Empire of Unreason Read Online Free PDF

it because of Irena?” he continued.
    “Your wife has even less to do with this than you, Hercule.”
    “I would have married you , Adrienne. A hundred times I asked you—”
    “Hercule,” she said, softly, “I do not care to repeat myself. My thoughts do not concern you, your wife, your children, or some marriage to you that I never wanted.”
    “I do not understand you at all.”
    “Perhaps you should go, then.”
    “You were happy enough to have me here earlier.”

    EMPIRE OF UNREASON
    “I wanted you then, or thought I did.” Her voice softened. “I needed a friend, Hercule, a true friend, and I do not have many—only you and Crecy.”
    “Small wonder, when you treat us so. Why is this friendship only on your terms? Why is it that when you want me in your bed, I am always there, but when I want you in mine—”
    “I think Irena is not so broadminded,” Adrienne said, attempting a smile.
    “You know what I mean.”
    She gazed at him for a moment. “Have I done so badly by you, Hercule? What did you want when we met? A powerful prince to serve, one suited to the new order of things. A secure position. Have I not provided those? Isn’t the tsar the sort of patron you were searching for?”
    “I cannot deny it. But—”
    “But what? Love was never part of our bargain. You only love me still because you cannot possess me. If we had married, you would now be with some other woman, and it would be me—not Irena—lonely in her bed tonight.”
    “That is untrue. I never loved Irena. But I needed connections here, and she is the daughter of a boyar. And what man does not want sons?”
    “Yes,” Adrienne said bitterly. “What man does not.”
    He reacted as if he had been slapped. “I’m sorry, love. I know you miss Nico. I forget sometimes—”
    She almost told him, then, about her vision. She wanted to, but some indefinable fear stopped her.
    “You see, Hercule? I can never forget. I work in my laboratory, I make weapons and toys for the tsar, I tutor my students, I try to avoid the intrigues of my enemies—and yet, I never forget. I never cease wondering where he is, where he was taken. Whether he is even alive. And yet now—” She stopped, realizing that Hercule had somehow coaxed her farther than she meant to go.

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    “Now what? Have you had some news?”
    “It is nothing. Listen to me, Hercule. This is what is important for you to know.
    Someone tried to kill me. I suspect that this person has something to do with Nico and his disappearance.”
    “Someone here or abroad?” »
    “I am best known here. The question is whether the attack was instigated by a human enemy or one less tangible.”
    “You suspect the malfaiteurs! The evil angels? Surely none here serves them.”
    “Crecy once did.”
    “You don’t suspect Crecy.”
    “No. My point is that they are devious and well practiced at keeping their servants secret.”
    “It’s good that you tell me this. I will inform our spies.”
    “Only those you trust the most. Whoever this sorcerer is, he has at his command something very dangerous, very ugly. It might change everything.”
    “But you won’t tell me what.”
    “Not yet.”
    “Because you do not trust me.”
    “I trust you, Hercule, as much as I trust any living creature.”
    “Which means you do not trust me very far.”
    She walked near where he sat on the edge of the bed, and she bent to kiss his forehead. “I cannot help that, Hercule. I have been betrayed too often.”

    EMPIRE OF UNREASON
    Hercule puffed out a breath. “You carry too much, and love too little. It makes you hard. I love you, but you are not the woman I met, there in the fields of Lorraine.”
    “No,” she quietly replied. “No, I am better than she. Stronger. Now go back to sleep.”
    “I think, rather, that I should leave.”
    She shrugged. “As you wish.”
    He set about gathering up his clothes. When he was dressed, he turned back to her, and she saw a tear glisten in