“And if they do?” He felt his jaw harden.
She bowed respectfully. “Then, Illustrious Brother, I cannot help but wonder why you hold off on asking me for everything you want from me.”
Those oval pupils narrowed again.
“Is it because you fear I will not grant your other desires? Or are you simply securing the safety of your wife before making additional requests?”
Revik fought to control his light, which wanted to look for Allie. Realizing his reaction likely showed on his face, he averted his eyes, looking out the same window she had been staring through. Briefly, his gaze sought the gate that separated them from the courtyard.
“I suppose the latter is true,” he said finally. “I wish my priorities to be clear, and not muddied by lesser concerns.”
“Which are what?” she prompted again.
Revik turned, looking at her narrowly.
“What are your plans for the Adhipan leader, Balidor?” he said.
She tapped the edges of her cup with one red-lacquered fingernail.
“Ah,” she said.
“Have you any plans for him?” Revik pressed.
“Plans?” she said. “We have no plans, Illustrious Sword. Still…” She inclined her head with its high bun of shining, black hair. “I find I am very reluctant to waste a resource of such value. Very reluctant.”
Revik felt his jaw harden to granite.
So this was it. She wanted Balidor.
“Is his value so high?” he said dryly.
“It is,” she said, looking at him seriously. “You cannot deny that, Illustrious Brother. Balidor’s skills as an infiltrator are renown. He is considered perhaps the most highly-skilled infiltrator alive. You must be aware of that. It would take many years to train another to his level… if it could be accomplished at all.”
“And we mustn’t waste that?” Revik said.
“I believe not,” she said thoughtfully, tapping her nail once again. “Particularly not in these troubling times.”
“So it is not her you would like me to buy,” he growled. “It is him.”
“Not buy,” she said, holding up a hand in caution. “Sell, perhaps.”
A silence fell between them. In it, Revik fought to control his light’s reaction.
“You want to buy my rights of retribution against him?” Revik stared at her, giving a short laugh. “Surely you’re joking, sister.”
She made a line in the air with her fingers.
“I am not,” she said seriously. “I confess, I would very much like to recruit him into the Lao Hu. If he is so willing.”
She paused, waiting, her face still devoid of expression.
When Revik only shook his head, averting his gaze, she added,
“Perhaps, brother, in addition to whatever compensation you would like for handing his person over to my care, we can come to a deal around recompense between us. In regard to whatever…” She gestured delicately with one, pale finger. “…lessons he might be in need of. In terms of manners.”
“Manners?” Revik’s pretense at politeness dropped. “He shot my fucking wife.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?” he said. “Then explain to me what ‘recompense’ you would like your mate to accept for you, under such a circumstance?”
She acknowledged this with a subtle gesture and a soft clicking sound.
“I have no mate,” she said, pausing on this for a beat. “But your point is well taken, Illustrious Sword.”
She paused another beat.
“…And yet,” she observed, shrugging with the same hand. “The two of them seem to harbor no ill feelings towards one another, Illustrious Syrimne. Quite the contrary, in fact. It makes me wonder if the offense was more against you than it was against her.”
She paused again, her yellow eyes darting back to his.
“…It also makes me wonder if it might benefit you, Illustrious Brother, if Adhipan leader Balidor were to find a mate of his own.”
Revik felt a sharp, almost debilitating pain, like a kick to the solar plexus. Fighting to keep it off his face, he didn’t lower his gaze.
Still watching his face, she shrugged, observing softly, “A martyr is a far more effective rival than one who is alive. Especially if that one is attached to another.”
Revik couldn’t move.
Blanking his mind, he forced his eyes away from that predatory stare. He forced himself to speak a moment later, his chest still tight, like parts of it had turned to stone.
“I think I understand his sudden value to you, sister,” he said after a silence. “You would like to recruit him to this role, as well?”
“Is that objectionable to you?” Her dark eyebrow lifted in a high arch. “Would that not solve both of our problems, Illustrious Syrimne?”
Revik fought to keep his reaction off his face.
He couldn’t be certain if he heard concrete knowledge in the female’s words or not, but even the implication brought a surge of pain so strong, his fingers gripped the wooden chair below the table. He didn’t realize the extent of his reaction until he saw the female seer pale slightly under her already light complexion, her eyes riveted on his.
In hers, he saw his own irises reflected as pale green rings.
“Illustrious brother,” she said softly.
She laid a hand on his arm, her fingers exuding caution.
“…Brother Revik, I am deeply sorry. I meant you no disrespect. Quite the contrary. I have nothing but respect for you, and your reasons for being here.” Hesitating, she kept her eyes on his as she added, “I do not condone his actions towards your wife, Illustrious Syrimne. Not in the slightest. I am not touting his virility as a male, either. My desire for alliance with him is strategic only. Surely you must see my benefit in that?”
That time, he felt concrete knowledge.
He felt her letting him feel it.
The pain grew bad enough that he couldn’t answer her.
She removed her hand when Revik’s eyes stared at it.
“You wish me to walk away from this?” he said finally, fighting his voice. “You insinuate I have yet more reason to feel wronged by him, and you wish me to simply walk away?”
