Alone in her quarters, Remeg drank cup after cup of searing liquor as the whirl of her thoughts kept the welcome relief of both sleep and inebriation at bay. Rain wept black tears against the window glass.
Damn the woman! Why had she arrived on Remeg's doorstep to unwittingly unlock a memory long thought buried and forgotten? How little it took to make old wounds seep fresh blood.
That stupid Beck! Instead of doing the smart thing, she had brought the diseased bitch and her scrawny get into Caerau and then left the mess for Remeg to sort out. What in the Goddess's name had possessed her to take custody of a sterile in the first place?
Remeg knew the answer to that. Kedar Trevelyan's obsession had everyone dancing a spastic gavotte, terrified of offending her. Well, the Nine Hells could take them all, especially that old woman and her useless child, soon to be discarded and locked away forever behind Dara's formidable walls.
Remeg raised the cup so that candlelight glowed through the thin wall. "A toast," she said and fell silent, lost for words. She shot the drink back and swallowed, feeling the liquor burn a hot trail. Rain hammered the glass like angry fists, but the din fell on deaf ears consumed by the rising howl of memory.