The Black Queen (Book 6) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch Page A

then she stepped off into the dirt.
    Sebastian was leaning against the palace wall, his gray cracked skin blending in with the stone. He wore his usual black, which set off his black hair, and made his gray eyes seem even lighter than they were. He could never be handsome—his skin prevented that—but he had an arresting charm that she was certain had come from Gift.
    Sebastian was a Golem, created by Domestic Fey long dead to replace the infant Gift when he was kidnapped. According to most rules of magick, Sebastian should have died weeks after he was created, but he did not. He was thirty-three years old, ancient for a Golem, and had survived two shatterings that Arianna knew of. He was made of stone, but inside him was a person. The materiels of his personality had been supplied by Gift over the years. The two were Linked from infancy. In some ways, Sebastian was a part of Gift that had lived separately from him since they were babies.
    Arianna went to Sebastian and took his cold smooth hands in hers. They had been close since she was born, and more than once, Sebastian had saved her life.
    “Sebastian,” she said. “What are you doing out here?”
    He turned his head slowly and looked at her. Because of his extremely slow movements, and the cautious way he spoke, some thought him feeble. But he wasn’t. His stone body had great limitations, most of which Sebastian had tried—and failed—to overcome.
    “I…scared…my-self,” he said in that broken way of his. His voice was raspy and had no melody at all.
    She held his hands tighter. “How?”
    “That…voice…,” he said. “The…one…I…found. The…one…you… and…Fat-her…said…I…could…not…use.”
    Her entire body went rigid. The voice he was referring to was Rugad’s voice. The voice of the Black King, Arianna’s great-grandfather. With his bizarre magickal abilities, Sebastian found the voice and thought it a good substitute for his own. When he had used it after Rugad’s death, however, he had so frightened his family that they asked him never to use it again.
    “What about that voice?” she asked.
    “I…spoke…with…it.”
    “On purpose?”
    He shook his head in his own distinct way. One careful movement to the right and back again. “It…came…out…of…my …mouth. I…could…not…stop…it.”
    “What did it say?”
    His fingers had wrapped around hers. His grip was so strong she felt her bones rub together, but she said nothing. He was terrified. She hadn’t seen him terrified in years.
    “It…said…” He closed his eyes. “‘Where is that girl?’”
    The voice that came out of his mouth was not his. Arianna took a step backwards, wiping her hands on her skirt as if she had touched the body of her dead great-grandfather. Hearing his voice again made it seem almost as if he were alive.
    She turned, saw Seger behind her, hands clasped over her heart. “Don’t let him do that again,” Seger said.
    “Sebastian,” Arianna said. “Sebastian, open your eyes.”
    He did. They were filled with tears. “It…hap-pen-ed…again, did-n’t…it?”
    She nodded.
    “What…does…it…mean, Ari?”
    She didn’t know. Seger stepped forward, almost as if she were coming between the two of them on purpose. “When did this first happen?” she asked.
    “Not…long…ago. I…saw…a…light. It…went…through…me. Then…the…voice…” He shuddered. “After…that, I…came… here.”
    “Did you say anything else?”
    Sebastian shook his head.
    “Did anyone hear you?”
    Sebastian shook his head again. One of the tears left his eye, and ran down the cracks in his cheek. “Did…I…do…some-thing…wrong?”
    “No,” Seger said. “You did something right by coming here alone. When the voice comes, can you anticipate it?”
    Sebastian looked at Arianna. She wiped away another tear that hovered on his lower lid. “I…do…not…know.”
    “You closed your eyes before you used the voice.