"So tell me, Caterina, what is your role in Lord Provin's entourage?" She was genuinely curious about the girl's answer. Alenor had mentioned nothing about an attractive blonde in Dirk's service.

"I'm his hostage, my lady," Caterina explained."Oh, you poor thing," she sighed, hoping she'd covered her surprise well. "What did you do to find yourself in such an unfortunate position?"

"She didn't do anything," Eryk volunteered. "Caterina's papa is in the Brotherhood and she's staying with us so they won't kill Lord Dirk."

"Eryk!" Caterina scolded. "Mind your tongue!"

Jacinta smiled at the girl. "Please, don't be angry at him. I'll keep your confidence. But I'm surprised to hear there is a Brotherhood a.s.sa.s.sin after someone as important as Lord Provin."

Eryk's face crumpled into a frown. "It was the Baenlanders, my lady. They're the ones that put a contract out on him. Tia told them all this mean stuff about him and now they don't like him anymore."

Hardly surprising. What was surprising was that Dirk Provin had the wits to find a way to prevent the contract from being carried out. A Brotherhood a.s.sa.s.sin on your tail was nothing to be blase about.

"Well, I just hope you haven't been mistreated, Caterina," she said. "Or I would feel compelled to raise the matter with Lord Provin myself."

"Oh no, my lady," Caterina hurried to a.s.sure her. "He's been a real gentleman. I mean, even when we were on the ship on the way to the Baenlands, he didn't ravage me or anything like that, and he didn't let any of the crew hurt me, either."

"A true gentleman," Jacinta agreed, fighting the urge to smile. "Still, these things are usually temporary arrangements. Perhaps he'll let you return home soon."

"I don't think so, my lady," Caterina told her confidently. "I mean everybody knows when the Brotherhood accepts a contract, they never stop until it's been carried out. I may have to stay Lord Provin's hostage for ever and ever..."

And you're not the least bit disturbed by the prospect, are you? Jacinta thought, slightly amused.

Was Dirk Provin aware of the fact that this girl was besotted by him? Did the thought amuse him? Had he taken advantage of it? Or was he too blind to notice?

"Will you be staying with us in Bollow, my lady?" Eryk asked. She had obviously won him over, heart and soul. Her credentials as Alenor's cousin put her firmly in the young man's good graces.

"No, I'll find an inn when we get there. I wouldn't dream of imposing myself on Lord Provin's hospitality at such a time." Or putting myself in his power, she added silently.

"You'll like him," Eryk predicted confidently. "He's really nice."

Jacinta smiled, thinking of all the descriptions she heard of Dirk Provin, "really nice" was not among them.

"I'm sure he is, Eryk," she agreed. "Alenor told me all about him and she says exactly the same thing."

Eryk nodded happily as the carriage and her escort continued to wend their way through the crowded streets of Avacas. Jacinta didn't even notice the rough ride any longer, too enchanted by the idea that for the next few days she would have nothing better to do than grill Dirk Provin's loyal servant and his love-struck hostage.

Marqel had unwittingly done her a huge favor by packing her off to Bollow in Dirk's baggage wagon. By the time they got to the northern city, she would probably know what color his underwear was.

And that, Jacinta expected, was going to give her the edge she needed to deal with the enigmatic and dangerous Dirk Provin.

Chapter 42

Tia woke to a room filled with dull light and the soft pattering of rain on the thatched roof. It took her a moment to remember where she was, then she frowned as she realized she'd been sleeping. Lifting her head from her folded arms resting on the edge of the bed, she blinked sleepily. Her neck was stiff from dozing in such an uncomfortable position, perched on a chair beside the bed. Misha lay amid a tangle of sheets, but his breathing was deep and even. He was asleep, she realized, not unconscious, his face peaceful and serene.

"He's over the worst of it, I think," Master Helgin said softly behind her.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Why did you let me doze off?"

"One invalid is all I can cope with at the moment," he told her. "You needed the rest."

"Is he going to be all right?"

Helgin nodded slowly. "Yes, I think he's going to be just fine."

