Storm Rising Read Online Free Page B

to let it out of his keeping long enough to make that copy.
    He set it carefully on the desktop, and the memory of the first time he had placed it on this very desk overlaid itself on the present.
    To this day, it was the single most daring act he had ever accomplished. He was still not entirely certain what had possessed him to even contemplate such a mad action. Although he had not known it at the time, it was Emperor Charliss’ policy to assign each of the potential candidates for the Throne to a stint within the Imperial Secretariat, so that they would know what the duties of their underlings were—and where the opportunitiesfor bribery and espionage among those underlings lay. During
his
tour of duty, the Imperial Seal had come into his hands for two entire days, as he followed Charliss on a Royal Progress through newly conquered lands. Charliss had been preoccupied with the machinations of a local satrap and had immersed himself in dealing with his twisted and involved plots to defraud Emperor and Empire of their rightful portions and authority. He’d sensed possible treachery, and had entrusted the Seal to Tremane while he dealt—personally and magically—with the “problem.” He’d had no other thoughts on his mind, and it might have been that he had forgotten that Tremane was a mage.
    But Tremane’s skill, while not the equal of the Emperor’s, was still sufficient to copy the Seal. By sheerest accident, he’d had the time, the materials, and the Seal itself, all at once, all readily at hand. The temptation had been too great; he’d bent to it and had made the Seal during one long, feverish night of work.
    Once he had made it, however, he had almost destroyed it in panic. Only one thing had prevented him from doing just that: the existence of this desk.
    He’d inherited it from an aunt with numerous lovers—many of them dangerous to know, all of them married to other women. She’d had the drawer built to conceal missives too hazardous to keep, but too precious—emotionally or with an eye to later blackmail—to burn. It was the only place remotely safe enough to hold something as risky as a copy of the Imperial Seal.
    Since that time, the desk and its burdensome secret had always traveled with him. He had used it only once, just to be certain that it
was
identical in every way to the original, and then only to seal a document the Emperor had already approved and signed, one of an entire stack of similar documents that Charliss had signed and sealed without glancing more than once at each.
    Now, however, Tremane was about to forge a document that the Emperor would definitely never approve of.
    On the other hand, in order to reach him to bring him to justice, once the deception was discovered, the Emperor was going to have to come to
him.
Or, at least, his minions were.
    That was hardly going to be an easy proposition, all things considered. There was a great deal of disturbed and hostile territory between him and the Emperor.
    It was also going to be some time before Tremane was found out, and during that time conditions were only going to worsen, which would further protect him from Imperial wrath.
    Besides all that, there was no telling if Charliss could manage to track Tremane down in the first place, much less put through a Portal to haul him back for justice—or send troops across the unsettled countryside of Hardorn to accomplish the same goal.
    In either case, he would prove he
could
reach them—and there would be questions about why he had not evacuated the troops if he could pursue Tremane to bring him to book for his actions. Charliss would have no excuse not to bring back the rest of the army as well as the errant Grand Duke.
    If he
does
come after me, I would just as soon it were an overland trek. I have a notion that I could manage to escape from custody during a mage-storm if I put my mind to it.
He shook his head again; he was allowing himself to be distracted by speculations. He must