I swallow, taking a deep and steady breath to calm myself so I don’t start shouting at Nicholas.

  “The death penalty,” I repeat flatly after a moment. “Just for you or for all of us.”

  Nicholas grimaces.

  “The law speaks of the sentencing of the ritualist and of dealing with the entities which have come through the portal.”

  “Dealing with…a euphemism for killing?” I ask, though I’m fairly sure of my assumptions.

  “Normally yes, but this is not a normal situation – I do not believe that it will come to any of that, even if our actions are discovered.”

  “Your actions,” I emphasise sharply. “You are the one who pulled me through an illegal ‘rift’.”

  “Yet you chose to come through it,” Nicholas counters.

  “Without knowing that it was illegal!” I exclaim hotly. Our voices are raised and send echos around the cavernous amphitheatre.

  “Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law.”

  “Perhaps not, but the fact that you haven’t mentioned this until now is something I’m finding very hard to excuse right now! Especially when it’s apparently put those close to me at risk!” I shout back at him.

  We both pause at that, glaring at each other with our chests heaving slightly in passion. I realise that my fists are clenched and I consciously unclench them. We keep staring at each other, neither wanting to be the first to break eye contact.

  “My apologies,” he says finally, evidently trying to relax his tight muscles. “You are right in that you were unable to make a choice about taking the risk or not. And you are not aware of why I am confident that neither of us needs to worry about suffering execution anytime soon. At least, not for this matter.”

  “Then perhaps explain it to me!” That’s the bit that’s really getting my goat – the deceptive aspect of it. If I hadn’t pushed, if I hadn’t asked the question, when would Nicholas have told me? When we got arrested and were facing the axe or hangman’s noose or whatever capital punishment means in this country?

  He should have told me way back when he made the original offer to me! This is rather important information, after all. Or, failing that, he should have told me immediately after we arrived – during the discussion we had yesterday about this whole arrangement. I know it wouldn’t have been easy to raise – ‘Oh, did you know that coming through that portal comes with the consequence of the death penalty? Yeah, my bad – let me make it up to you’. Still, he should have tried. But now? When I’ve already agreed to become his heir and sworn to work towards the benefit of his House, witnessed by a goddess?

  No, that’s not on. Treating me and my Bound with respect and value means making us aware of situations which will directly affect us, in enough time to be able to make our own decisions about them if at all possible. But for now, I just stare at Nicholas, silently demanding his explanation. The man eyes me warily for a long moment, and then nods as his muscles untense a little.

  “I shall be happy to explain. First of all, while the law speaks of rifts to the Between, I am confident that we can argue that it does not pertain exactly to this situation largely because the portal was not a rift, and though it went through the Between, it wasn’t opening to the Between. The nuance is key. Also in our defence is the fact that this particular situation has never occurred before, at least not to the knowledge of our public record-keepers.

  “The circumstances required for our interaction were only made possible because the Oracle I consulted was able to identify you as the specific answer to the question I had paid her to divine. That allowed a triangulation of your position. A second divination allowed a triangulation of an interim world to enable you to gain enough Energy to pay for your passage; without those pieces of information, I could never have conducted the appropriate rituals. Additionally, though I drew on previous discoveries, the actual ritual was something I pieced together with the guidance of the Oracle. Fortunately for us both, the combination allowed me to make a success out of others’ failures.”

  “And if you’d failed, what would have been the consequences?” I interrupt, unable to prevent myself.

  “It depends on what the error was and where it happened,” Nicholas answers too dispassionately for my tastes. “An error towards the beginning of the process would have most likely ended in the ritual simply not working. An error towards the end of the process would have been more likely to cause your death, or mine, or both.”

  “So you’ve been playing games of chance with my life ever since the beginning,” I conclude grimly. Nicholas fixes me with a sharp stare.

  “From what little I saw when I visited you, you didn’t seem to be taking much care of it either. I have seen many suffer and die from too much drink.”

  I feel a heat rise in my cheeks at the memory that Nicholas indeed saw me at that low point.

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  “That’s not the point,” I argue roughly, trying to push my shame away – and the reality that I’m not at all sure whether a week later, if I hadn’t agreed to his offer, I might have been in a box from my own efforts. “The point is that at no time did you warn me about the risks of what I was agreeing to. You presented it as something certain – I might have thought the whole process had been done a hundred times for the amount of nonchalance I read in your two letters. And at no time did you indicate that I would be contravening the law of the place I would be coming to.”

