Rising Storm, page 109
"But how can you possibly - ?" Phenomena began earnestly, but the Third Prince cut him short.
"Are you really so narrow-minded that you think the High Prince enlisted me for the sole purpose of studying the mental abilities your transformation enhanced?" Lamar hissed, his eyes darting all around to ensure they wouldn't be overheard, and at long last Phenomena understood the Third Prince's dedication to him after all this time.
"The Most High charged you with monitoring my movements," he observed, eyes and voice both similarly hollow. "You acted as his eyes while he ensured that I kept away from Brenner."
"While he ensured that you followed his mandate to the letter," Lamar corrected breathlessly, and Phenomena found himself steadily backing away from him in horror.
"All this time we have been opposing Limit, assuming our actions were cunning enough to keep us from incurring the High Prince's wrath, but he knew." Phenomena couldn't recall a time he had ever felt so foolish, or so terrified. "He has always known." How could he have been so blind as to assume that they were clever enough to avoid scrutiny? How could they have dared to defy the High Prince's orders and hope that their betrayals would go unnoticed? "What will happen to us?"
Lamar was keeping his distance but holding his hands up, palms forward, doing his best to appear entertaining. "You are safe for the time being."
"How is that possible?" Phenomena snarled through gritted teeth, trying and failing to rein in his anger before it got the better of him. He knew how dangerous this was, venting his frustrations to the man who had only just proclaimed himself the High Prince's informant, but the sting of this revelation had cut him deeper than he could ever have imagined it would. He had known all along that getting close to another of the Most High's retainers was an ill-advised decision, but he hadn't heeded his own advice. He had thought Lamar a more trustworthy sort. "I saw Brenner last night. I spoke to him. That interaction is surely enough to condemn me."
"The High Prince is unaware of any such meeting," Lamar divulged, his eyes wide and pleading, his hands outstretched as though to soothe the doppelgängers troubles. "I have not brought it to his attention, nor was it my intention to do so. As I have said, you flirt more closely with death than you realize. One word from me now is all it would take for the High Prince to utterly destroy you."
"Then be done with it!" Phenomena bellowed, incensed, and a dozen nobles of the Upper Court whirled to investigate the disturbance. "Do not presume to – "
But the rest of his outburst was lost as suddenly Landmark's eyes flashed, white and dangerous, and frozen under that glare Phenomena found he was powerless to protest the Third Prince's advance; Lamar closed the distance between them and seized the doppelgänger at the elbow, dragging him around the trunk of the great tree and toward the rear-facing garden, abandoned now since the ceremony had come to a close. Once certain they were alone Lamar released him, though it was clear in his manic eyes that he was hardly less infuriated than before. "You will bring about your own demise if you cannot hold your tongue," he growled, his voice a low warning. "As I have said, it is not my intention to tell the High Prince of your meeting with Brenner… But only if you can promise it was an isolated incident, and not something you are prepared to repeat!"
"Why would you help me?" Phenomena demanded. "If the Most High catches wind that you have assisted me… You will be no better off if he finds out you have been withholding the truth!"
"How could I possibly bring you down now?" Lamar echoed incredulously, waving his arms as if to indicate the bigger picture. "It is all on account of you and your visions that we have been so successful in staving off the advances of these drop assassins – the loss of even one member of the Shadow Court would be a catastrophic occurrence that would surely upset the delicate balance upon which we have established what remains of our society! The High Prince's retribution is swift and oftentimes thoughtless – when he is wronged he acts purely out of vengeance, and he would surely act thusly were he to learn of your trespasses. You cannot know how key your arrival into our midst has been, because there is a great deal that transpires beyond your notice, but you must trust me when I say that our entire way of life would be at risk were we to lose you now. That is why I have held my tongue thus far, and why I will take the risk in keeping your silence."
Phenomena ran a hand down his face in pure frustration, caught somewhere between eternal gratitude and all-consuming rage. "You have been using me to glimpse the future," he pointed out, his voice a challenge, as though he dared the Third Prince to argue this point. "That has always been your aim."
