She waited on him, saying nothing.

“It just feels like you’re closer to him than you are to me, and I can’t stand it! I was so certain about us in the beginning. I thought you and I would be … would have a chance at …” He trailed off. “You kissed me like it meant something! Like I meant something. I’ve stayed because of that, even when I thought I ought to go. I couldn’t bear leaving you!”

He took a deep breath. “Just tell me if I’m wrong about all of this. Tell me if I’m being foolish.”

She nodded slowly. “Well, you are definitely being foolish. But not in a bad way.” She came over and sat next to him. “You liked it when we kissed, didn’t you?”

“You know I did.”

“Then you should know I did, too. That was real. That meant something to me, too.”

Her perfect features crinkled momentarily, as if disrupted by an unpleasant thought. “In the beginning, when Arcannen came to Rare Flowers, I would have done anything to persuade him to take me away. It was important to me that I leave before I was thrown out. Before I was back on the streets. Before I was forced to do things I didn’t want to do. I would have given myself to him, if he asked. I offered, in fact. But he wasn’t interested. He isn’t interested now. Arcannen sees people as pieces on a chessboard to be moved about as he thinks fit. He uses them to accomplish his ends. He doesn’t bond with them. He doesn’t feel love or desire or even friendship. People are there to serve his purposes. That’s all. It’s true of everyone, including you and me. So you can stop worrying about the nature of my relationship with him. It’s not all that different from yours.”

Reyn nodded. “But he suggested …”

“Yes, yes!” She made an impatient gesture. “He does nothing but suggest! He’s so good at manipulation. Much better than I am, and I’m very good. I’ve had to be. He brought me with him to Arbrox because I know how to get people to do what I want. No, stay quiet. Just listen. Don’t judge until you hear me out. He wanted you to fall in love with me so you would do what he wanted. So you would stay with him. So I did what I was told. I made you fall in love. At first, it didn’t matter to me that you did. It was just something I had to do. But, gradually, it did matter. Now it matters so much I can’t stand another minute of knowing what I am doing to you. Everything’s turned around. It’s all different!”

She seized his shoulders. “Look at me! Do hear me? Do you understand what I am telling you?”

He took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on hers. “I think so.”

“Say it, then.”

“You’re in love with me.”

“I’m in love with you. So now it’s your turn. Do you still love me?”

He nodded. “I don’t think I could do anything else.”

“All right, then. I’ll tell you the rest of it. Yes, I knew things you didn’t. Arcannen confided in me but not about anything that really mattered in the long run. I didn’t know what he was going to do with you in Arbrox. I didn’t know how he was planning to use you. I did what he told me, but I didn’t know. Do you still love me?”

“I do,” he said firmly.

She leaned forward and kissed him hard on the mouth. She held the kiss for a long time, letting him feel the passion behind it.

“We have to get away from him,” she said, breaking away. “We can’t let this go on. He will use you to kill Usurient, but it won’t stop there. He will continue to use you afterward. If not in the same way, then in some other equally abhorrent manner. Your magic is valuable to him; he wants it for his own!”

“I know.” Reyn felt the world rush back in, the loss of her lips against his almost unbearable. “But it’s much worse than you think. He intends to destroy the entire Red Slash brigade, all five hundred of them. Usurient is just the head; he wants the body, as well. He told me so while you were gone.” Reyn hesitated. “He also told me that if I didn’t do what he wanted when it was time, he would kill you right in front of me.”

She went white. “You see what I mean? He doesn’t care any more about me than anyone else. I’m here to serve a purpose. He will use me in whatever way he can. He will do whatever it takes to make me fulfill his purpose.”

“If we try to escape him now, he will hunt us down and kill us.” Reyn kept his voice steady and his eyes locked on hers. “You know that, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t mean we can’t try. It doesn’t change what we have to do.”

“I know. But I’m afraid. Afraid for you. Do you really love me?”

“I love you enough that I want to spend my life with you. Enough that I will give it up for you if I have to.”

He smiled, the first smile he had allowed himself. “And I love you enough that I will find a way to permit the one and prevent the other.”

He pulled her to him, and his arms went around slender waist. “I won’t let you go,” he whispered. “No matter what, I won’t.”

TWENTY-FIVE

THE BOY AND THE GIRL WERE STILL LOCKED IN THEIR EMBRACE when the door opened and Arcannen walked in. He gave them a momentary glance and continued on into the tiny kitchen area, where he began rummaging around for something to eat. “I hope this helps your preparations,” he said.

Reyn did not reply, pulling back from Lariana, immediately intimidated. The girl just smiled. “Of course it helps. It’s called motivation.”

Arcannen shrugged, putting together some cheese and bread before carrying his meal over to the little table and beginning to eat. “You delivered my invitation?”

“Directly to his personal aide.”

“Who didn’t know who you were?”

“Who barely got a look at me. I was wrapped up and my face was dirt-smudged and covered. I was a street kid so far as he could tell.”

The sorcerer nodded. “Then we’re ready. Do you want something to eat before we go? Either of you?”

Neither spoke. Reyn was looking down, trying to find a way to keep his courage up. He was scared out of his wits, knowing what was coming, what he was expected to do. He hadn’t discussed the specifics with Lariana, but Arcannen had made it plain enough. He was to be responsible for rendering the Red Slash vulnerable to whatever form of rough justice he had decided to mete out. The sorcerer hadn’t revealed exactly what he intended to do, but the boy was certain of the end result.

He was also certain that he wanted no part of it. But trying to get away with Lariana at this point was impossible. Arcannen would not let him out of his sight from here on in; they only had a few hours until dawn, when the confrontation would occur, and he would stay close to them. But even if Reyn had thought to challenge the other, he knew he lacked the confidence to use his magic against him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. It was his reluctance to engage in a life-and-death battle with the sorcerer. It was his fear that at some point he would falter, his distaste for what he was attempting strong enough to cause him to hold back, and against an opponent like Arcannen any hesitation would almost certainly be fatal.

He wished he were made of stronger stuff. But his only use of magic against others had been fueled by threats to his own life, which had caused an instinctive lashing out in self-protection. Any attack on Arcannen at this point would not be like that. It would have to be an aggressive, deliberate strike, and as such it was not something he was convinced he could manage to sustain.

Besides which, he was not at all sure he was the other man’s equal, even with the wishsong to aid him. Arcannen was more experienced and likely better able. And he would be putting Lariana at risk, as well. Better, he believed, to bide his time and wait for the right opportunity. He would recognize it when he saw it. He just needed to be patient.

Even knowing, as he did, that time was running out.

Even knowing he had no idea what sort of opportunity he needed.