“I insinuate no such thing, Illustrious Sword!”
Revik stared at her, fighting to control his light.
“I apologize deeply, Sword Revik,” she repeated, touching his arm lightly with her hand. “If you misheard any of my words, especially in a matter of import with your wife, I cannot express the depth of my apologies…”
After another pause, he looked away.
He couldn’t read her, not in here. That fact alone made him want to break her neck with his bare hands.
The seer touched his arm again, her fingers lingering, nearly a caress.
“Your wife is very happy you are here, brother,” she said softly. “And I repeat, I have nothing but respect for your goals, Illustrious Syrimne.”
He heard a smile touch her voice before he looked up.
“Even the way you come here has class, Sword Revik.” Removing her hand from his arm, she lifted her tea cup from the wooden table. “You come here, alone. Surrounded by potential enemies.” She waved a hand at the surroundings, smiling at him again. “…Asking to see your wife. The method befits your stature, Illustrious Brother. Further, it has swagger.”
Revik felt his jaw clench harder.
“Sister,” he said. “It is not swagger. I merely did not wish my intentions misread. As I have stated clearly, more than once, I wished my priorities to remain clear to all concerned.”
She held up a hand. “I understand,” she said. “And they are clear, brother. Your wife is on her way here now.”
Seeing Revik flinch, she added, softer, “So we ourselves are clear, brother, I did not mean to insult you with my comment. Conversely, this was meant as a compliment, Revik.”
Before he could determine which thing she referenced, her smile surprised him, for it
looked genuine that time.
“I like a male with swagger,” she said. “Very much. If you permit me to say it, your wife is a lucky woman. Very lucky indeed.”
Revik didn’t answer, still fighting to control his emotions. He would be standing in front of Allie in moments. And he hadn’t misheard her. He hadn’t misunderstood a damned thing.
Voi Pai just blatantly insinuated Balidor was fucking his wife.
He was still fighting to process this, his eyes focused blindly on the surface of the table, when the female seer leaned closer to him. Putting light into her fingers, she caressed his arm, stroking his skin deliberately, up to the elbow.
Without thought, Revik removed it from her reach.
Placing his hand deliberately on his own thigh, he gave her a hard stare. He made the meaning behind it unambiguous, letting her know in no uncertain terms that her flirting was unwelcome in the extreme.
After a pause, she smiled faintly, still studying his eyes.
“Apologies again, brother,” she murmured.
Before he could answer, she glided to her feet, again bowing so that her head brought her eyes lower than his.
“Shall we proceed to providing your first wish, then?” she said.
Averting his eyes, he nodded, almost without realizing it.
She was pleased with herself, this Lao Hu cunt. She’d come here to put him in his place, he realized––Illustrious Syrimne or no. She also just seemed to get off on hitting at his more obvious vulnerabilities.
But he hadn’t agreed to anything around Balidor. Not yet.
He regained his feet. As he straightened to his full height, the Lao Hu leader did as well, still gauging his expression with caution. She indicated towards the door with one manicured hand, bowing slightly.
“After you, Illustrious Brother.”
Revik felt his jaw harden, but he followed her fingers towards the door, and then to the throne room beyond.
Like his previous escort, she didn’t explain their surroundings to him. He had a feeling that, despite her irritatingly constant displays of respect, the honorable Voi Pai, leader of the Lao Hu, wanted him out of her fair City as quickly as was reasonably––and politely––possible.
When they hit the sunlight, he gestured for her to lead the way.
As she did, he stood there a beat longer, aiming his face and chest towards the sun.
Eventually, the pause ended.
He followed her once it had, shoving his emotions as far into the background as he could.
27
TRADE
I CURLED MY hands into fists, clenching them tightly at my sides.
It didn’t help. My fingers were shaking.
My stomach roiled, bringing up a surge of bile. I realized I was sweating, nearly in a full-blown fear-panic reaction, although I knew neither of those things were precisely what I was feeling.
Eyes followed our small party as we crossed the second of two wide courtyards. Faces turned towards us, but I only saw them in a blur. Confusion, curiosity. Concern. A few I saw looked downright afraid.
I didn’t know if that fear was for me, but I suspected not.
The fact that Syrimne d’Gaos had just walked through the front door of their City’s walls, and now sat drinking tea with the head of the Lao Hu, likely worried them a lot more than anything to do with me.
“You are wrong about that,” Balidor murmured in his accented English. “Your presence here means something to them. Neither the humans nor the seers will be happy to see you go.”
I gave a low snort, more nerves than humor. “Voi Pai might be.”
“Well. Maybe her.”
I glanced up at him, meeting his gray eyes.
“Are you still trying to talk me out of this, ‘Dori?” I said.
He shrugged with one hand, a vague tension around his mouth. He looked away from me, facing forward, but I saw that tension turn into something else.
“You have options, Bridge Alyson,” he said. “You are a holy figure here, just as you are in our part of the world. There is a reason they let us take refuge here, when no one else from our clans would have been extended such an honor.”
