Shadow and Betrayal

been with him. Once, before they had made this bargain with Chaos, she had had the luxury of being soft and warm. She had always been angry, only not with him. How lost he must feel.
    Idaan leaned close and kissed him. For one terrible moment, she meant it - the softness of his lips against hers stirring something within her that cried out to hold and be held, to weep and wail and take comfort. Her flesh also remembered the poet, the strange taste of another man’s skin, the illusion of hope and of safety that she’d felt in her betrayal of the man who was destined to share her life.
    ‘I’m not angry, sweet. Only tired. I’m very tired.’
    ‘This will pass, Idaan-kya. Remember that this part only lasts a while.’
    ‘And is what follows it better?’
    He didn’t answer.
    The candle had hardly burned past another mark when the moon-faced assassin appeared, moving like darkness itself in his black cotton robe. He put down his lantern and took a pose of welcome before dusting a crate with his sleeve and sitting. His expression was pleasant as a fruit seller in a summer market. It only made Idaan like him less.
    ‘So,’ Oshai said. ‘You called, I’ve come. What seems to be the problem? ’
    She had intended to begin with Maati Vaupathai, but the pretense of passive stupidity in Oshai’s eyes annoyed her. Idaan raised her chin and her brows, considering him as she would a garden slave. Adrah looked back and forth between the two. The motion reminded her of a child watching his parents fighting. When she spoke, she had to try not to spit.
    ‘I would know where our plans stand,’ she said. ‘My father’s ill, and I hear more from Adrah and the palace slaves than from you.’
    ‘My apologies, great lady,’ Oshai said without a hint of irony. ‘It’s only that meetings with you are a risk, and written reports are insupportable. Our mutual friends . . .’
    ‘The Galtic High Council,’ Idaan said, but Oshai continued as if she had not spoken.
    ‘. . . have placed agents and letters of intent with six houses. Contracts for iron, silver, steel, copper, and gold. The negotiations are under way, and I expect we will be able to draw them out for most of the summer, should we need to. When all three of your brothers die, you will have been wed to Adrah, and between the powerful position of his house, his connection with you, and the influence of six of the great houses whose contracts will suddenly ride on his promotion to Khai, you should be sleeping in your mother’s bed by Candles Night.’
    ‘My mother never had a bed of her own. She was only a woman, remember. Traded to the Khai for convenience, like a gift.’
    ‘It’s only an expression, great lady. And remember, you’ll be sharing Adrah here with other wives in your turn.’
    ‘I won’t take others,’ Adrah said. ‘It was part of our agreement.’
    ‘Of course you won’t,’ Oshai said with a nod and an insincere smile. ‘My mistake.’
    Idaan felt herself flush, but kept her voice level and calm when she spoke.
    ‘And my brothers? Danat and Kaiin?’
    ‘They are being somewhat inconvenient, it’s true. They’ve gone to ground. Frightened, I’m told, by your ghost brother Otah. We may have to wait until your father actually dies before they screw up the courage to stand against each other. But when they do, I will be ready. You know all this, Idaan-cha. It can’t be the only reason you’ve asked me here?’ The round, pale face seemed to harden without moving. ‘There had best be something more pressing than seeing whether I’ll declaim when told.’
    ‘Maati Vaupathai,’ Idaan said. ‘The Dai-kvo’s sent him to study in the library.’
    ‘Hardly a secret,’ Oshai said, but Idaan thought she read a moment’s unease in his eyes.
    ‘And it doesn’t concern your owners that this new poet has come for the same prize they want? What’s in those old scrolls that makes this worth the risk for you, anyway?’
    ‘I don’t know, great lady,’ the assassin said. ‘I’m trusted with work of this delicate nature because I don’t particularly care about the points that aren’t mine to know.’
    ‘And the Galts? Are they worried about this Maati Vaupathai poking through the library before them?’
    ‘It’s . . . of interest,’ Oshai said, grudgingly.
    ‘It was the one thing you insisted on,’ Idaan said, stepping toward the man. ‘When you came to Adrah and his father, you agreed to help us in return for access to that