Anna Stephens - Bloodchild

Now Corvus did sit, and Valan too, perching on the edge of the table with no thought for propriety. His second breathed as though he’d sprinted the length of the city, greasy sweat darkening his hair. His hands shook.

They stared at Fost, and the war chief swallowed again. ‘Forgive me, Sire. I did not … There was nothing I could … They were already dead, months dead, by the time we reached Cat Valley, let alone all the way to Eagle Height.’

‘Who are the survivors?’ Valan asked, his voice hoarse. ‘Is Neela with them? My girls?’

Fost’s shoulders hunched. ‘The women are all minor consorts from Falcon’s Landing and Cat Valley; a storm blew in and they were able to flee, invisible. The children are from all our towns, but Neela’s gone, Second, and your girls too. I’m sorry.’

Corvus and Fost turned from Valan’s ragged grief, shuffling in their seats as he bent double, arms wrapped around his waist as though to ward off a blow. A strangled keening came from him that grated like stone against Corvus’s nerves.

‘I sent a messenger as soon as we reached Cat Valley, Sire, I swear. If I’d known he didn’t make it through …’ He blinked, then coughed. ‘We’re holding all the survivors outside the city for now, Sire. I wanted to inform you first, before the men see how few they are.’

Almost all our women, our children. Our future, gone. We tore apart their people and they did the same to us. So be it. If they want a war of fucking attrition, they’ve got one.

Corvus’s face was hot with rage, but an ice-cold, ice-hard ball of hate sat heavy in his chest. ‘Fost, you have a list of the women and children, who their consorts and fathers are?’ Corvus barely recognised his own voice, it was so harsh with sickening anger. He’d had a few consorts, at least one daughter, both in Crow Crag and Eagle Height. Fost’s refusal to even mention them said all he needed to know. The man nodded and held it out. Corvus didn’t look at it.

‘Bring the men to the women, not the other way around. Women whose man is dead will be reallocated on a merit basis in the first instance. I will announce the … tragedy at dusk, and ask the Blessed One to say a few words about what has happened.’

‘Your will, Sire.’

‘Valan, I grieve for your loss. Go to Pine Lock for me and kill those Evendoom brothers. Take out your rage on them and make sure everyone knows who they are and why they’re dying. I want everyone knowing the royals are dead, that my claim is uncontested.’

He couldn’t even be sure Valan had heard him, but his second nodded and stalked from the throne room without another word. Corvus pitied anyone who got in his way. He poured ale, drank without tasting, then hurled the cup to shatter against the far wall.

I will kill every last fucking one of them, roast them on spits, wind their guts out, peel their faces off. I will kill them all for this. Dark Lady, Gosfath, God of Blood, witness my oath. Now it’s personal.

Eighth moon, first year of the reign of King Corvus

Heir’s suite, the palace, Rilporin, Wheat Lands

Tara stood quietly by the window, sunlight sparking strands of gold from Valan’s light-brown hair as he sat with his back to her and the afternoon, staring into the cold fireplace and drinking. He was drinking a lot, and early in the day. Tara didn’t like it, or that one of the toy horses rested in his lap. Every so often he turned it over in his hands. Once he’d rubbed it against his cheek.

She didn’t dare move. Whatever had happened had made him dangerous and not because he was her enemy. He wanted to hurt something. He wanted to kill something and she was the only available target. Violence drifted from him like smoke.

He reached for the bottle on the table next to him and sloshed the last of the wine into his cup. Another, already empty, sat by his elbow. She was surprised he was still conscious. Tara padded silently to the shelf and selected a third, hoping after that cupful he’d pass out. She twisted off the cork, placed the bottle gently on the table and stepped back. Valan caught her hand in his, his thumb stroking along her wrist.

‘Fetch another glass and sit. Drink with me.’

Oh, fuck.

‘Your will, honoured,’ Tara said. She fetched a cup and then set her chair opposite, out of the candlelight the better to see his shadowed face, poured a small measure and sipped.

‘Fill it.’

She did as she was told, drinking to quiet the butterflies in her stomach. Valan drank some more, still focused on the fireplace and not her. ‘Neela’s dead.’ The words were so unexpected in the long silence that she jumped, wine splashing her skirt. ‘My girls too. All dead. Killed. Murdered. Hacked apart by the cunting Wolves months ago. Months, and only just able to mourn them.’ He flailed his free hand. ‘Did all this for them, give them a better life under the blessings of the Red Gods, an easier life down here, and by now they’ll have been eaten by cats and crows. They’ll never see any of it.’

He put his hand over his eyes and she saw the glistening of tears on his cheeks.

‘Fuck,’ Tara breathed and drained her cup. ‘Valan, I’m so sorry.’ And she was. She took a deep breath. ‘Is it … just her?’

He shook his head ponderously. ‘Everyone. All of them bar a couple of hundred survivors. Corvus is going to tell the men at dusk and then this city will erupt. Maybe he thinks they’ll be less likely to massacre Rilporians in the dark, I don’t know. Fucking idiot. So sure he didn’t need to leave fighters back home to defend the villages. Arrogant fucking cunt.’

Tara pressed her lips together. Dusk. She had enough time. ‘Would you like to talk about her?’ she asked, taking the cup from his unresponsive fingers and refilling it.

‘What?’ He sniffed and rubbed his face, downing half the wine when she handed it back.

‘Your wife, Neela. Tell me about her and your children. If you wish.’

‘Why?’ he demanded, focusing on her. ‘So you can gloat?’

Tara lowered her gaze. ‘Forgive me. I thought it might help.’ She stood. ‘I will leave you to your thoughts, honoured.’

‘Fucking sit,’ he snarled, so close to violence that Tara was back in her seat before he’d finished speaking, heart yammering against her ribs.

You’ve got one chance, Carter. Do not fuck this up. And please, Valan, don’t do anything stupid. Having to kill you now will ruin everything.

‘Neela wasn’t so highborn as you,’ he said after a long silence, surprising her again. The wine was warming her, but she couldn’t afford any more of it. ‘Born and raised in Crow Crag like me, but her father was a low warrior and a thief. Childhood toughened her, taught her guile and strength, enough to turn down consort offers from other low warriors. Lot of the women hated her for that, and one or two men tried to force her. She cut the first one on the face, second in the groin, and then they left her alone.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ Tara said with genuine respect. ‘She sounds formidable.’

Valan smiled, sad and full of memory. ‘She was. She knew what she wanted, what she deserved, and that was a better life than the poorer warriors could give her. I thought I’d lose her to Corvus, you know,’ he said and met her eyes, gesturing that she drink.

Tara complied, then spat it back into the cup when his gaze drifted away.

‘But she didn’t want a Rilporian, it seems, even one who’d converted and risen as high as war chief. But his second? She’d settle for that. For me.’

‘Maybe your gods had a hand in it,’ Tara said carefully. If he got much drunker and carried on talking about Neela, she’d a fair idea what he’d want from her next. ‘Sounds like you were a good match,’ she added. ‘Perhaps They wanted to reward you with a woman worthy of you.’