"The High Prince commanded me to befriend you, and to encourage you to divulge your visions as they happened," Lamar confessed readily. "But is that so wrong? We are all that remains of the once-proud Nether Empire… Were you the ruler of the last handful of such men, and you found your entire way of life threatened by enemies whose gazes seemed all-knowing, would you not use every advantage at your disposal?"
With those words Phenomena felt the last of his anger begrudgingly ebb away, for he knew the answer to Landmark's question. It was another one of the things he had always known, for from the first moment he had set foot within Thaliana he had been certain of his purpose there – to serve the Princes of Shade in all things, even if the thing that so served their designs was the surrender of his own life. Such was simply the nature of his goodly and self-sacrificing character – he couldn't rationally cling to his anger, when he had willingly offered himself up to serve such schemes from the very start. The realization that Lamar had never truly been his friend was despairing, and he was immediately ashamed of how easy he had been to fool. At length he sighed and said, "Then our arrangement was simply a means to an end for you."
"No." This wasn't the answer the doppelgänger had been expecting, and he couldn't help but look up; Lamar was standing before him with a steely, self-loathing glint in his eye and a resigned expression upon his face, though otherwise he appeared quite calm. "I will admit that at first I was content to simply do the High Prince's bidding, but I allowed myself to become too involved with you; your silent battle with the drop, your reluctant partnership with Glares and Avail, your opposition to Limit Telltale… everything that you do fascinates me." His eyes glazed over as he recalled something from the not-so-distant past, his obvious interest more than a little eerie to behold. "To observe how your mind works is intoxicating… Never have I had the supreme privilege of studying anything quite like it before. That is how I know that you are irreplaceable to our sovereign, Phenomena. That is how I know that I must keep this secret for you, if I can."
"I have never been more than a curious specimen to you," observed the doppelgänger with a wry smile, "have I?"
Lamar shrugged sheepishly. "Perhaps more than that. Were you a curious specimen to me, I would surely have given you up to the High Prince by now."
There was no reason not to be grateful for what Lamar had done, for his reasons weren't entirely selfish from what Phenomena could see; he accepted that for now he was safe, and decided to probe for more information while the option remained open to him. "What will become of Glares and Avail? The High Prince must know that they have been working against Limit since he came here, despite the fact that he has our sovereign's approval."
The Third Prince crossed his arms and smirked victoriously – whatever he was about to divulge obviously pleased him greatly. "Limit is not as well informed as he thinks he is. Yes, the High Prince knows that Glares and Avail have been opposing the drop at every turn, but he is hardly angry – on the contrary, he is grateful for their bravery and their diligence. Our sovereign is not as easy to sway as Limit thinks – to put it plainly the High Prince is still highly skeptical of their arrangement, and is hardly inclined to favor the dross's cause over that of one of his son's."
"They still believe their actions have gone unnoticed," Phenomena pointed out, and Lamar nodded in agreement.
"And the High Prince wants them to keep acting on that assumption. Can you imagine how they might react if they knew the Most High was aware of their insubordination? They would take great care, and that is not what our sovereign needs – he needs their intuitiveness, their recklessness, their willingness to take chances to get results. He needs them to question Limit Telltale at every juncture, because he knows no one else will."
There was no denying that the High Prince's foresight was astounding. "Then they will not suffer any punishment." Phenomena hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until the moment it escaped him in a rush, and he felt relieved. He had come to value Glares and Veil's company more than he had guessed.
"If they hold to their current course they will remain blameless," Lamar corrected meticulously, leaving nothing to chance. "There are many courses the future can take, Phenomena – but you know that better than anyone by now, don't you?"
Phenomena cracked an unwilling smile but it vanished just as quickly as it had come; a frown crossed his face when he mused, "Then it truly is over between Brenner and me, isn't it? The High Prince's wrath in this instance will never abate. We are destined to live our lives apart."