  “I was confident in the Oracle’s advice,” Nicholas answers simply – I wonder where his certainty comes from. “As for your other concern, like I say, I am almost certain that there will be no serious consequences, certainly not death for any of us. To give you a little context, opening portals to the Between, is something that far too many people have done. And historically, portals to the Between have had a good chance of attracting the creatures who live between worlds. They are powerful entities and a single one can easily tear through a city and most of its defenders. Killing them or banishing them from our world has always taken far too many resources – and left far too many dead. Thus, the consequence for opening a portal to them must be one of the highest in the land, below only that for treason.” I’m not sure I want to know if the punishment is somehow worse than death. “However, again, as I said, I did not at any point open a portal to the Between. I opened it through the Between.”

  “And this is somehow better?” I ask doubtfully.

  “With the right orator explaining our case, yes. There was very little chance of a creature from between the worlds coming through the portal as it wasn’t an open one. It is like the difference between making a hole in the side of a boat to allow the water outside to enter, or establishing a pipe between two ships, allowing them to pass goods easily.”

  “Except, if we take your analogy here, if something goes wrong with the pipe, it opens both ‘boats’ to becoming flooded,” I point out. Nicholas inclines his head.

  “That is true, and I am not saying that there was no risk, but the fact is that none of the creatures between worlds even attempted to come through and I can swear to that before King Ionius. If it ever comes to court, even a full court, unless House Titanbend has lost almost all of its influence and my allies have deserted me entirely, the chances are very slim of the king ruling this as equal to those historical cases where a ritualist opened a portal and released the creatures who live between worlds on the unsuspecting populace.

  “That said, there would likely be some consequences – on my reputation if nothing else. Frankly, I hope to avoid difficult questions if at all possible. It will not be easy to come up with a story that explains why no one has ever heard of you, talented as you have proven to be, but not impossible. And, with a little bit of training, you should be able to present yourself as the average commoner from some backwoods village.” He makes a gesture with a hand as if to dismiss the whole matter.

  I study his body language and then nod a little to myself.

  “I will accept your interpretation of the law,” I say slowly, seeing a hint of relief on his face, “if only because I have little choice. The fact is that I am here, as are my Bound. Going along with your attempt to keep our means of arrival quiet seems to be the best option for us. However,” I continue, seeing the tension return to Nicholas’ face – a reaction to my darker tone, I guess, “I’m…disappointed that you didn’t promptly tell me something that was highly pertinent to me and my Bound. That’s not treating us with respect or value. Nor is it letting us make our own decisions, all things you’ve just sworn to do in the presence of your patron goddess.” I glare hotly at Nicholas as I cross my arms across my chest.

  Nicholas opens his mouth to speak but I hold up a hand to indicate that I’m not done, dropping it when I see him recoil a little – I’d forgotten that gesture means something different here.

  “You have reached across worlds to pull me here because you need me. I’m willing to do my best to be a good heir to you, but I’m not a mushroom!” Nicholas’ brows knit in confusion.

  “A…mushroom?”

  “You know, needs to be kept in the dark and fed shit?” The confusion just deepens. Do they…not have mushrooms here? Or maybe the wordplay doesn’t work in this other language. “Anyway, that’s beside the point. If the agreement we’ve just sworn in the library means anything to you, you’ll do your absolute best in the future to make sure that I am informed of everything that might have consequences on me or my Bound.”

  I cross my arms again and wait silently for his response.

  Nicholas gazes at me for a long moment, and then his purple eyes lose some of their light.

  “I seem to indeed have made an error of judgement,” he murmurs, looking abruptly older, to the point that I wonder whether my estimation of his age as being only a little more than mine is perhaps a bit off. “I did not want to confront you with such complicated matters so soon after your arrival in this world. I truly believe that you have nothing to fear, and I would have acted to defend you in this matter even if you had chosen not to become my heir, since it is at my hands that you have been put at risk. I would have told you on our journey to the capital in order to prepare you on how to behave. But I regret to say that you are right – I should have made this information clear to you ahead of this time.” he sighs.

  “I can only excuse myself by saying that I am used to revealing my strategy only when I must, and to as few as possible – it is the only way to survive, let alone win the political games of the Houses. And as lord of a Great House, there are none who I must explain myself to, save the King, and he would only demand such a thing if he feels it necessary for the good of the kingdom. However, I recognise that you come from a very different place and you are right that I have sworn to treat you with respect and value. I will do my best to break a habit of a lifetime and be more upfront with you.” He smiles self-deprecatingly. “You could ask Sarran to know just how little I reveal to even him. However, I ask for the same in return. If you wish me to reveal anything which I know will or think is likely to affect you or your Bonded, I ask you to do the same for me and my House.”

  “I can agree to that,” I say after only a short pause – honestly, unless Nicholas ends up as my enemy, I would probably do that anyway. “I just want to be treated like an adult who can choose to act in a reasonable and carefully calculated way rather than a child who must only be given the important information to lead him down a certain route.” Nicholas inclines his head.

  “I can accept that,” he answers solemnly. “Now, if that matter is concluded, shall we start the House adoption ritual?”

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