Why would he need divine blood?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. It rolled through his entire body. “They broke my legs. Every day before the sun would rise, they came in and shattered my bones with a hammer.”
Saiman had always been terrified of death and physical pain.
“Why?”
“With that much pain, I couldn’t slow down my regeneration. My body healed itself and there was nothing I could do about it.” He shuddered.
“It’s over,” I told him. “You’re safe.”
“Do you know why I accumulated wealth?”
“Because you thought it would shield you. But there are things in this world that are immune to money.”
He looked away from me. “I knew nobody was coming.”
His voice told me everything. He sat in that cell with his broken legs, looked at the sky, and wanted desperately to be rescued, but he knew nobody would care enough to rescue him.
“We were coming.”
“Why did you save me?” he asked.
“I didn’t.”
A trace of the old Saiman’s impatience touched his face. “Curran did it, but only because you asked him to. The money I paid the Guild is a formality. A pittance. I would’ve given Curran everything I have, but I know him. I remember our history. All the gold in the world wouldn’t convince him to lift a finger for my sake. He did it for you. Why did you ask him?”
“Do you want the real answer or the one you’re comfortable with?”
“I’ll take the truth.”
“Because you are someone I know, Saiman. You’re someone who helped me. Always for a price, but still you helped. You’re a selfish prick, narcissistic, egocentric, obsessed with your own importance, but you’re still someone I know. I couldn’t leave you with my father.”
He looked away from me again.
“If it helps, I can tell you that if I left you there, it would give my father the license to kidnap my citizens at will, and whatever he was doing with you likely made him stronger, which is bad for us, since the Oracle is predicting he will burn the city in a few weeks. Would that be easier?”
He didn’t answer.
“Rest,” I told him. “Eat and rest. You need to heal. And one more thing.”
I got up, slid the window up, and pulled the thick metal rods securing the grate up, releasing it. I strained, lifted the grate, and slid it aside. Wind blew into the room, stirring the sheets and papers on the desk.
“You’re not a prisoner. You can leave when you’re ready.” I nodded at Julie. “Come on.”
“But you didn’t ask him,” she said.
Thank you, Julie.
“I know. He’s in no shape to do it. Come.”
“In no shape to do what?” Saiman called.
“Rest,” I told him, and left the room.
Julie hurried after me. We walked down the staircase together.
“Why didn’t you ask him?” she asked.
“Because he’s sitting in that bed, drowning in his trauma and refusing to eat. Now he knows I want something and it will drive him crazy, until he finally eats, gets dressed, and comes to find me to see what was so important.”
Right now I would trade places with Saiman in a heartbeat. He could run around and do all of this bullshit, while I lay in a nice soft bed.
The magic hit, rolling over us. The electric lights in the lobby died and the blue feylanterns slowly ignited, growing brighter.
“Kate!” The Clerk called from his counter. “A call for you.”
Maybe it was the Keep to tell us if Dali was alive.
I ran down the last few steps and picked up the phone.
“Hello, Sharrim,” a female voice said. “Please hold for your father.”
“Tell him to go fuck himself.”
I hung up and turned away.
Behind me magic splashed.
“HELLO, DAUGHTER.”
? ? ?
HE DIDN’T.
I turned around. A wall of light bisected the Guild, showing my father, his hands behind his back. Yes, he did. Oh he did. Now was really the wrong time to screw with me.
My magic shot out of me. All of the anger I’d been trying to keep under the lid boiled out.
“Which part of ‘go fuck yourself’ did you not understand?”
His power was an inferno. “I AM YOUR FATHER. I AM SHARRUM. YOU WILL SHOW ME RESPECT!”
“Respect? You sent an assassin into my land to murder a baby! What respect? You’re a child killer.”
“IT WAS YOUR FAULT. YOU PRECIPITATED THIS THROUGH YOUR STUBBORNNESS.”
God, I wanted to punch him in the face. “You are despicable. I’m ashamed to be your daughter. I should walk the street apologizing to everyone I meet for the fact that you still exist.”
“I MADE YOU. WITHOUT ME YOU WOULDN’T EXIST. I CAN SNUFF OUT YOUR LIFE WITH A FLICK OF MY FINGERS AND MAKE A DOZEN JUST LIKE YOU.”
“Do it.” I spread my arms. “Come on. I’m waiting.”
Rage shivered in the corners of his mouth. I’d really pissed him off this time. Good. Have a taste of your own medicine.
“DO NOT TEMPT ME.”
“Why is it you haven’t killed me, Father? You murdered all of the others. My brothers and sisters. What’s the holdup?”
“I TOLERATE YOU FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR MOTHER’S MEMORY, BUT MY PATIENCE IS AT ITS END.”
Aha. “So is mine. You took my child’s caretaker and you forced her to betray everything she stood for. Julie watched her die. I hate you.”
“YOU BROKE INTO MY HOUSE. YOU UPSET YOUR GRANDMOTHER. YOU DAMAGED MY PRISON, AND YOU STOLE MY CAPTIVES. RETURN WHAT IS MINE.”
Captives. He didn’t know Curran had consumed the saber-tooth.
“I did no such thing. I didn’t go to your house. Your captive—a citizen of my land, whom you kidnapped and kept prisoner—hired mercenaries to rescue him and they did. I’ll send you the contract, so your lawyers can explain it to you. Your security is lousy, Father. I would look into that if I were you.”
“I AM SHARRUM OF SHINAR. MY LINE GOES BACK A HUNDRED GENERATIONS. I WILL NOT BE DISRESPECTED!”
“Nor will I!” My magic raged. The Guild around me shook. “I’m a princess of Shinar, granddaughter of Semiramis, niece of the City Eater, daughter of the Builder of Towers. My line is longer than yours by one!”
Shock registered on his face for a moment before melting back into fury. That’s right. You made me, now deal with it.
“You will respect my boundaries, Father. You squatted on the edge of my land and you keep trying to provoke me. I haven’t broken my word. I’ve upheld our peace.”
“BY TAKING WHAT IS MINE LIKE A THIEF? YOU SHAME ME, DAUGHTER.”
The press of his magic was almost too much to bear, but I was too angry to back down.
“I wasn’t there. I was in Mishmar, talking to my grandmother. Ask her, if you don’t believe me.”
His magic punched me. “RETURN THE DEMIGOD TO ME!”