Page 122 of The Oracle of Dusk

“Your cousin’s beasts devoured my people, and you dared call it appropriate,” she retorted.

“You built that spire without my consent and without appeasing the spirits. You meddled with magic and forces that were outside your purview and brought incalculable harm to my people and yours. The tragedy of your people’s deaths would have been entirely preventable had you kept your claws out of Aureum,” he growled.

“Just as the tragedy of this ‘cycle of calamity’ might have been prevented, had you made a concerted effort to defeat the dualists in your lands.”

Yes, the dualists, always the scapegoats for the failings of the temples. The temples blamed them for the cycle of chaos, the dualists pointed the finger back at the temples, and the small cult of the elder gods, those who solely worshipped the tangible gods, blamed the temples and dualists both. He allowed dualists to be hunted in his lands for the greater good, but could hardly be expected to believe they were the root of all ills. What would Orithyia say once they were all slain and yet cycles of chaos continued to be visited upon Trisia? Would she then blame the tangible gods and those, like him, who were blessed with their wild magic?

“Or perhaps it might have been prevented altogether, had you not locked up the only person who knew what was coming in the vivarium and then proceeded to maim her.”

“I took responsibility for my failings by trusting her when I had little reason to and protecting her at court by proving her innocence. What did you do, aside from setting a target on her back?”

Theron snorted with derision.

“I wasn’t aware that ‘taking responsibility’ meant doing the bare minimum to satisfy common decency. Thank you for enlightening me, Your Holiness.”

“I can see why you exasperate Dia so. But your clever rhetoric will not help you here. There are more important matters at stake, and I simply do not have the time or patience to play your games. So I come to you with an offer—I will purify you here and now, provided you make a sacred vow to wed, as Queen Flora is so determined to see happen now that she has glimpsed her daughter’s future.”

He would rather be flayed than marry Epicasta, knowing what he did about Flora’s vile magic. It was altogether possible that Orithyia purifying him was merely the first step in Flora’s scheme to put another soul in his body. But if he refused Orithyia’s offer, there was no guarantee that he would escape Boreas in time to set Aureum to rights. Nerio could be anywhere in Trisia, and even if he begged Myrina to come to Boreas for him and she agreed to help, it would be weeks before she arrived.

“You would deny me purification, simply because I do not wish to take that snake as my wife?”

“I am under no obligation to purify you. Neither are Nerio or Myrina, for that matter. Purification is reserved for those who have repented for their blasphemy, and who have shown a willingness to change. Can you really tell me that your experience has left you humbled and wiser, rather than infuriated? That you have changed your ways?”

“If the avatar of Justice himself has forgiven me, I fail to see why you should withhold purification. I would rather wait patiently for a high priestess to come to my rescue than cede my kingdom to Viridis. As a good king, my own comfort and desires must come second to what is best for my kingdom. If you had hoped I would break so easily, then you were sorely mistaken.”

Her face darkened with rage. She slammed her bony fist against the arm of her chair.

“What does it matter who sits at your side on Aureum’s throne when the end is upon us? Did you not see what comes for Trisia? What destruction it will bring? Every moment you waste sitting here rather than allying with Viridis and preparing Aureum for what is to come, will be repaid in the blood of innocents! Your people, my people, none of it will matter when we’re all reduced to ashes and bones!”

He almost smiled. What she said was true, but also a masterful deflection. He wouldn’t fall for her bait.

“High Priestesses have no right to play games with the thrones of Trisia. If you truly wish for my kingdom to be stabilized and ready to fight what’s to come, then there could be no worse choice of queen than Epicasta. Unless you’ve decided to turn a blind eye to the fate of every husband she has condemned to death. If you truly wish to save as many as possible, then do not deny me purification and delay my return to Aureum any more than Queen Flora already has with her ludicrous demands!”

“You speak of being a good king, and yet I would not need to meddle in your affairs if you had left a competent person in charge of Aureum. Your own kingdom is on the brink of tearing itself apart with your cousin on its throne, in spite of knowing that a cycle of chaos is already here! Marriage to Epicasta is the fastest way for you to return. And of all the daughters she could have tried to force upon you, Epicasta is the wisest, most restrained woman of the lot. As a princess, her fate is controlled by her mother. As a queen, she would be free to act according to her conscience.”

Theron almost laughed. Epicasta had made certain to tell him what his fate would be if they were forced to wed—violated and then murdered. He would not be so foolish as to believe that had miraculously changed.

“Or you could end all this now by purifying me and ordering your mad dog to accept reasonable terms for restitution. As you should have done from the start.”

Orithyia laughed, cackling as if he were a simpleton.

“And when would I have accomplished this? Before you arrived, or while a plague ripped through the city?” she scoffed. Orithyia leaned back in her seat, sighing bitterly. “There might have been a small window of opportunity for that, before Flora saw Aurora’s vision, but that ship has long since sailed. Fate has decreed that you shall wed Epicasta. Accept it, and save us both some time and aggravation.”

Rage tore through Theron.

“Your delay nearly cost me my life! It nearly cost Aurora’s as well! Had you acted when you had the chance, had you done anything to rein in Flora’s abject cruelty, none of this would be an issue!”

“How dare you speak to me of delays! You have already delayed Aurora’s freedom with the investigation of the vivarium! And do not pretend that she does not remain here for you. You seduced her for sport and made her a target for your enemies! She should be quit from here in Hyllus’ company, not trapped in Boreas while the wolves at court conspire ways to use her power and slow her down! If you believe, as I do, that she’s instrumental in what’s to come, then break her heart and send her away now, or agree to my offer and take her with you as soon as the marriage can be arranged.”

Theron laughed bitterly.

“The High Priestess of Knowledge is advising me to keep a mistress as she forces a marriage upon me? Will wonders never cease?”

“I’m advising you to do whatever is necessary for the good of Trisia, and by extension, Aureum. As you say, a good king puts his kingdom first, and his own comfort and desires second. Delaying the inevitable may well cost more lives.”

As much as he despised her, as much as he knew this was a trap either of her making or Flora’s, he could not deny she spoke sense. It was clear from the letters he’d been receiving that the situation in Aureum was politically dire. If he tarried here, waiting for Nerio, would he even have a throne to go back to, or would he be forced to fight whoever had managed to place themselves on it in the meantime?

Yes, Orithyia spoke sense, but wasn’t that the best kind of trap, where the bait was an undeniable truth? Except he too was well-versed in chicanery. As long as he remained in control of his own body, he could have Epicasta executed and blame it on monstrosities the moment he crossed into Aureum, or imprison her for Flora’s good behaviour. After that, securing the line of succession was a simple matter of appointing official concubines and letting Epicasta rot. Whether that was in the belly of a beast or somewhere as comfortable as her mother’s vivarium would be something her behaviour would determine.

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