The Waking Fire (The Draconis Memoria, #1)

by Anthony Ryan

“She made . . . an approach. When I refused her she looked elsewhere.” Lizanne looked down at Tekela, recalling the less-than-pleasant meeting at the museum. “Diran,” she said. “Yes.” Arberus sighed. “Dear old Uncle Diran. Tekela had the misfortune to happen upon them at the wrong moment. Diran came to me in a right old state, worried what it would mean for his friendship with Leonis, not to say access to all his valuable documents and artifacts. I made it very clear to him that this unwise assignation had to end. Salema . . . didn’t take it well.” Lizanne crouched down at Tekela’s side, drawing the blanket up to better cover her shoulders. The nightmare that woke her that first night, she remembered. I didn’t tell . . . “I had to pay a sizable bribe to the doctor and the coroner,” Arberus went on. “Leonis was near mad with grief as it was. If he had known it was an opium overdose rather than a lesion of the brain . . .” He shrugged. “What else could I do?” “But she knew,” Lizanne said, rising from Tekela’s side. “Didn’t she?” “I expect so. It seems carrying the knowledge did little to improve her temperament.”