25.4

Philip arrived with a thick volume of maps. He was spreading them out on the table, trying to discern the location of Lemica. Sindra and Magnus appeared together a few minutes later.

Zyrdicia paced angrily, her face contorted in rage. She yelled, "The Old Priests dared to send someone here! Those fucking cowards ran from me for a hundred years and now they show up in Karteia, in this castle?!" Philip cringed visibly at her tone of voice. Magnus reached out and pulled her firmly into a hug. She was stiff with anger.

Magnus said quietly, "They've been watching you for years. This is nothing new."

"This close?"

"Actually, much closer," he replied gravely.

"Huh?" Zyrdicia blinked, pulling away from him.

She saw Sindra and Magnus exchange a knowing glance. She understood instantly that the two vampires were no longer the strangers they had been at the Spider's Web. They had not only been talking - they had shared each other's blood.

"Oh, just get on with it!" Zyrdicia snapped angrily.

Magnus said gently, "They have had someone very close to you for many years."

"Who?"

"Portia."

Zyrdicia's eyes widened briefly. Then she scoffed, "You've got to be joking."

"Several years ago, I was scheduled to execute a contract hit in the North End slum. As I was leaving the victim's home, I saw Portia going inside a doorway. She had her head way back in a hood and hurried past so fast that she didn't see me. I followed her, out of curiosity. She went inside a building that belongs to the House of Maxxion. The old man who lives there is the patriarch of the family."

Zyrdicia sat down, her brow furrowed. The House of Maxxion had been one of the great old families in Lyr whose eldest sons always were sent into the priesthood. Zirxon, the High Priest, had come from that House.

Magnus continued, "I confronted Portia about it. She said she did not know anything about the Maxxion clan. She was just visiting her grandfather."

"Portia and her sister were orphans," Zyrdicia said. "They have no grandparents."

"Yes, they do. Their grandfather is the Maxxion patriarch. He kept it a secret until Portia got close to you. Then he made it known to her. She had always wished she had a family. He gave her that."

"This can't be true."

"She eventually admitted it to me. She swore that she only wanted to protect you. So long as she watched you and reported to them, they promised her they would leave you alone."

"You knew this and didn't tell me?" Zyrdicia gasped.

"I'm not the only one who knew. Philip knew too. We thought it better to keep an eye on Portia than risk upsetting you needlessly."

Philip stared at the floor uncomfortably. He nodded, acknowledging the truth of it.

Magnus added, "Even Dirk figured out enough of it to have been blackmailing Portia with it nearly as long as you've known him."

Sindra interrupted, "I've been watching this assistant of yours ever since you hired her. It's all true."

Zyrdicia stared in disbelief and murmured, "Every fucking person in my life who allegedly cares about me knew about this and kept it a secret."

"Portia was being watched closely and would have been neutralized had we seen any threat," Magnus said gently.

"I would have 'neutralized' her long ago, had I been empowered to make the decision," Sindra said darkly. " For months, the chatter in the Merchant Guild has been about your shipping concerns tottering on the edge of insolvency. Most of the assets were sold for cash at a steep discount by Portia. And a half dozen other businesses you own are in far worse shape. She's been plundering them while you are distracted here."

"She told me Lyr is going through a period of inflation and business is just down..." Zyrdicia murmured.

"She lied. I've never made more money than I am right now. I built every one of your businesses, Zyrdicia. I know exactly what she's doing."

"She has no reason to steal money from me. She has everything anyone could want."

"Except freedom," Magnus said evenly. "I think she's putting together a massive nest egg to run away with Kai."

"She must believe that since some of the Lyrian Priesthood could escape you by going into hiding, she can too," Sindra said. "Perhaps they've promised her sanctuary."

"I'm having a hard time believing any of this," Zyrdicia said somberly.

"Summon her here, right now. We'll be able to confirm it easily enough," Sindra suggested.

Zyrdicia closed her eyes, sending out the magical command to reach out and fetch her servant. Portia appeared in the center of the room, flustered. She had been transported here without warning.

"Hello," Portia stammered, confused by the unannounced magical summons. She frowned upon seeing Sindra. She had no idea that Zyrdicia had reconciled with the vampire. She demanded, "What's going on?"

Zyrdicia stood up and put her hand on Portia's cheek. She tilted her servant's face up so that she could look into her eyes.

As she entered Portia's mind, the woman whimpered. Portia whined, "You always said that I could have privacy in my own head."

"That was when I trusted you."

25.5

In the dungeon, Zyrdicia pulled the door to the cell shut. She muttered a spell, sealing it magically, so that no one else in the castle could open it.

Next to her Portia begged, "Please don't kill Kai. It was all my doing. I swear it. He didn't even know."

Zyrdicia stared at the woman next to her as though she were a stranger. After nearly a decade of being her closest friend, she realized now that she had never really known Portia.

Zyrdicia was deeply wounded by the betrayal. She had never had someone from her inner circle turn on her. It was incomprehensible. She summoned her sword from its hiding place the magical ether.

Portia fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheek. She cried, "I just wanted a chance at having normal life. To have a family. I never, ever meant to hurt you! I never told the Priests anything that mattered. I only wanted to keep them away from you. Please just send us away. Teleport us into the desert, or anywhere you like!"

Zyrdicia sighed wearily. Doing this pained her. But there was no other way.

She lifted her sword, thrusting it into Portia's neck in a swift blow that severed the woman's spinal column. She shook her head sadly as she watched her former assistant gasp briefly before the lifeless body finally fell to the ground.

Through the iron grate of the cell door, she heard Kai inhale sharply. He begged, "I didn't know what Portia was doing! I give you my word!"

Zyrdicia's glance silenced him. She murmured glumly, "She loved you more than she did me."

"Please don't kill me," he begged pathetically. "I don't care about her! She was nothing to me."

Ignoring him, Zyrdicia bent down and picked up Portia's body. She lifted it up and impaled it on a sharp spike protruding from the wall, directly opposite Kai's cell so that he would have to stare at the corpse.

"You're going to leave me down here to rot?" Kai asked, incredulous.

"Yes. You aren't mine to kill," she answered.