'Greetings, wife,' he managed to reply, confused by the unexpected desire her glance had roused in him. 'You are well?'
Unbidden, she turned next to Ullsaard and linked her arm in his. They strolled towards the riverside warehouses as Urikh dismissed his guard with an irritated order and followed behind.
'I find Geria to be most satisfying,' said Luia. 'The weather is more favourable than Askh, and the governor's palace, though austere from the outside, has all of the comforts a woman could desire.'
'All of the comforts a queen could desire?' Ullsaard asked with a lopsided smile. Her grip on his arm tightened for a moment and the feel of it sent an unusual thrill through the king.
'Perhaps all a queen desires is her king,' said Luia. There it was again, that look of animal need.
Ullsaard knew that she was trying to manipulate him. He could not remonstrate with her, not in such public view. And there was part of him that enjoyed it. Always she had craved a powerful, important man, and yet sought her physical pleasures from elsewhere. Perhaps on becoming king, Ullsaard had finally managed to make himself a man worthy of Luia. They had copulated before — Urikh was testament to that — but never before had Ullsaard sensed such desire in her. It had been more than half a year since he had last lain with a woman, and Luia's attentions were reminding him of that fact.
'I know that you do not wish there to be any fuss, but I have organised a formal reception for you tonight,' Luia told him. 'You presence here would be more widely remarked upon if you were not to have some kind of banquet.'
'You're right,' said Ullsaard. 'Tongues will wag, whatever I do, so best not give them more than necessary to wag about. The usual merchants, nobles and dignitaries?'
'Yes, and a few Second Captains from the palace guards. Oh, and Lerissa will be there too.' This news brought an instinctive tension to Ullsaard. Luia laughed at his involuntary reaction. 'I always thought there was something between the two of you.'
'I've never laid a finger on her,' said Ullsaard, pulling his arm free from Luia's.
'Touchy subject,' she said. 'You have certainly laid eyes on her, haven't you? There is no shame in it.'
'I love Allenya,' said Ullsaard, as if that was all the explanation that was needed.
'And yet you have slept with me and Meliu,' answered Luia. 'You have a strange sense of loyalty, Ullsaard. You treat a simple physical act as if it was something to be treasured.'
'It is important to me.'
They reached the plaza beneath the concourse leading up to the palaces. Turning up the roadway, Ullsaard again took Luia's arm in his, feeling oddly guilty about his outburst. He remembered that Luia knew nothing of her sisters' predicament in Magilnada. It was time that she did.
'Have you had any letters recently from Allenya or Meliu?'
'Just the other day, from Meliu' replied Luia. 'They seemed to think you were still in Salphoria. She complained about the lack of news coming to them regarding your war. She said that Anglhan had visited several times, but had not offered any answers to their inquiries. Allenya is in a melancholy state, she informed me. She had been keen to return to Askh, but Anglhan convinced her to remain. Why have you not written to Allenya to tell them that they can leave that wretched city?'
The thought of his wife's sadness brought an ache to Ullsaard's chest. The moment was lightened only a little by the knowledge that his family did not yet know that they were being held hostage. He stopped and turned Luia to face him, gesturing for Urikh to step forward to join them. He gripped each of them by an arm.
'You must not let anyone else know what I am about to tell you,' he said. They nodded and he continued. 'Anglhan wishes to remove Magilnada from the empire. He uses Allenya, Meliu and Noran as bargaining chips for that freedom.'
Luia moved to break his grasp, but Ullsaard held firm, fingers dimpling the soft flesh of her arm.
'Tell no one!' he snarled.
'What are you doing about it?' demanded Urikh. 'Is this why the news of the campaign is so dubious?'
Ullsaard ignored the question for the moment, concentrating on Luia. Anger flashed in her eyes and she bared her teeth. The king swayed back, expecting her to strike him, but she simply quivered in his grip, her whole body shaking with rage. This mood lasted for a few moments before her fury gave way to despair. She sagged against Ullsaard, her tears flowing fast, soaking into the weave of his tunic, her fingers clawing at its hem. Taken aback, he let go of her arm and placed it around her shoulders, kissing her on the top of her head.
'I'll not let anything happen to them, I promise,' he said. Stroking Luia's hair, the king turned his attention to Urikh, who had taken a step back, arms folded tightly across his chest, eyes narrowed. 'We are at an impasse for the while. Anglhan controls my supplies and my family, so I cannot move against him. His hostages are only of value if alive, so they are safe enough if I do nothing to move against Magilnada.'
'But that is an intolerable situation!' All of Ullsaard's earlier pride was swept away as Urikh seemed to revert twenty years, back to when he used to have tantrums as a child when denied.
'Act like a man!' the king snapped. 'The world does not simply exist the way we want it to; we have to make it that way.'
Luia had calmed herself and parted from Ullsaard, her cheeks and eyes red. She sniffed loudly, wiped her face with the cuff of her dress and tidied her hair.
'How are you going to make them safe?' she asked.
'I don't know,' Ullsaard confessed. 'I just don't know yet, but I will think of something. I'll find a way, even if it means giving up Salphoria.'
Luia nodded, sniffed again, and stroked a hand along his arm.
'I know you will, husband.' She glanced up at the palace and then at her son. 'Not a word, we are agreed. We have a royal feast to attend. There have been supply problems in Salphoria, but now that the Brotherhood has been restored, that will not last. Other than that, there is nothing to concern anyone with regard to Salphoria.'
'As you say, mother,' said Urikh, his whole demeanour sullen.
The three of them continued up the road, Ullsaard's hand clasped with Luia's, his son at his shoulder. Though he hated himself for thinking it, the king could not help but wonder what he might have done if it had been Luia in Magilnada rather than Allenya? He cursed himself for entertaining such a notion, knowing that no good could come of it.
II
Ullsaard prodded an Okharan spiced fish head around his plate with a spoon, not feeling the slightest touch of hunger. Rain pattered at the window shutters and the occasional distant growl of thunder announced the coming storm. The reception room was abuzz with conversation amongst the two dozen or so special guests who had been chosen to take part in this post-feast discussion. Two First Captains were present — Harrakil of the Seventeenth and Meesiu of the Sixth — along with several fleet owners, a handful of warehouse landlords, three local noble family heads, the chairmen of the city's two rival merchant boards and Thasalin.
This last cut a strange figure amongst the gaudy refinery of the others. Dressed in his severe black robe, the head of Okhar's Brotherhood precinct meticulously selected an apple from a bowl on one of the low tables, turning each fruit over in his hand, inspecting it precisely before replacing it. Having made his decision, the chosen apple was carefully pared away with a small knife, each sliver deposited neatly between the Brother's fleshy lips and chewed dispassionately.
Ullsaard hated the man; not just because he was a Brother. The qualities that made him such an admirable civil servant were vices in good company. He was fastidious to the point of pedantry; he had the habit of repeating any question asked of him, rephrased with subtle changes of nuance; his watery blue eyes regarded everything with suspicion and every person with mild disdain.
He was just the sort of man that Ullsaard had long despised for their miserly allocations of funds and grain, their undisguised contempt for men that shed blood for a living, and their self-important inflexions and sneering comments that the king had never understood. For all that — because of that — Thasalin was also just the sort of man Ullsaard needed to run the empire on his behalf.
Sensing their liege's sour mood, the guests invited into this inner circle had not approached Ullsaard, though