Glancing at me as we walked, he touched my fingers briefly with his, in a way that would seem accidental, were anyone watching.
“It is not too late to change your mind,” he said, softer. “Even he could not get out of here with you,” he murmured. “…Not unless they allowed it.”
That time, it was me who avoided his eyes.
We’d already had our real goodbyes, in my bedroom in the Imperial Residence.
He’d come in to tell me that Voi Pai was, at that very moment, talking to Revik. He further relayed that, so far at least, Revik had asked only for me, not for Balidor himself, or for any of the others. While I was getting dressed, Balidor proceeded to tell me that Revik had walked right up to the front gate. Alone.
According to Balidor, that was beyond unheard of.
In fact, from Balidor’s reaction, I gathered it was downright foolhardy, even for Syrimne d’Gaos. Balidor even asked me if it were possible Revik had turned suicidal.
Remembering that now, I clenched my hands harder.
We walked through several more gates.
Eventually, we passed into a part of the City I hadn’t yet seen.
I walked with the others through an arched doorway leading through an enormous gate guarded by seers in black sashes. Humans in ceremonial garb stood at attention, bowing as we passed. I heard murmured prayers as they made the sign of the Bridge with their hands.
A few touched me, or touched my clothes. One female seer was crying.
We reached the far side of the shadowed arch and I paused, gazing out over a far greater space than any I had yet seen, even with the size of the courtyard behind me. At the bottom of a long flight of white steps lay an enormous, white stone expanse, nearly flat, stretching the length of several football fields. Red and white buildings with gilded roofs shone in the sun, decorated with dragons and stone carvings of animals and birds.
I fought to take it all in, following the length of the winding canals that circled its main boundaries, lined with fruit trees and swaying lanterns.
“Trees used to be forbidden on these courtyards,” Balidor told me quietly. “The human Emperors believed they must stand taller than all things under the sun, and this was their main reception area in those years.” He glanced at Allie. “The seers had a different view, of course. They convinced the royals of the need to remain a part of the world, in order to reach those who most needed their guidance. Voi Pai tells me that, over time, the Lao Hu wore them down on many points of this kind.”
My lips pursed. I did my best to turn it into a smile.
“She seems to be wearing you down, too, my brother,” I murmured.
Balidor glanced over sharply at this.
Seeing my quirked eyebrow above my smile, he didn’t smile in return.
Instead, I saw his throat move in a swallow, just before he looked away. He gazed down the same cascade of white stone steps as me.
“Would it matter so much?” he said. “If I said yes to her offer?”
I was surprised to hear real bitterness in his voice. I looked over, wondering if I wanted to know just exactly what Voi Pai had offered him––and found his gray eyes studying mine. Those same eyes flickered to my mouth.
“‘Dori,” I breathed. “…Don’t.”
His jaw hardened, just before the look in his eyes changed again. For an instant I saw emotion there, more than he usually showed, even when we were alone.
“I told you,” I said. “From the beginning, I told you, ‘Dor.”
He gestured a short acknowledgement with one hand, but I saw his eyes brighten. It was gone in a blink––but my throat closed as I tried to decide if I’d seen it at all.
I was about to try again, when Jon’s voice rose from my other side.
“Be careful, you two,” he said, his words taut.
I glanced at Jon, feeling my skin flush.
Damn him for hearing and seeing everything all the time––and for drawing his own conclusions without bothering to ask me. The last thing I needed was him thinking something was going on between me and Balidor––especially in front of Revik.
Then again, Voi Pai seemed to have planted that seed in everyone’s mind already, starting the first day we got here.
Following Jon’s gaze down the staircase and across that white sea of stone, I stopped when I saw the small crowd waiting for us.
Two forms stood out from the rest of the entourage, surrounded in a half-circle by servants, some of whom held sun shades and umbrellas. All of the bodies appeared black against the white stone, but bits of color showed as sunlight caught silk wrappings and scarves.
My throat closed tighter still.
I couldn’t make out faces, and the collar prevented any kind of scan, but I knew who it had to be.
Even as I thought it, Balidor stepped to Jon’s other side. He continued to shift places until he stood on the other side of Baguen.
Glancing first at Jon, then at Cass on his other side, I nodded.
“All right,” I said, exhaling. “Here we go.”
We stepped out into the sun as one.
I wanted to reach for Jon, but decided that might not be a good idea, either. Instead, I squeezed my arms to my sides, and concentrated on watching my slippered feet on the stairs so I wouldn’t trip in the long dress.
It seemed to take forever to descend the steps and cross the courtyard.
The polished stone reflected the sun, making it feel like a desert. The hardness of the courtyard floor jarred my legs through the lightly-padded slippers. The rest of the scenery blurred. My mind couldn’t take it in.
My breath hurt in my chest, my heart.
I felt guilt now, too, after the interaction with Balidor––more than one kind of guilt, aimed at more than one person. My mind filled with self-doubt, about what I was doing, what I thought I could do. I wondered just how much I was lying to myself about everything.
I didn’t want to hurt Revik.
The thought brought a dagger-like pain to my chest. It cut my breath, making me wince.
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