The Desert Spear

woman.
    They sent no word ahead, but when they rode into the courtyard of Jardir’s palace, Inevera and the
Damaji’ting
were there waiting for them. Inevera lay on a pillowed palanquin held up by muscular
chin
slaves clad only in bidos and vests. She was dressed as scandalously as ever, and even the greenlanders gasped and colored at the sight of her as her slaves set the palanquin down and she rose to her feet. Her hips swayed hypnotically as she came to Jardir with her hands outstretched.
    “Who is that?” Leesha asked.
    “My First Wife, Damajah Inevera,” Jardir said. “The others are my lesser wives.”
    Leesha looked at him sharply, and as Abban had warned, her face became a storm cloud.
    “You’re already married?!” she demanded.
    Jardir looked at her curiously. Surely she had understood that much, even if she was prone to jealousy. “Of course. I am Shar’Dama Ka.”
    Leesha opened her mouth to retort, but Inevera reached them, and she swallowed whatever she had been about to say.
    “Husband,” Inevera said, embracing him and kissing him deeply. “How I have missed your warmth in our bed.”
    Jardir was taken aback for a moment, but he saw how Inevera’s eyes kept flicking to Leesha, and felt as filthy as if he had been marked by a dog.
    “Allow me to present my honored guest,” he said. “Mistress Leesha, daughter of Erny, First Herb Gatherer of the Hollow tribe.” Inevera’s eyes narrowed at the title, and she glared at Jardir, then Leesha.
    For her part, Leesha acquitted herself well, not backing down an inch as she met Inevera’s gaze with a calm serenity and dipped into the skirtspreading bow the women of the green lands favored. “An honor to meet you, Damajah.”
    Inevera’s smile and return bow were equally unreadable, and Jardir knew then that Abban was right. Inevera would not accept this woman as a
Jiwah Sen,
and would certainly not take it well when Jardir married her anyway and gave her dominion over the women of the North.
    “I would speak with you in private, husband,” Inevera said, and Jardir nodded. Now that the moment to face her had come, he had no desire to delay. He thanked Everam that the sun was still high and she could not use her
hora
magic in its light.
    “Abban, see to it that the Palace of Mirrors is made ready for Mistress Leesha and her entourage during their stay,” he said in Krasian. The palace was unfit for one such as Leesha, but it was the best Everam’s Bounty had to offer, three stories, richly appointed with carpets, tapestries, and silvered mirrors.
    “I believe Damaji Ichach is using the Palace of Mirrors at the moment,” Abban said.
    “Then Damaji Ichach will need to make new arrangements,” Jardir said.
    Abban bowed. “I understand.”
    “Please excuse me,” Jardir said, bowing to Leesha. “I must consult with my wife. Abban will see to your accommodations. When you are settled, I will come to call on you.”
    Leesha nodded, a cool gesture that warned of fire beneath. Jardir felt his pulse quicken at the sight, and it gave him strength as he and Inevera strode into his palace.

    “What is the purpose of bringing that woman here?” Inevera demanded when they were alone in her pillow chamber beside the throne room.
    “The bones have not told you?” Jardir smirked.
    “Of course they have,” Inevera snapped, “but I hold out hope that this once, they are wrong, and you are not such a fool.”
    “Marriages cemented my power in Krasia,” Jardir said. “Is it so foolish to think that they would serve the same in the Northland?”
    “These are
chin,
husband,” Inevera said. “Fine for the
dal’Sharum
to breed, but there is not a woman among them worthy to carry your seed.”
    “I disagree,” Jardir said. “This Leesha is as worthy as any woman I have ever met.”
    Inevera scowled. “Well it does not matter. The bones have spoken against her, and I will not approve the match.”
    “You are correct, it matters not,” Jardir said. “I will still marry her.”
    “You cannot,” Inevera said. “I am
Jiwah Ka,
and I decide who else you may marry.”
    But Jardir shook his head. “You are my
Krasian Jiwah Ka.
Leesha shall be my greenland
Jiwah Ka,
and have dominion over all my wives in the North.”
    Inevera’s eyes bulged, and he thought for a moment they would pop right out of her face. She shrieked and came at him, long painted nails leading the way. Jardir’s back, often clawed by those nails under much different