Idolatry by Rebecca Cohen

Author:Rebecca Cohen [Cohen, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub

21

THE LONG shadows of late afternoon stretched out across the manor’s lawn. Lornyc had escaped outside for some fresh air in the hope to chase away a headache. The slight breeze ruffled the pile of papers, including a groveling letter from Halm Grosvenor, begging for an audience. The brief jaunt into the other dimension had left him uneasy. Now it was as if he was in limbo, waiting for Cupris and Diam to return, either with the next dimension lined up or an explanation for the delay. Talis and Tris were to join him shortly to get their view of the goings-on in the stasis room, but while he waited Lornyc was left alone with his confusing thoughts. Apart from the arrival of the entity, his time in the other dimension had been bordering on mundane, and he thought he should be more in awe at doing something that should be impossible, and concerned that there was yet another potential control issue linked to his powers.

He jumped as Talis dragged back a chair from the table, scraping it loudly across the surface of the terrace. “You all right?”

“A little preoccupied,” he said dismissively, tidying the papers strewn across the wrought-iron table into a pile. “Too much going on, too little space to think.”

Talis helped himself to a glass of iced tea. “Somewhat of an understatement, I think.”

“At least having Anthon in Scura has given me some respite.”

“And has Methian come to terms with his brother-in-law being his mother’s lover?”

The revelation that Anthon was Urla Hadral’s lover had been a shock to both Methian and Lornyc, but it had explained some of Urla’s original hostility toward their relationship, not wanting to think that her lover’s little brother was her son’s partner. “He’s been surprisingly quiet on the matter. There’s something else bothering him for no good reason instead.”

Talis took a sip of his iced tea. “That being?”

“Davvis. Methian’s being a jealous idiot.”

Talis rolled his eyes. “Really? Is he like that over all your ex-lovers?”

“No,” said Lornyc with a deep sigh. “He’s fixated on Davvis and won’t let it go. But he’ll need to get over it, as Davvis will most likely step up to replace his father in the Konsultariate, and given everything that’s happened, I need all the people I can trust.”

“Suppose it must be difficult for him, though?”

“What?”

Talis put his glass down. “Think about it. He’s gone from being darling of the Lake, next in line to Xenetra, to your husband.”

Lornyc didn’t understand Talis’s point. “Nothing’s changed.”

“Come off it, Lornyc. After Scura, no one thinks Methian will rule Xenetra when his father dies—everyone thinks it will be you. And the only sure thing he does have is his husband, so maybe he’s acting out over Davvis to make himself feel more secure.”

“But that’s stupid!”

“Is it?”

“I don’t want to rule Xenetra—that’s Methian’s problem.”

Talis chuckled. “Then maybe you should make sure he knows that.”

A panting Tris grabbed the back of a chair for support as she arrived, fanning herself with her hand.

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