Nathair turned from the window and looked at him, then nodded.

‘I am.’

‘Then all that we have done, believed, fought for . . .’ He looked into Nathair’s eyes. ‘A lie?’ He felt dizzy suddenly, his legs weak.

‘No,’ Nathair hissed. ‘Think, man. Nothing has changed. Right and wrong, they are just ideas in our heads, meaning that we give to our actions. Our friendship is still the same, our oaths to one another still stand. That is what we must cling to. Our goals and our vision are still the same. Nothing of import has changed.’

‘Nothing has changed,’ Veradis echoed.

‘Apart from the names,’ Nathair shrugged. ‘Ben-Elim, Kadoshim, Elyon, Asroth.’

‘Bright Star and Black Sun,’ Veradis said.

Nathair froze at that, his mouth a bitter twist. ‘Aye, that too.’ He shrugged. ‘We must accept the hard truth, even if it hurts at first.’

‘But what of Calidus? We saw him; he had wings. He is Ben-Elim.’

‘Oh, he has wings, but they are not made of white feathers,’ Nathair snorted. ‘What we saw in Telassar was a glamour.’

Veradis ground his palm into his forehead. This cannot be. Everything that we are has been devoted to this cause, and it is a lie.

He looked at Nathair, saw his face was a kaleidoscope of battling emotions. Scorn, shame, hope.

‘You are the Black Sun,’ Veradis said.

‘Whatever men call me, I shall rule, and rule well. You know that. I am still the same person, still your friend, and your king. Nothing but the titles we have imagined have changed.’

But that’s not true, is it?

‘Show me your hand,’ Veradis asked.

‘What?’

‘Your hand.’ Veradis held his own palm up, the scar of his oath to Nathair.

Slowly Nathair held his hand out, uncurled his fingers.

‘You have two scars now,’ Veradis observed. A seed of doubt and anger growing larger by the moment.

‘Aye. A man can make more than one oath.’

‘Who was it to?’

Nathair didn’t answer, made to pull his arm away, but Veradis gripped his wrist, held the palm open.

‘Who did you swear this oath to?’

‘Asroth,’ Nathair whispered.

Veradis threw Nathair’s arm as if it were a viper.

Betrayal, it is all betrayal. And lies upon lies. How can he not see that? What else has he hidden from me?

‘And you say nothing has changed,’ Veradis snarled, pulling away from him. ‘Everything has changed.’

‘Think on what I have said,’ Nathair pleaded, ‘on what is truth and lie. On our friendship.’