The Cursewright's Vow

Chapter 28: The Bargain, Part 6

 "Whatever powers the Throne has, I'm still not seeing why I should benefit from this sudden fit of generosity." Ammas sounded waspish but in fact he felt rather abashed; whatever he thought of its current occupant he had always held a deep respect for the Malachite Throne's history. "Just for my silence? He could buy my silence more cheaply with a knife in my back, and fulfill his vow by reopening the Maathinhold."

Varallo sighed, for the first time showing real irritation. "You are a splendid cursewright, Ammas, but you have almost as bad a head for politics as your father did."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning you underestimate just what a service you provided the Throne." A fire had ignited in the Grand Chancellor's eyes, his normally cool demeanor evaporating. "Your brethren were all condemned as traitors, your father the worst of all. And with no thought of your own reward, you risked your life to cure the Emperor's youngest child, and in the process repaired a disaster of his own making. You destroyed a pack of ritual werewolves who might have done untold damage across the Anointed Realms, almost singlehandedly. Oh, and you put your traitor father to death along the way. Do you not see how you've redeemed the brethren, or at least made such a redemption possible in the Emperor's eyes? Do you not see that you did him such a great service that even the Sultan will not be able to dispute the nature of your reward?"

Ammas shook his head, uncomprehending -- or unwilling to comprehend. "I did nothing more than I was sworn to do, I never stopped doing as I was pledged -- "

"And in so doing demonstrated why your kind are needed, whatever grievances the Sultan might affect. At this moment, I would say the Emperor -- and I do not deny he can be lamentably capricious at times -- but for now I would say he considers you among his most faithful servants."

That remark made Ammas's stomach roil in horror. When he spoke his voice shook, his eyes glittering hotly as they met Varallo Thray's piercing gaze. "I will never serve the Emperor, not after my father, my mother, not after what I saw under the Curia -- "

"Oh come, Ammas, come!" Varallo scoffed. Now he was not merely irritated but incensed. "I had great respect for Senrich, but he was an idealistic fool. So he thought to limit his involvement with the coup by merely penning an argument. Yet he remained oblivious to his own position as a threat -- to your family's position as a threat. The common folk and nobles alike feared and respected him as Overseer. In his brother there was perhaps an even worse danger: a well-liked ruler with a beautiful family and a reputation for battling pirates on the high seas. No rivalry between them, no hatred to split apart your House as has too often afflicted the Deyns. If the coup had succeeded, how long would a regency have lasted before the Council and commoners alike looked elsewhere for an Emperor? Look at Somilius! Look at his children! If the Emperor had been removed from power, there would have been a Mourthia Emperor within five years. The Deyns would have been exiled or beheaded, including the Princess Carala, if she had even been born. It is why the Emperor's rage was so tremendous. And it is why he is willing to reward you now -- even placate you, if you choose to see it that way."

"Placate me," Ammas said. His mouth had gone numb, and not from the wine. "All it would take is my silence, then. I say nothing about Yvelle, or Swiftfoot, and -- "

"And you will once more be sanctioned to practice as a cursewright, free to do as you like in Munazyr." Varallo studied Ammas, leaning forward, his hands clasped at his knees. "Is it such a difficult thing for you to imagine? You are sworn to silence concerning your clients' afflictions, after all. Why not see these things as a part of her illness?"

Ammas turned from the Grand Chancellor, staring out a window to the quiet street below. In the silence that followed he could hear the chanted Sorrows, now reaching a peak as the funeral rites continued. Carala was in the Cathedral, along with Yvelle's body, and Denisius and Vos, and Silenio, and even the Emperor himself, while blocks away he struggled with this incredible temptation.