Kushiel's Chosen

garden, the day I told him I was returning to Naamah's Service. It was true, what I had seen in the thetalos; I had wronged and injured him deeply.
    And if I had not, he would have stood at my side in the Little Court when Melisande Shahrizai drew back her veil, and Prince Benedicte ordered the death of my companions. The tally of the living is never given to us to know.
    After the dancing, the wine went around again, and then dinner was served, course upon course of Kritian delicacies. There was a good deal of seafood, which is excellent there, especially the tender squid served in a sauce of its own inky effluence, although it is unnerving to behold. After the main dishes came a mixed platter of sweet melons and sharp cheeses, which some couch-mates served to each other with their own fingers, and then a delicate ice flavored with almond milk for dessert. I could not imagine how they came by ice in that clime, but the Archon assured me that there is snow on the highest peaks of Kriti in winter, and they freeze great blocks of ice which they hoard throughout the summer in deep, cool cisterns.
    When the dinner things were cleared, the slaves came around with the wine once more, and I thanked the young man who poured for me without thinking.
    "It is my pleasure, lypiphera" he murmured, not raising his eyes.
    It was the same form of address the masseuse Chloris had used, and one that was strange to me; I sensed Demetrios Asterius' head come up sharply, and felt his measured gaze. "They call you that, do they?" he asked me.
    "I don't know, my lord," I said honestly; the wine-pourer had moved onward. "I heard it once before, only today. What does it mean?"
    He was silent for a moment, then answered thoughtfully. "Painbearer."
    "Oh." Since I did not know what else to say, I gazed into my wine-cup. It was very finely made, of a porcelain so thin it was nearly translucent, painted on the inside with a scene of Kritian ships at sail. Demetrios Asterius reached out to touch a loose tendril of my hair, running it between finger and thumb.
    "Like silk to the touch," he said ruefully. "My lady Phèdre, like as not I will wed Althaia, who brings with her a vast dowry of lands stretching the coast of my demesnes, of whom I am fond, and whose brother I love well. If I wish to be named Minos' successor, and I do, it is the wise course. But I wish, I very much wish, that you had come here under more auspicious circumstances. And I very much wish that my dear cousin Pasíphae had seen fit to offer her guidance. There are deep things involved here, and my skills lie in dealing with the surface of matters."
    I think I knew, then, what his answer would be.
    "My lord Archon," I said softly. "If the Kore could have answered me, she would have. I did not come seeking what I have found on Kriti, whether it was destined or no. I ask only for your aid, for ships and men. It is a question for a ruler, and you must answer it thusly."
    "So I must." He sighed, then summoned a grin. "On the morrow. For tonight, you are still my guest, and there is entertainment to be had!"
    The center of the ring of couches being cleared and the wine-cups refilled, Althaia's slaves brought out the standing silver crater for a game of kottabos, balancing the plastinx carefully atop the spire. My throat tightened a little; I had not played at kottabos since my lord Delaunay had died. Although it is a Hellene game, it is popular among D'Angelines; I had played it for the first time the night Alcuin made his debut, when Delaunay won Cecilie's game and claimed an auction as his forfeit.
    Six thousand ducats, Alcuin's virgin-price had brought. No one could remember such a price paid for a Servant of Naamah, not even I, raised in the Night Court. I envied him that, then, I remembered; my own, when my time came, was lower. I wouldn't have done, had I known how he truly felt about it.
    Delaunay told me my asking-price would only rise with time. He was right about that too, and I would willingly trade it all, to have them both alive once more.
    Such things are not given to us to choose, and so it was that I smiled and laughed and played at kottabos, surprising the Kritians by winning a round with a skillful toss of the lees in my wine-cup, for Delaunay taught us both to play with skill after Alcuin's auction. For my forfeit, I claimed the right to share a couch with our hostess' handsome brother, which was amusing to all and pleased Althaia, who then shared Demetrios' couch,