He sneered at the word and pinched her chin smugly. “Our way of life is well-balanced, you see. Pitting each kingdom against the other. Fomenting wars and strife, but only enough to keep the people’s small minds fixed on glory and gain. You have read the tomes, Lady Maia. You know that mastons were the ones who caused the plague that destroyed the seven kingdoms. A single, reckless young girl, over a century ago.” His face contorted with anger. “Such power cannot be trusted to mortals. No one should be allowed to choose the fate of an entire generation.”
Corriveaux wandered to a nearby table and traced his finger on the polished surface. “After many years of searching, we found the land they call Assinica. There is a great host living there, enough to tip the scales of power. They cannot be allowed to return and upset the balance. We have learned through the tomes, you see, that when mastons rule, the people die. We will not be trampled so easily.”
Maia stared at him hard. “I do not know about any of this. I was banished from my father’s court—”
“Of course you were!” Corriveaux said with a gleeful look. “Woman, we made you! You were chosen as a young girl by us, the Victus. You were our secret. You were our sign. We chose you to bring back the hetaera.” He smiled with delight at her shocked expression. “Oh, Maia, please understand! Your feelings have been manipulated since you were a small child. So have your father’s. So have your mother’s. Lady Deorwynn has been our tool since she studied in Dahomey to become a courtier. It was her duty to seduce your father and destroy his marriage. You were banished because she requested it. Men are the greatest of all fools, you see.” He smirked. “Men are corrupted by women, just as women are corrupted by gold. It has always been thus. It shall always be thus. The Victus do not fear the hetaera. We do not fear women learning how to read and engrave. On the contrary, it is a sign of great courage to go against ancient traditions. Was it not Ovidius who said that we are ever striving after what is forbidden, and coveting what is denied us? That while what is allowed us is disagreeable, what is denied us causes us intense desire? Maia, you have been crafted like the handle of this cheese knife.” He picked it up and turned it over in his hands admiringly. “You were born to become a hetaera.”
Maia shook her head and backed away from him. “I will not do it,” she said strongly, though her voice quavered.
He snorted. “We do not need your permission. Or your willingness. You, foolish girl, allowed a Myriad One to inhabit your body. You have been in the thrall of a most ancient being who desires revenge against the mastons for destroying her order. Our interests are quite aligned. We make you queen . . . empress . . . goddess of the world. The abbeys will be destroyed again, just as you destroyed Cruix Abbey. They are so much easier to burn than to build.” He smiled. “We will send you to Assinica first, however, to unleash you upon the mastons. We have a fleet of ships, a veritable armada, which will then collect the Leerings and jewels and art from that vanquished people. A treasure greater than the one we stole from the other kingdoms.”
Maia’s heart was pounding in her ears. She could feel the rejoicing of the being trapped inside her.
“You think you can tame her?” Maia said, aghast. “She will destroy you.”
“I think not,” Corriveaux said. “She needs us, just as we need her.”
“You are mistaken,” Maia said, shaking her head. “It would be wiser to simply kill me. She will destroy all that you have built. There will be no empire left for her to rule. She only knows how to destroy.”
Corriveaux scratched the edge of his mouth. “I think I am done speaking with you, Lady Maia. I see you are still struggling with her. It is only the light from the Leerings that has kept her from reclaiming you thus far. Let me quench them.”
Maia felt his mental command to tame the garden Leerings. As they dimmed, she felt a wall of despair slam down on her. Her thoughts struggled under the pressure. Her vision blackened. Yes, the darkness gave power to the being inside her.
Maia reached out to the Leerings in her mind and lit them again, washing the gardens with brightness once more. She felt a hiss in her mind, a scalding pain that continued to intensify, crushing against her will.
“Enough,” Corriveaux said. He darkened the Leerings again, but their light did not go out fully. Maia struggled to cling to her connection. She was drowning in darkness. The gardens were pale, the light wavering in the Leerings as her will and Corriveaux’s contested for them.
Help me, Maia begged in her mind. She pleaded with the Medium. I would rather die than accept this fate. Give me the strength to keep the light!