Mage Heart. Jane Routley
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become very angry when they discover it is otherwise. I'm not the first woman to be pursued by her ex-protector. I'm just unlucky that he is what he is."
So what this really was, was a fight between a whore and an "offended" protector. If the stories of our housekeeper were to be believed, she had only herself to blame. The court of Gallia must be a corrupt place when a woman could enlist the aid of the College of
Mages to help her escape some sordid imbroglio, just because she happened to share the Duke's bed. My thoughts must have shown on my face again, for now she said, "It's an imperfect world, Dion. I suppose my life is a sordid life. But I like being alive, and I want to stay that way. That was why I left Norval in the first place."
I felt embarrassed that she had guessed my thoughts.
She said, more gently, "Norval didn't own me, you know. There was no reason in the world why I had to stay with him. In the end it seemed more wrong to go open-eyed to destruction than to be disloyal to a lover who was already playing with my life. Norval was involved in a plot to overthrow the ruler of Aramaya. The plotters decided to use my particular gifts in this game. Of course they told me nothing. All I knew was that I was supposed to 'be nice' to a man Norval wanted to help him. In fact they were using me as a go-between. If the plot was discovered or Masud betrayed him, Norval would be able to claim ignorance of the whole thing."
She sighed.
"He was a charming man. When it dawned on me what was happening, I couldn't believe he would do such a thing to me. But it became obvious that I was no more than a pawn to him. Then I was very, very angry. So I thought, damn him, damn them all. I didn't share the political views of Norval and his friends, anyway. Emperor Jerzack, for all his faults, is a better ruler than their puppet Emperor would have been. So I ran for it. I changed my name and disappeared. I joined a traveling theater company that was leaving Aramaya. Within a week I was a hundred miles from Norval."
I managed to keep my face bland. The way she talked was seductive. I almost found myself agreeing with her point of view. Even in my sheltered life, I remembered wondering at the stupid things women sometimes did for those they loved. There had been a scandal in our village when one of the maids at the inn had let her lover in the back door one night so that he could rob it. Poor Hannie was sent to jail, but they never caught the robbers. I'd wondered then what had possessed her to be so stupid. I could sympathize with what Kitten Avignon had done. If it was indeed the truth. On the other hand I could still hear Michael's voice saying of such women, "They make their own beds, and they must lie on them." She'd never have been in this situation if she hadn't become a courtesan in the first place.
Kitten was staring into space. The candlelight made her face soft and delicate.
"Of course shortly after I left him the plot did collapse. Perhaps the man whose silence my favors were meant to buy ceased to be silent. I don't know. I heard that Norval had been thrown into prison on suspicion and tortured and that it had left him scarred. That would have hurt him. He was always a very vain man."
Her face had the same unreadable expression I'd seen in the carriage. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Courtesans and necromancers. Fine company I was keeping. "So Norval didn't practice death magic when you knew him?" I prompted.
"I think he may have dabbled, yes. Yes, there was definitely some unpleasant magic going on in his house. I made a point in those days of remaining ignorant of anything that wasn't nice about Norval. He was so witty and clever. Powerful. The power was exciting. Except when you were on the receiving end of it. He liked power. He was that kind of man, the kind of man who, if he knew you had a soft spot on your foot, would step on it deliberately, just so he could be the one to make you jump. I'm not surprised that he took up necromancy."
The magic of pain and death did seem appropriate for the kind of man she was describing.
"I left Sopria because of him. Came here to the Peninsula. Changed my name again. There are quite a few of us who have offended mages hiding out here. The Eastern Colleges of Magic have done a great thing for people like me. Once we are here, evil magic cannot reach us. But I didn't hide enough. Well why the hell should I, anyway? Am I going to let Norval ruin my life? Now I'm too well known. And someone back in the West has put two and two together.
"A month ago I received a package. With compliments from Norval. I don't know whose finger was in it, but the ring belonged to an old friend from the Sopria days. I only hope the ring was stolen or that he was already dead."
So did I. Since necromancers gain their power from the slow, painful deaths of their victims, falling into one's hands was not a fate I'd wish on anybody, no matter how wicked.
She began striding up and down the room. Her face was tight and almost scowling. She no longer looked fairylike, but dangerous, powerful like some great warrior.
"Damn Norval. Damn his black soul to hell. He likes people to be scared. He likes to see them run. But I'm not going to. I've got a life here in Gallia; lands, wealth, money to buy the freedom to please myself. With your help I'm going to fight him. Fight him and win and show him I don't give a damn for his mean heart."
She whirled to face me, gripped my arm.
The sheer cold-blooded determination of her face was shocking, but thrilling, too. Her words electrified me. My muscles tensed, ready to battle anything. And to win.
"Dion, you are a very powerful mage. You can beat Norval, show him ... strike a blow for good over evil. You can do it. But you have to take it seriously. You can't underestimate Norval. Necromancy uses allies. That makes it stronger than white magic. And even without magic, he is cunning. He learned cunning at the court of Aramaya. You must be on the lookout for tricks. Always, always be on your guard."
I realized that she was leaning toward me, glaring fiercely into my eyes. Suddenly I needed to keep her out. I pulled back before I could stop myself and jumped out of my chair.
"I'm sure everything will be all right," I said.
She stared at the ground for a moment.
"Forgive me," she said. "I get a little ... excited when I talk about Norval."
"Of course," I said breathlessly. She turned and walked away from me.
"Tell me, Dion, is there any chance Norval could send anything else against us?"
"Anything ..." I stopped. She meant a demon of course. A demon slave. The coincidence of this conversation made my hair stand on end.
"I mean something like a demon," she said into my sudden silence. She turned and smiled ruefully. "I suppose you're going to say I'm being ridiculous."
"It is very unlikely," I said carefully. "He will probably be using demon magic in any spells he brings against us, but bringing an enslaved demon onto this plane ... I believe it's very difficult to obtain a demon slave. You have to know its true name, and you have to sacrifice an enormous number of people in the enslavement ritual. And you have to start by having enough innate power to do it."
I stopped, embarrassed by the authoritative sound of my own voice. "At least I think that's how it works. Only a handful of mages in the history of the world have managed to do it. I really doubt that Norval could be powerful enough. If he were powerful enough, he could probably make mincemeat of me without needing to go to the trouble of sending a demon." The most persuasive argument, of course, was that any mage that powerful was not going to waste his time creeping up on Kitten Avignon. I doubted that that would be a tactful thing to say at this point in time.
Kitten looked relieved. She sighed and smiled and looked utterly charming again.
"Yes. I doubt it, too." She laughed. "If it's so difficult to enslave a demon, I'll stop worrying about it. You're right, too. If he was that powerful, I'm sure I'd be finished by now.
"Tell me," she continued, "is there anything I can do to make your stay here more enjoyable?"
"No thank you," I said. After what I had discovered, I wanted her to go as quickly as possible.
"I sometimes hold salons