she pointed up the corridor. 'he's waiting. we'll probably never see you again, unless we go behind the kitchen - below the chute where the carved-up bones and guts come out. bits of you will be on the crow mound. i'll keep a lock of your hair. knotted. i won't even wash out the blood.'

pushing past him, she hurried away.

clawface is a cruel name. i wonder what name they've given me.

he set his eyes on the distant door and set off, footfalls echoing. his father would not kill him. he could have done that long ago, and there was no reason to now. none of arathan's own failings reflected a thing upon his father. sagander told him so, over and over again. this was not a settling of shadows, because the sun's light, no matter how pale or dim, could never descry the binding lines of blood, and in place of light no words had been spoken to make it otherwise.

reaching the door, he hesitated, wiped dry his fingers, and then rattled the iron loop beneath the latch. a muted voice bid him enter. wondering at his lack of fear, arathan opened the door and stepped into the chamber.

a heavy lanolin smell was the first thing to strike him, and then the light, sharp and bright from the east-facing window where the shutters had been thrown back. the air was still cool but rapidly warming as the day awakened. the sight of breakfast leavings on the enormous table reminded him that he'd not yet eaten. when his gaze finally lifted to his father, he found the man's dark eyes fixed on him.

'it may be,' said draconus, 'that you believe she did not want you. you have lived a life with no answers to your questions - but for that i will not apologize. she knew that her choice would hurt you. i can tell you that it hurt her, as well. i hope that one day you will understand this, and that, indeed, you will find it in your heart to forgive her.'

arathan said nothing because he could not think of anything to say. he watched as his father rose from the chair, and it was only now - now that he was so near - that arathan finally felt the power emanating from draconus. he was both tall and solid, with a warrior's build, and yet there was grace to the man that was, perhaps, more impressive than anything else.

'what we desire in our hearts, arathan, and what must be... well, that is a rare embrace, so rare you're likely to never know it. you have lived that truth. i have no promises to make you. i cannot say what awaits you, but you are now in your year and the time has come for you to make your life.' he paused for a time, continuing to study arathan, and the dark eyes flicked but once down to the hands - and arathan struggled not to hide them further, leaving them at his sides, the thin fingers long and tipped in red. 'sit down,' draconus instructed.

arathan looked round, found a high-backed chair against the wall to the left of the doorway, and walked over to it. it looked ancient, weakened with age. he'd made the wrong choice - but the only other chair had been the one his father had been sitting in at the table, and that would have set his back to draconus. after a moment, he settled uneasily on the antique.

his father grunted. 'i'll grant you, they do better with stone,' he said. 'i have no intention of bringing you to the citadel, arathan - and no, it is not shame that guides that decision. there is growing tension in kurald galain. i shall do my utmost to placate the bereaved elements among the greater houses and holds, but my position is far more precarious than you might think. even among the greater houses i am still viewed as something of an outsider, and with more than a little mistrust.' he drew up then and shot arathan a glance. 'but then, you know little of all this, do you?'

'you are consort to mother dark,' arathan said.

'do you know what that means?'

'no, except that she has chosen you to stand at her side.'

there was a slight tightening round his father's eyes at that, but the man simply nodded. 'a decision which seems to have placed me between her and the highborn holds - all of whom bear the titles of sons and daughters of mother dark.'

'sons and daughters - but not by birth?'

draconus nodded. 'an affectation? or an assertion of unshakeable loyalty? by each claimant the scales shift.'

'am i such a son to you, lord?'

the question clearly caught draconus off guard. his eyes searched arathan's face. 'no,' he finally replied, but did not elaborate. 'i cannot guarantee your safety in kurald galain - even in the citadel itself. nor could you hope to expect any manner of loyalty from mother dark.'