Lamar shrugged and dropped his gaze to the petal-strewn ground, mumbling, "I cannot say."
Phenomena hadn't realized he had backed up to the first row of benches until he collapsed into one, feeling suddenly exhausted; across from him Lamar was watching him sadly, rolling a violet clematis bloom between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand absentmindedly. The joyful sounds of the wedding reception echoed off the western face of the palace but the dark cloud of Phenomena's despair seemed to keep the jubilation from really reaching them; Lamar didn't approach but chose to walk away, his eyes downcast and his thoughts sympathetic but resolute. He had vowed the High Prince that he would guide Phenomena down the path most favorable to them, and unfortunately that path was not the same one his youngest brother currently walked. Whether or not it would be at some point in the future, even the calculating Third Prince of Shade could only guess – he could only hope that the doppelgänger continued to heed the wishes of their sovereign, not only for his sake but for everyone's.
Phenomena remained where he was, struggling with the difference between right and wrong and fraught with guilt at the notion of letting go; in the distance, the sounds of celebration filled the air like unbidden, discordant music.
Lamar did his best to blend back in with the milling crowds of nobles, but his reappearance did not escape the notice of everyone; barely a handful of seconds had passed before he felt pressure at his elbow and heard an urgent voice in his ear: "A word, if I might."
There were witnesses all around, laughing gaily and partaking of the High Prince's lavish feast and fawning over the newly crowned Princess of Thaliana; with a smile frozen upon his face and his gaze fixed stubbornly forward the Determinist Prime murmured back, "Now would hardly seem an appropriate time for this, don't you agree?"
"This may be the only opportunity I have left." The regret resonating in that blunt reply sent a chill down Landmark's spine, and nodding once solemnly he allowed himself to be led to a much more secluded stretch of the lawn, where turning he found Brenner standing before him. For a moment he appeared to be himself again, quiet intelligence and optimism shining in his features, but then he smiled and that singular bleak expression served to shatter the facade. It brought to mind what Lamar had thought all along, that his youngest brother was more broken as a result of the doppelgängers transformation than even Phenomena himself.
"You needn't worry," he found himself saying, and though Lamar had always been on amiable terms with Brenner even he was surprised by the sincerity behind his sympathetic words – he wasn't ruled by his emotions like the Twelfth Prince was, nor was he completely devoid of sentiment like some of his kin. Logic ruled his life, facts and reason and things he could see and touch. "I will take care of him."
Brenner waved a hand negligently and barked out a hoarse, brittle laugh. "You don't need to assure me of that – I already have all the assurance I need. You have been taking care of him since the moment I lost the ability to do so myself, whether or not that was your intention."
Lamar held his tongue on that matter, saying only, "You are very kind. The High Prince will remember as much before long, of that I am certain."
"Thank you," said Brenner softly, flashing another of those disheartened smiles, "for that generous lie, brother."
"The High Prince won't learn of last night's meeting from me." Lamar wasn't certain why he felt so compelled to tell Brenner this. "You have my word, and I have already told Phenomena as much."
"I suspect that will hardly matter in the end – the Most High has ways of unearthing secrets, ways that make such verbal declarations seem obsolete." The lorgnette's eyes were upon his mostly-empty glass of hearting, his expression bitter and hateful; Lamar found himself longing for the youngest prince's optimism, and briefly wondered if that was one of the things Brenner had lost. "He longs to be rid of me – not that I can blame him at this point. With my irredeemable offenses I have utterly failed him. I simplemindedly violated our most sacred tradition, the tradition upon which our entire civilization was founded. For what I have done, there can be no retribution."
Lamar could think of the single contradiction to the lorgnette's own words. "Phenomena may yet be your salvation. Because of the ring, his mind is keener than ever before – with its enchantments he saved Headhunter's life, though even he cannot explain how he managed to do it."
