Page 16 (2/2)

Varis held up his second dagger "Looks like steel, doesn’t it?" he said "I could have used it first, against your throat You would have been dead before you kneas happening"

For a ain, silver dagger or no Then, with an evident ef ort, she coenious," she said

"We use it to coat the hooves ofsuspected spies Then e catch the spies, we pour the molten metal over them Slowly"

"I am suitably io of her arone, her skin unble with you, Prince Varis, for fighting the dead?"

So that, Varis thought, hy he was here "I brought weapons to defend ht the dead We are here to seek an al iance"

She laughed "You Rael ians have no more interest in al iances than we do in sundials Come, Prince You tel me your secrets, and I’l tel you mine Doesn’t that sound like a fair trade?"

"It does if we reverse it I want to hear your secrets first" He gestured at her arhosts do that?"

"No" She traced her finger along her ared together Then, almost before he could be sure he had seen theain covered with se their forms, and only the very oldest ones can do it with such precision It takes time, usual y, for the dead to free themselves of the ," Varis said

"I’ve wanted to be able to change et" She glanced swiftly at the portrait, then away "Besides, I’ve always had a talent for accepting reality"

Varis slid his dagger back into his boot "And what," he said quietly, "is the reality?"

"That this body doesn’t truly exist" She ran her hand down her side "Or rather, what does exist of it is currently feeding worone, and this time he couldn’t see the bone for the plump white insects coiled around it "Yet I can eat food I don’t need, I can cry tears I don’t have, I can blush if I choose to I feel that I have to breathe, except when I remind myself that I don’t The power of a mind, freed fro it do what you want to do, instead of spending al its ti body"

"I was under the impression," Varis said, "that the pretense of life is exactly what most of the dead want"

"Your impression is correct" Clarisse walked toward hi no sound on the wooden floor

"They do a good job of it, don’t they? Most of them even fool theet to act alive They shut out of theirevery second of their existence"

Varis clasped his hands behind his back "And you don’t?"

"I don’t" She rested both hands on the back of one ornate chair, leaning forward "I don’t need to pretend I can e dead because I chose it"

He found that he was entirely unsurprised "You died on purpose"

"Of course You honestly think any of these buf oons could have kil ed me?" Clarisse tossed her hair; it floated about her shoulders in a cloud "Once I realized what Ghostland was, everything I did was ai theed, but there was nothing casual about the expression on her face "It’s a very useful thing, soes behind you While they’re there, you know you can cross back over them

After al , I could always sail back over a sea, ride back through the plains, climb back over the mountains

There’s no way back fro is impossible, you don’t have to think about it anyer be a sorceress?" Varis asked

She blinked in surprise, which made him feel disproportionately pleased with himself "How did you--"

"When Darri at acked you," Varis said, "you wiggled your fingers"

Her eyebrows shot up "Wiggled antly," he assured her

"Thank you" She was silent for a htened "I didn’t know Sorcery has never been codom, so there was no precedent But it turns out that spel s designed for living minds don’t work very ith dead ones" She ive me a head start, however I already understood hoerful ainst the wal"You know about ainst the sic was required to ainst the sic was required toback to life?"

"Not entirely" She pul ed out the chair and sat on it "It would have required more than one sorcerer to add his power to it, that’s for certain And spel s so powerful need sacrifices Wil ing sacrifices, usual y With unpleasant consequences for those sacrifices"

Varis nodded Clarisse leaned back, propping her elbows on the back of the chair "But spel s h human minds There is soives it power"

Varis strove not to change expression, and kneasn’t succeeding Clarisse tilted her head to the side and brushed a stray strand of hair away from her eyes "Wouldn’t you like to knoho?"