Caed felt naked. He had managed an audience with Meredith Hargrave, but sitting in Giarmund’s vault gave him anxiety.
The witch in question barely offered him much of a glance. She left momentarily, only to return with a rich red wine that Caed found cloying. He drank it regardless. While he did so, taking sip after sip without so much as slipping his opinion, he observed Meredith while she pulled up a seat to sit in front of him.
“So, what is it you want from me?” Meredith asked, and Caed mentally snorted at her mannerisms. The way this vixen held herself was nothing short of incredible; no wonder Adrian couldn’t keep his hands off her. From the way she crossed her legs to the placement of her hand on her thigh. The slow caress on her skin and even on the glass in her other hand.
How very subtle.
“Curiosity, mainly,” said Caed. “Were you born with that name? Hargrave?”
She leaned forward, offering Caed a glimpse at the tattoo that snaked between her breasts.
“You shouldn’t ask a witch her name.” Meredith smirked. “I’m not offended, however. It no longer holds any power over me, my dear.”
“Well then, we’re just two peas in a pod then.” Caed grinned back. The kind that pulled over his teeth.
Meredith raised her glass towards him.
“Oh, but what of yours, dear? How can we see ourselves as kindred if your name remains hidden?”
Coy bitch.
“Don’t have it anymore,” Caed relaxed his face. “The harlot took it from me.”
“Shame,” Meredith stood. He remained seated, even as she approached him, lending Caed a gentle touch on his shoulder. Suddenly, he regretted taking his coat off. It had gone rather cold.
“I heard you did Amerath in.” Her wine-soaked words brushed his ear. “The answer you seek will only leave you frustrated. Why not just gather up the girl and head back instead?”
“You keep breathin’ on me like that and you might be the one frustratin’ me,” Caed kept his tone steady. “Mind you me, of course Vel is comin’ home with me. First though, I gotta wonder how you got the lady’s claws outta ya.”
Meredith chuckled in his ear. It caused his heart to flutter.
“Such a cute accent. Yarrowite, I assume? Funny, I don’t think it was a blond-haired sorcerer who destroyed the place.”
“That’s because it wasn’t,” Caed sneered. With his free hand he went to push her away, but Meredith only took his fingers in her own. The touch nearly caused him to black out. Whatever he had seen, it was simply too complicated for him, and Istvar wasn’t helping him understand. Once the nausea passed he continued to speak as if nothing had happened. “Just a wizard on a power trip.”
Releasing him, Meredith took his nearly empty glass from him and deposited his and her own on an empty table. She finished his off first, however.
“I say the answer won’t satisfy you because it’s no different than what happened to you. Only, I chose to become a Daughter of Night instead.”
“Guess that explains the vision just now,” Caed pondered aloud.
“In my limited experience the only way to sever a sorcerer from the Arbiter is for them to align themselves with a deity willing to take their name. In your case, Istvar hid yours. The Night Mother took mine, and Cromwell…Well, I suppose lichdom liberates oneself.”
Caed sighed.
“I guess you gotta get chosen by a god—“
“No, my dear, I am merely a servant. The Night Mother chose a witch named Bonecarver centuries ago, but yes, I suppose in a way.”
Wild name, that. Caed had very little knowledge on the goddess in question but her choice of followers was certainly telling. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.
“Look, I came here intending to ask a more pertinent question.” He tapped his fingers against his bicep. “Do you think the lady Alk’Hath was chosen by the Arbiter?”
Meredith only stared at him.
“I would rather not entertain that idea,” she said darkly. “You dropped that accent with disturbing ease.”
Caed flashed her a knowing grin, “the funny Yarrowite persona disarms folk.”
She snorted, but only poured herself another glass without asking Caed if he wanted another.
“Cromwell mentioned that Alk’Hath has led a difficult life. She has expressed plenty of poor opinions regarding the world even to us lowly servants, but now I wonder if perhaps her nihilism is more dangerous than previously thought.” Caed shrugged. Although they were underground, he took note of a number of vents lining the sides of the vault, and took those as an invitation from Giarmund to smoke. He had a few pre-rolled.
As he brought one to his lips, Meredith snapped her fingers to light it for him. He tagged the action as another power play.
“I say all this because I got a little peek at something that mayhap I shouldn’t have,” Caed exhaled. “Her relationship with our golden eyed fledgling god, for one.”
Meredith’s gaze hardened.
“They had a…Uh, a relationship?”
“Not like that, if you’re thinking Alk’Hath was playing a woman several hundred years her junior. I believe she saw her as a friend.” He took his cigarette between two fingers and mulled it over. “One that could change her mind.”
Silence once again pervaded the room. Caed finished his cigarette, using summoned force to put out the end. He wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to use the floor of Giarmund’s most precious vault.
“The more I think on it, the more I wonder if Alk’Hath isn’t looking for a reason to stop what she’s doing.”
“What would be the point of all this then? All this posturing…”
Caed shook his head, “I imagine you’ve never considered killing yourself. This might just be a grand venture into a suicide meant to take everyone, and everything with her.”
Meredith leveled a cool, hard stare.
“Truly, all I can say to that is I hope you’re mistaken,” she said.