The pride Brenner felt was evident in his face, as radiant as if the victory had been his own. "Yes. I watched him reinforce the shield Avail had conjured – he was somehow able to make his mental energies tangible, and with that he protected us from harm." He chuckled indulgently then, momentarily awed by the limitless possibilities, and added, "If you devoted the rest of your life to researching his mind, I am confident that even then you would have barely scratched the surface of his capabilities. If the ring's enchantments don't unravel, and he continues to wear it, there is no reason why his powers won't continue to grow."
"And it is precisely for that reason that I believe the High Prince will spare you in the end," Lamar pointed out diplomatically. "There is no denying that, at this rate, Phenomena will become stronger than any of us."
"Then he will destroy us both," said Brenner with a helpless little shrug, "and see to it that his power is never challenged."
Lamar thought this was both an immature and radical view of the future, and couldn't help but suggest as much aloud. "Phenomena is blindly devoted to the High Prince, and to the advancement of Thaliana – he believes that fate brought him here to help us achieve all that we desire and more, and that this is the higher calling he has longed his whole life for. I hardly think that the High Prince would ever think to dispose of such an irreplaceable ally... Nor do I think he would ever seriously consider eliminating one of his own sons, for that matter."
"We will see," was Bareness's vague reply, and he tipped the last swallow of his hearting onto his tongue.
"It isn't only that." Landmark's tone had distinctly changed, become intense and brooding; Brenner looked up in time to follow the Third Prince's gaze to one of the gazebos nestled within the quaint flora and fauna, where Glares and Avail were entertaining twin princes Mattock and Patrick. As they watched Glares actually laughed aloud at something Mattock had said, and unwillingly it seemed Veil's eyes slid sideways to watch him; there was a quiet fondness in the expression she wore when she looked upon him that made Bareness's insides feel warm with happiness, something he couldn't honestly say he had felt in many moons. "Phenomena's companionship has curious influences on people. His involvement in these affairs of late has strengthened many ties with the Shadow Court that before were tenuous or perhaps nonexistent. It could be that he is destined to become the point around which we rally, the one who unites us, encourages us to cast down our enemies and lead the last remnants of the Nether Empire to a glorious new age. And if such a chain of events comes to pass, who will we have to thank?"
"Phenomena, obviously," said Brenner flatly, rolling his eyes skyward as if the answer should be obvious.
"No," corrected the Determinist Prime insistently. "You – the man who risked everything to save him. Never forget, brother, that if it wasn't for you he would not be here."
Brenner dropped his gaze to his empty wine glass, momentarily humbled into silence, and Lamar allowed himself the ghost of a smile at his youngest brother's expense. The High Prince's qualm with Bareness's snap decision had never been the breaking of a centuries-long tradition, as the lorgnettes had always believed, but a question of how Phenomena's premature transformation from mortal to shade would effect the potency of his mental abilities. If it could be proved over time that the doppelgänger was thriving, not struggling, Lamar was confident that Brenner would eventually receive a full pardon and be welcomed back into the Shadow Court with open arms. The Mind of the Most High was arguably their most powerful weapon now – for all their strengths, the Princes of Shade could not say they had ever been gifted with the ability to glimpse even fragments of the future.
"Tell me," the Twelfth Prince began at length, his voice calmer now, his face serene. "What has he seen that has yet to come to pass?"
The question served as a grim reminder for Lamar that despite the concerns they had discussed there were even graver events looming on the horizon; instinctively he scanned the milling crowds, his eye drawn easily to Secants and his towering frame, and felt a bolt of terror spear through him when he realized that Sole was no longer beside him. With urgency gripping him in icy clutches he whipped his head back and forth, silently praying that with each passing moment he might catch a fleeting glimpse of her exquisite violet gown or her radiant smile, but she was nowhere to be found; he strode toward the gazebo where Glares and Avail were still chatting amiably with Mattock and Patrick, frantic now, with Brenner barking inquiries from just behind him.
