Death and the Emperor

Book 3 Chapter XIX: Arguments

Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. -- Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Death became Linyie's frequent companion. Every evening she visited the little princess's nursery. After a few nights of this Linyie came to expect her odd visitor's appearances. If Death was even a minute late, Linyie glared at her and refused to acknowledge her presence. If she didn't want Death to leave, she grabbed hold of her cape and wailed when Death tried to move away. Clearly, this little girl would be quite a handful when she grew up.

None of the girl's nursemaids suspected anyone else was present when their charge looked up and babbled in baby talk to what they thought was empty air. They cooed back at the baby, unaware that Death was right beside them.

Linyie was a month old when Qihadal found out.

Death was in the middle of telling Linyie about the history of an ancient castle she had recently visited. It didn't matter that the baby couldn't understand a word of what she said, or that the conversation was very one-sided. The little princess was a better listener than many people. And unlike her previous incarnation, she wasn't constantly shouting at Death.

Neither of them noticed the door open until it slammed shut.

Linyie wailed indignantly at this unexpected noise. Death looked up, and came face to face with an irate Qihadal. The empress's fists were clenched and her face was a mask of rage.

"What. Are. You. Doing." Her voice trembled with barely-suppressed fury. "Get out!"

Death got up from kneeling beside the crib. Linyie made a disappointed noise at her friend's departure.

"Someone has to watch your daughter," Death said with biting sarcasm, "when you're too busy to pay much attention to her."

Qihadal started forward as if she intended to physically attack her. Death raised an eyebrow. If it came to an outright fight, they both knew who would win. Qihadal was only a mortal, after all. They stared at each other in silence for a long moment. Linyie, sensing the hostility in the atmosphere, began to shriek at the top of her lungs. With a swift movement Qihadal pushed past Death and picked up the baby.

"Stay away from my daughter," she hissed, "or by all the gods I will kill you!"

"Good luck with that," Death said dryly.

Qihadal's glare only intensified, if that was possible. "I will find a way."

All right, now this was just getting ridiculous. Now that Ranoryin was not in a position to bother her any more, Qihadal was trying to take over where she left off. Death did not approve. She liked some peace and quiet, thank you very much, and angry empresses had a tendency to make peace and quiet hard to find.

"For goodness' sake, Empress!" Death said. She folded her arms and gave Qihadal her most disapproving glare. It worked wonders on the Reapers, and even on Death's children, but this nuisance of a girl proved immune. "You can see for yourself that your daughter is not harmed. I've already told you she will live a good long time -- longer than you or Kilan, in fact, if that's any comfort." It wasn't, if the look on Qihadal's face was any indication. "So stop behaving like a child. That baby has more sense than you do."

The empress stared at her. Then she calmly set Linyie down in her crib, walked right up to Death, and slapped her across the face with all her strength.

Naturally, Kilan chose this moment to walk in. His shocked reaction almost made up for the pain of the slap. Almost.

"What?" Kilan exclaimed, rubbing his eyes as if he thought he was seeing things. "What's going on here?"