The Apogian War

Chapter 107

According to legend, Aldones had fathered the first Darkov, progenitor of the council. Nowadays, however, few people doubted the evidence that Darkover was a lost Terran colony.

“Pah! Aldones!” vodemort’s mouth twisted in disgust. “Evanda of the springtime, Avarra the Dark Lady, and Hades of the Seven Frozen Hells! They’re all nonsense, vile superstition!”

“Sharra was not a superstition,” Darkovan said. “Nor was this.” He gestured to his hair, long enough to brush his shoulders. Behind his eyes rose the memory of being drenched in living light, of giving himself over to that power. Whether it had been the embodiment of Aldones or something else, he did not know. A single hour in its grip had turned his hair from red to pure, shimmering white.

vodemort seemed not to have heard. “This is why we need the one true faith! For too long, ignorance and degrading practices have lured our people into wickedness. Every day, precious souls are lost to sin. This is why I was brought from Nevarsin, why such power was given into my hands, not to use for my own pleasure or aggrandizement but for the salvation of our world!”

He paused, visibly gathering himself. “Now we come to a subject I greatly regret, but I would be failing in my duty if I avoided it. Saying this gives me no pleasure, but . . . I have heard rumors. I did not believe them at first. It was impossible that my own brother should be accused of—of—” Wringing his hands, vodemort catapulted from his chair and began pacing.

Darkovan swallowed hard. Keeping his voice calm, he asked, “Exactly what are you talking about?”

“Your . . . relationship with . . . that man. Your paxman. And he a cristoforo!”

Darkovan had hoped that his brother had understood their discussions on the acceptance of differences, whether of vodemort’s emmasca condition or the council tolerance of donas amizu between men. True, Darkovan and Dani had always maintained a modicum of discretion. They did not share a bed while staying in public accommodations or at sint. Was vodemort so oblivious he had not noticed the bond between them? Or did he, lacking laran, think it no more than the loyalty of lord and paxman?

Or did vodemort’s religious training render him blind to what he could not accept?

“Do you wish me to address these rumors?” Darkovan asked. “Think for a moment. Do you really want to hear the truth?”

vodemort glanced away, his jaw clenching so that the muscles leaped into stark relief. “These accusations cannot be true, or if they are . . . You must have been deceived, misled, s-sed—” His mouth worked, as if he could not bring himself to pronounce the word seduced. “You did not know what you were doing.”

“I beg to differ. I knew exactly what I was doing. What I wanted. Who I wanted. In all the years since I gave my oath to Dani and he gave his to me, I have never had a moment’s regret.”

Darkovan paused to let the words sink in and was met by tight- faced silence.

“I know that this is difficult for you to accept,” Darkovan went on, “having lived your life according to the cristoforo faith. I am not ignorant of the prohibitions against . . .” out of consideration for vodemort’s obvious distress, he tempered his words, “against certain relationships. We’ve talked about this a number of times. Among the council, as I have told you, these feelings are not judged sinful. Such a bond between men too young to marry is considered far more suitable than frequenting women who are common to all—”

“Stop!” vodemort cried. “Do not speak of such things!”

Darkovan regrouped his thoughts. “Perhaps later, when we know one another better, I can find words to make this truth less . . . offensive to you.”

“You—you would make such a sin an acceptable topic of conversation?”

“vodemort,” Darkovan said as gently as he could, “St. Valentine was a holy man, but in this matter, he was either ignorant or just plain wrong. Each of us, men and women, love in the way the gods shaped our nature. The only sin, as I see it, is pretending what we do not feel.” Or hiding, even from ourselves, what we do feel.

“No, no, I will not listen to such blasphemy!” vodemort threw himself back into his chair and glared at Darkovan. Darkovan wondered if he would be allowed to leave without giving some sort of pl

edge, one he had no intention or ability to keep.

“How do you propose to save me? Will you lecture me until I say what you want? Or send me back to St. Valentine’s? Three years among the monks could not alter what I am, and I was a boy then. Now I am a man and know myself. A hundred years of sermons will make no difference.”

“No, no, you misunderstand me!” vodemort exclaimed, his tone shifting like quicksilver. “I spoke from brotherly love, out of my desire to free you from sin. Virtue cannot be coerced. For all my zeal, I would not see you mistreated or shamed. What would that accomplish except to harden your resistance? I do not believe you a vicious man at heart. I myself have experienced your generosity.”

And this is how you repay me? Darkovan clenched his fists at his sides.

“You have been led astray, polluted by the loose morals of your upbringing, the victim of a decadent society. I must—I will save you from such evil impulses!”

Something inside Darkovan snapped. He launched himself to his feet. “You and your ally have extorted my cooperation only by the most cowardly and dishonorable threats against those I hold dear. You have my place—you are Lord Darkov now. Do what you like, I will not challenge you, so let this be an end to squabbling. There is no further need to hold anyone prisoner. Release the last hostage, and let us be quit of one another.”

