Death and the Emperor

Book 2 Chapter XVI: Kilan Tells Nimetath

There is always a pleasure in unravelling a mystery, in catching at the gossamer clue which will guide to certainty. -- Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton

"When did my life become a murder mystery?" Kilan complained the next morning, when he awoke to the knowledge he had to tell Nimetath to search for ruby bracelets.

There was no one around to answer. Really, he would have been more surprised if there was. He was in the sort of mood when the world seems hopeless, the glass is not only half-empty but probably contains poison, and everything was going wrong. When a person is in that sort of mood, all they want to do is sulk and mope for an hour or two. The last thing they want is for someone to answer them and show them that things were not nearly as bad as they seemed.

Kilan remained in a sulky mood until after breakfast.

"What happened to you?" Nadriet asked in surprise when he answered her "Good morning" with a very grouchy "'Morning". "Didn't you sleep well?"

His parents were much less sympathetic.

"Wipe that gloomy look off your face," Arásy said the minute she saw him. "You look like a toddler throwing a tantrum."

Kilan was tempted to sulk even longer just to spite her. But his common sense prevailed. He began to realise that acting like the world was coming to an end would achieve nothing but make himself miserable and annoy everyone around him.

He made an effort to brighten up. He said a more sincere "Good morning" to Nadriet, and even managed to nod politely to his parents. Neither Særnor nor Arásy looked impressed with his sudden change of demeanour. He suspected there was a lecture on childish behaviour ahead of him. Oh well, it was his own fault.

It was a curious thing, but when Kilan began to act as if there was still some hope left in the world, he began to feel much more cheerful. Why, things weren't as bad as he had thought at all! Now he had an actual clue that could help them track down not only the murderer, but the accomplice and everyone involved!

~~~~

"But how do you know this?" Nimetath asked, rubbing her eyes as if she wasn't fully awake yet.

That one question sent Kilan right back into the depths of despair. How was he to explain this? His inexplicable knowledge would seem very suspicious indeed to Nimetath. But to tell her where he had learnt this would lead to him being called mad at best.

And yet, whispered a little voice in the back of his mind, it would make my life much easier if everyone knew I was married to Death. No one would dare speak against me.

He thought of his great-grandfather many times removed, Emperor Devtelin, who had claimed to be friends with Death. Officially this was described as an embarrassing and mostly harmless delusion brought on by childhood trauma. But while Devtelin was alive no one had dared speak against him. The ones who did tended to disappear.

Kilan didn't know whether there was any truth to the story or not. He had never met Devtelin, or asked Death about him, and she had never raised the subject. But he found himself wondering what would happen if he did reveal his relationship with Death.

He had a long history of making very poor decisions where she was involved.

Why break the habit now?

"I..." Kilan paused to gather his thoughts. "Can I tell you a secret? Something only Qihadal knows? Well, I told my parents about it but they didn't believe me, so Qihadal is the only person who knows about it and believes it."