The relief Tia felt was indescribable. The horror of the past few days was something she never wanted to live through again. There had been so many times when she almost broke her vow and gave into Misha's cries for relief. So many times when she was sure he must die, because it didn't seem possible his body could take much more punishment.

"So it's all over now?" she asked.

Helgin nodded. "The physical symptoms should diminish the longer he's free of the drug, although he may have the odd relapse. The worst is over but he's not out of the woods yet. And the mental cravings may never leave him. He's going to have to be very strong to resist them."

"He's strong enough," she a.s.sured the old man. Stronger than any person she had ever met. "Not physically, perhaps, but he's a lot tougher than he looks, Master Helgin."

Helgin smiled. "You've no need to convince me of that, la.s.s. I've only seen one or two people survive sudden withdrawal. Few men have the courage to even try it. He's quite a remarkable young man." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you go and get some sleep. I'll stay with him."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I want to be here when he wakes up."

"Your room is just across the hall," Helgin reminded her. "I promise I'll call you the moment he opens his eyes."

Tia thought about it for a moment and then nodded, rising stiffly to her feet. Misha might sleep for hours yet and she was exhausted, in mind and body. She had no idea what day it was, whether it was morning or evening. The last few days were just a blur.

"You will call me, won't you?" she insisted.

"I promise."

Tia closed the door to Misha's room behind her gently and all but staggered across the hall to her own bed. She collapsed onto it fully clothed, asleep before she'd had time to notice she was lying down. She slept dreamlessly and deeply until she was woken by a gentle hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake.

"Is it Misha?" she asked, a little surprised to find Franco standing over her."No, he's still sleeping as far as I know, la.s.s. Reithan's here," the caretaker advised her. "And he has the Lady Lexie with him."

"Lexie!"

They were gathered in the kitchen: Lexie, Reithan, Mellie and Prince Oscon. Tia threw herself into Lexie's arms, relieved to see her alive and well. Reithan stood near the stove, sipping a steaming mug of tea and talking to Oscon, who was tolerating this intrusion into his peaceful domain with a remarkable degree of equanimity.

"Is everyone all right? When we heard about Mil we were so worried about you all."

"The bulk of our people got away," Lexie a.s.sured her. "A few of them stayed to fight. Dal Falstov and most of his crew were killed during the battle, but Porl got the Makuan clear before the attack.

And we were able to get the rest of the people up to the caves before the Senetians arrived, thanks to Dirk."

Tia scowled at Lexie. "Thanks to Dirk? Thanks to Dirk they invaded the Baenlands, Lexie!"

"I think you'd better hear Lexie out, Tia," Reithan suggested.

"What do you mean?"

Lexie took a seat at the table, her expression grave. "Dirk arranged for the invasion fleet to heave to at the entrance to the delta for almost a full day before they attacked," she explained. "We had plenty of time to evacuate Mil."

"Then Dirk never really betrayed us at all," Mellie announced. "I knew he wouldn't do it. That proves it!"

"That doesn't prove anything, Mellie, other than the fact that he's an idiot."

"Which we all know is not the case," Lexie reminded her. "But that's not all, Tia. I was captured by the Senetian Guard. I am only alive today because Dirk intervened. He lied about who I was to Prince Kirshov. He stopped the Senetians from searching the caves above the settlement."

"So he's got some small shred of conscience left," Tia shrugged. "It's hardly evidence he's doing anything n.o.ble."

"But if Dirk has joined the Shadowdancers to destroy them," Mellie pointed out, determined to believe the best about her half-brother, "if he is still on our side, then he would have no choice but to pretend he wants to destroy us."

"You haven't heard, then," Tia concluded as she listened to Lexie and Mellie trying to justify everything Dirk had done as having some n.o.ble purpose. "Dirk's not a Shadowdancer any longer, Lexie. He's moved up in the world. He's the Lord of the Suns now."

Lexie was clearly shocked by the news.

"I got word from Tanchen a few days ago," Oscon added. "He was named as Paige Halyn's heir a couple of weeks after the old man died."

"And you still think he simply left us to hide away in Avacas in comfort?" Lexie asked Tia with a raised brow.

"I don't know what to think, Lexie. Misha believes he's trying to bring down the Church."