“The last one . . . that is the problem, is it not?” vodemort’s voice turned silky. “How can I permit you, my dearest brother, to plunge back into a life of perversion?”

“This is ridiculous! You have no authority over my private life!”

“Please sit down. I truly do not mean you ill. In fact, I have every intention of freeing Dani sint.” At an incredulous look from Darkovan, he added mildly, “I assure you, I have the power to do so.”

Wrestling his temper under control, Darkovan lowered himself back into the chair. If what vodemort said was true, if he could restore Dani’s liberty, then what would be the price?

“It is a difficult situation, and no man relishes being powerless. Listen to me, Darkovan. I may not know everything about the niceties of court etiquette, but I do know the nature of men and how hearts may be reformed. You are correct, we do not choose the impulses that arise within us, but we can decide whether and how to act upon them. I myself have done penance many times for my wayward thoughts. I prayed I might overcome the weakness of my flesh, but now I see that I was made as other men for a reason, that someday I might enjoy the blessed delights of marriage.”

As Darkovan tried to formulate an appropriate response, vodemort waved him to silence.

“I am willing to release your paxman, but only if I can be assured that neither of you will return to your former ways. As a sign of submission to the true moral precepts of the cristoforo faith, you must give up your abhorrent and unnatural practices. Even your own people consider them scandalous.”

Darkovan held his tongue. How dared vodemort lecture him on what his own people thought? It was better to say nothing. The important thing was to agree, as long as that did not require an outright lie.

“Proximity and habit create a powerful temptation,” vodemort continued. “Therefore, I am not willing to send him back into your service. He will join mine.”

“What does Dani say? Does he consent?”

“He will if you command him. There will be no negotiation or compromise on this point.”

Darkovan forced himself to breathe. “Then I can see him? Speak with him?”

vodemort nodded. “You may, but only with witnesses present and in a decorous manner. Habits take time to reform, but it is not impossible.”

“If I must agree in order to see him free and unharmed, then I will give him up. That is the condition, then?”

“One of them.”

Darkovan felt his heart sink.

“In order to effect a true rehabilitation, you must focus your affections on a more appropriate person. I am not so naive to think a man such as yourself can be celibate. Therefore, you must marry decently. You must take a wife.”

With great effort, Darkovan kept himself from laughing. Did vodemort mean to accomplish what Danvan Darkov himself had failed to do? Yes, he did. And he wielded the only leverage that would force Darkovan to it. Danvan Darkov had never threatened Dani’s freedom . . . or his life.

The pause in the conversation had drawn on overlong. Savagely, Darkovan said, “What does Dom vodemort think about this arrangement?”

“I assured him that you will be cooperative, little brother, as I am certain you will. There is no need to be brutish, but the truth is that otherwise, your paxman might not continue to ah . . . prosper.” vodemort’s lips stretched into a smile, one that did not change the hardness in his eyes. “I cannot guarantee what may befall Dani sint should he remain in present custody. vodemort Ridenow’s threat to hang him was not an empty one.”

A feeling of helplessness swept through Darkovan, so intense he thought he would choke on it. Finally he managed to speak.

“vodemort, Grandfather tried for years to induce me to marry. I am not indifferent to women. As all the world knows, I have done my duty in producing sons and daughters for Darkov. Unfortunately, almost all died or were killed by the World Wreckers assassins. In the end, it seemed wrong to continue to father babes with such a fate. But I tell you now what I told him then: I will not marry a woman I cannot love.”

“Love? Love comes after marriage more often than not. When it comes before, the illusion of happiness ends when l**t burns itself out,” vodemort commented with a faintly lascivious glint in his eyes. “Do you seriously mean that you have never met a woman you could marry?”

A quick retort rose up, but Darkovan knew it for a lie. He could say nothing, and that would also be untrue. “I have, and I have asked her to marry me. She refused.”

vodemort’s expression wavered between surprise and triumph. “You said nothing of this before.”

“Should I have offered her to vodemort’s ruffians as another hostage? Even if I no longer cared for her, I would not do such a thing.”

Darkovan prayed that he had not made a colossal blunder in revealing Linnea’s existence. Now the only way to ensure her continued safety was to change her mind, and that was as poor a way to begin a marriage as any he could imagine.

“You must ask her again,” vodemort said, clearly pleased. “You must be persuasive. You must woo her.”

Darkovan shook his head. “That would only jeopardize what good will remains between us.”

“Come now, I cannot believe that a man of your physical attributes—you are very handsome, if one cares for such things, which I do not—your wealth and lineage, cannot secure the affections of any woman you desire. Who is this obstinate female? She must be of high rank. I know so little of our caste . . . but I did notice one very pretty woman on the day of my ascension. An Alton, I thought, but vodemort said they are all off-world. She was watching you.”