The Twisted Citadel (Darkglass Mountain Series #2)

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Chapter One

The Sky Peaks Pass, and DarkGlass Mountain, Isembaard

Ishbel Brunelle Persimius sank to her knees in the snow, watching Maximilian Persimius, the Lord of Elcho Falling, walk away from her into the night.

I'm so sorry, he said to her, over his shoulder. So sorry.

He vanished into the darkness, Ravenna at his side.

Very slowly Ishbel leaned over, her hands clutching into the snow, until her forehead touched the ground's icy surface. She stayed like that for four or five heartbeats, then her right fist beat once against the snow, then again, and she swore, very softly but very fiercely.

Ishbel straightened, sitting back on her heels, staring into the night.

She was furious. She had been kneeling in the snow, forehead to ground, for only a short space of time, but in that time she had journeyed from the absolute despair of Maximilian's rejection to a depth of rage that she'd never experienced previously.

Ishbel was not angry at Maximilian, nor even at Ravenna, but at herself. She could not believe that she, Archpriestess of the Coil, wife of the Lord of Elcho Falling, lover of the Tyrant of Isembaard, and a Persimius in her own right, had allowed herself to be outmaneuvered so easily. She could not believe that she, Ishbel, had allowed herself to be beaten into the snow, and so humiliated.

Even Maximilian's former lover, StarWeb, had not managed so easily what Ravenna had just accomplished with a few powerful words.

I carry his child, Ishbel. His heir. Maximilian Persimius will cleave to me now.

WhileIshbel's current anger was directed at herself rather than at Ravenna, Ravenna had managed to earn herself Ishbel's enduring enmity—not merely for what Ravenna had said and done, but for the satisfaction with which she had delivered her triumph.

Ravenna's time would come.

Ishbel rose and brushed snow from her skirt and face with irritated, staccato movements. "Am I such a naive girl to be rendered so easily the fool?" she muttered. "I cannot believe I allowed Ravenna such an easy victory!"

Fool no longer, she thought, as she strode in the opposite direction from that which Maximilian and Ravenna had taken.

Ravenna need expect no goodwill from me in the future, and no more easy victories.

As she walked, her back straight, a hard glint in her eyes, Ishbel whispered into the night. "Madarin! Madarin! Madarin!"

Madarin was the soldier Ishbel had healed of a twisted bowel on the way down from the FarReach Mountains to Aqhat when Axis was escorting her to be Isaiah's new wife. She had no reason to believe that Madarin was still with that half of the enormous army which Isaiah had now brought as far as the Sky Peaks Pass, but somehow she knew he was here.

"Madarin," she whispered, every inch the priestess intent on her purpose. "Come, I have need of you."

Ten minutes later, as Ishbel stood shrouded by a line of dozing horses at the edge of the huge camp, a man emerged out of the night.

Kanubai stood in the Infinity Chamber in the center of DarkGlass Mountain and exulted. Far to the north the Lord of Elcho Falling vacillated, weak and indecisive, while here Kanubai stood fully fleshed and powerful, and with an army of gray wraiths at his command.

Moreover, here Kanubai stood, fully fleshed from the flesh of the daughter of the Lord of Elcho Falling himself and that would ensure Kanubai's success.

There was nothing the Lord of Elcho Falling could do against him.

Kanubai smiled.

There were a dozen or so Skraelings within the chamber, all crouched in various postures of servility and awe before their lord. They were loathsome creatures, but they would do.

Kanubai stretched his arms out and roared, knowing that roar would reverberate in the ears of the Lord of Elcho Falling and terrify him.

As he did so, one of his hands glanced against the blackened ruins of the once-beautiful golden glass of the Infinity Chamber.

And as his hand glanced against the ruined glass, so DarkGlass Mountain took him. More to the point, it absorbed him.

The pyramid had been waiting a very long time for just this moment.

Ravenna glanced at Maximilian, walking by her side. His face was set into a rigid, featureless expression which Ravenna knew meant he hid deep emotion.

She slid her arm through his, pulling their bodies together as they walked toward the tent they shared with Venetia, Ravenna's mother.

"I know it hurts," she said, "but it was the right thing to do."

Maximilian did not reply.

"Ishbel isn't the right—"

"Leave it be, Ravenna, I beg you."

Ravenna fell silent, torn between wanting to make certain that Maximilian understood the tragedy that Ishbel could make of his life, and knowing that pushing the issue could just as easily alienate him from herself.

His steps slowed, and Ravenna felt his body tense.

She panicked. "Maxel, it is done now. You can't go back."

Maximilian finally stopped, forcing Ravenna to halt as well. "I shouldn't have turned my back on her like that. Ever since her childhood, Ishbel has dreamed that eventually the Lord of Elcho Falling would destroy her life, and now—"

"Maxel, she is the one who will destroy your life."

Maximilian sighed, the reaction Ravenna dreaded the most. "I was too harsh, Ravenna. Too cruel. Ishbel didn't deserve what I just said to her."

Ravenna grabbed at one of his hands, bringing it to her breast. "She is weak, Maxel. Through that weakness she will destroy you. Ishbel will midwife nothing but sorrow into this land."

Maximilian regarded her, then leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "I know you mean only goodness, Ravenna, but I need to speak with Ishbel. I should not have walked away from her in that manner and I need to make sure she is all right."

"She will seduce you!"

He laughed, genuinely amused. "Not even Ishbel would think of that in this great chill! I treated her most badly, Ravenna. Let me go, I pray you, so that I may speak a little more gently to her. I will not linger, and I promise to you that I shall not allow myself to be seduced."