"And who better than the Lord of the Suns to do that?" Oscon remarked. "I'm inclined to think Misha may have the right of it. This reeks of a well thought out plan, my lady, not a chance set ofcoincidences."

"You're clutching at sunbeams," Tia accused. "All of you. If Dirk had some grand plan to bring down the Shadowdancers, why keep it a secret from us? Why not tell us what he was doing? Why not trust us? We could have helped!"

"Perhaps he trusted us as much as we trusted him, Tia," Lexie suggested. "What would you have done if Dirk came to you and told you he wanted to return to Avacas to join the Shadowdancers so he could become the Lord of the Suns and destroy the Church?"

"I wouldn't have believed it then, any more than I do now," she replied.

"Which is precisely my point, dearest," Lexie said. "He had no reason to believe we would have supported his plan."

"His plan, Lexie, is to gain as much power for himself as he possibly can, and he doesn't care who he steps on along the way to gain it. He's even told the new High Priestess about this eclipse that's coming. That's the same High Priestess he slept with, by the way."

"What eclipse?" Reithan asked.

"Don't you remember, Reithan? The eclipse he bought his way into the Shadowdancers with," Tia reminded him. "And when I told Neris about it, all he did was laugh." She sighed, wondering what it would take to make her people see Dirk for what he really was. "How is Neris, by the way? I suppose he thought the sight of the Senetian fleet sailing into Mil a grand old show."

Lexie leaned forward and took her by the hand. "I'm sorry, darling. Neris is... he was killed in the fighting..."

Tia stared at her for a moment, numbed by the news. On top of everything else that had happened lately, it felt as if she had nothing left with which to grieve for her father.

"He wasn't captured, then?" she asked tonelessly.

"Small consolation that it is," Lexie a.s.sured her. "They didn't take him alive."

Tia couldn't help her feeling of despair. "So Mil is destroyed, our people are scattered and the only person left alive who might be able to predict the next Age of Shadows is Dirk Provin."

"Tia..." Lexie said, reaching out to her.

She shook off Lexie's proffered sympathy and rose wearily to her feet. "I think I'll go sit with Misha for a while."

"How is he?" Reithan asked.

"He's doing just fine," she said. "He's finally free of the poppy-dust and itching to get back to Avacas."

"It's been worth it, then?" Lexie asked.

"I hope so, Lexie, because the way things are going for our people lately, I've a bad feeling the son of our worst enemy is our only hope."

Tia shooed Master Helgin out of Misha's room and sent him down to the kitchen to greet Reithan and Lexie. She took the chair beside the bed and studied Misha's sleeping form for a while, wondering what he would make of the news Lexie had brought about Dirk's strange behavior in Mil. He'd no doubt think it simply strengthened his argument that Dirk was planning to destroy the Church.

Maybe he was right. Maybe she simply refused to accept the evidence everyone else seemeddetermined to believe. On the other hand, they'd fallen into this trap before with Dirk Provin and she was the only one who had insisted he couldn't be trusted. But I fell under his spell, too, just like the rest of them, she reminded herself. For a moment she tried to recall that time in Omaxin, wondering what it was that had made her let her guard down. Was it the isolation? Or was it the desperate hope that in Johan Thorn's son lay the future his father had refused to consider?

"Tia?"

All thoughts of Dirk fled as she realized Misha was awake.

"Is it...over?"

"It's over."

He reached out his hand for hers with a wan smile. "I feel like I've been run over by a herd of stampeding horses."

"You'll start to feel better soon," she a.s.sured him, giving his hand an encouraging squeeze.

He smiled and raised her hand to his lips, kissing it gently. "Thank you."

"I didn't do anything, Misha," she said, strangely moved by the simple gesture.

"You stayed with me. And you kept your promise."

"Only just," she told him. "I came awfully close to giving in."

"But you didn't. I wish there was some way I could repay you for your kindness."

"Free Dhevyn," she reminded him with a smile. "That'll do for a start."

He laughed softly. "You're never going to let me forget that promise, are you?"

"Never."

He studied her for a moment and then frowned. "You look exhausted."

"I'm all right. I've had a few hours' sleep."

"You should rest."