the one who talked back. So why crawl now?'
'You cannot understand how-'
'Is pain all they can inflict on you?'
'Isn't pain enough?'
'Bad enough, of course. But I don't think that's what you fear the most.'
'What do you think I fear the most, Mai?' He turned the cup over, a single drop pooling on the surface of the table, and then he lifted one edge of the cup and placed it over that smear of liquid, trapping it.
T think you fear yourself. You have disappointed yourself, and now you are afraid to be anything except a disappointment. It's true, you might try to break away from them and fail. That would be bitter, indeed. But you might break away, and succeed. You might have to make a new place for yourself. You might have to walk into an unknown country without knowing what will happen when you get there.'
He scrambled to his feet, and Anji shifted to get his legs under him, but Mai grabbed Anji's wrist and squeezed until he stilled. Hari had only begun to pace, his cloak belling and sagging with the measure of his turns.
'Even if you think you know,' she went on, 'even if you think everything is determined, that the Gandi-li boy will become your husband because it has been talked of for two years and the contract is next to sealed, you can never know. Even if you think it's likely you will lose a battle to a numerically superior enemy, you can never know. Even if you think your dearest friend will be forced to marry a cruel old man who will abuse her, you can never know.'
'Even if you think your wife will naturally obey what she knows to be your wishes,' said Anji in a soft voice, 'you can never know.'
Hari's steps ceased. That smothered sound might have been a chuckle. He stood with his back to them. Lamplight rippled in the threads of his cloak like a living creature caught in the weave. 'And in this secret place you recommend, what would I be? A creature living in solitude? A prisoner? A crippled man trapped in the corner of a house until he fades into blessed oblivion?'
'I'll come visit you,' said Mai, 'but you must wait and be patient, for it's possible I won't be able to visit often. It's a beautiful place. You'll find the waterfall and cave of particular interest.'
'Why not? What can they do to me they haven't already done?' He raised one arm, elbow rising sideways as though he was wiping away tears. 'You haven't changed, Mai. I suppose you still sneak peaches out of the basket and hand them to orphaned beggar children and pathetic slaves, and then overcharge the spiteful who have riches to make up the difference.'
'How did you know-!'
'She overcharged me,' said Anji. 'Looked me in the face and named double the asking price. I respected a woman bold enough to cheat a Qin officer. That's why I married her.'
'It's not cheating,' said Mai, 'to name a price. I'd be a poor merchant had I not tried to increase my profit. You could have bargained.'
'I did,' said Anji more quietly still. He was not smiling.
The words stung in a way she did not expect, and as she looked down at her hands, one lying flat on the table and the other curled around her cup, she had to blink back tears.
Anji kept speaking. 'Where the River Olossi meets the Olo'o Sea, there's a low island where eagles and sea birds perch. I'll send a message to Argent Hall to have Reeve Miyara meet you there, this coming evening, just before sunset. I'll send her with a wolf banner, so you know she came from me. Do not go directly to Argent Hall and display yourself. The fewer people who know where you are, the less likely you are to be found by those hunting you.'
Hari walked to the door. 'It's true enough I must hide. I'll find this islet, and wait there until a reeve named Miyara arrives to guide me to a valley where I can shelter without fear of being discovered by Lord Radas or by Night.'
'What you tell us about their plans could help us defeat them,' added Anji.
'I'll talk to none but Mai, and certainly not to the hated Qin. That's the price of my cooperation.'
He slid the door open and walked out past the Qin soldiers; they looked away as he strode past them. Even the Qin must fear a creature who could reach into your heart and steal your secrets.
'Anji,' she began.
He shook his head. They waited as the Qin soldiers followed Hari.
At length, Chief Tuvi returned. 'I'm not sure how he came in without anyone seeing him, Captain, but he's gone now. He mounted a winged horse and flew out over the wall. Shall I set a doubled guard?'
'Do it, but I think it unlikely he'll return unless he has allies waiting to attack us, which I doubt. Surely he could have killed me, if he'd meant to, and yet he stayed his hand. Meanwhile, alert the reeve on duty to send a message to Argent Hall. Reeve Miyara must come at once.'
Tuvi left.
Anji crossed back to the table. 'It's too dangerous for you to see him again.'
'What's to stop him coming back here to see me, for one thing? And for another, Uncle Hari trusts me. If I reject him, he will despair, and despair will lead him back to them. Isn't despair one of the things that turns people into demons?'
'If they were people before. Usually demons are demons.'
'Hari wasn't born a demon.'
'He might have been born with a human face and body, and no one to know better or ever suspect.'
'I might be a demon, then!'
He studied her as the flame hissed, its light spilling over the polished surface of the lacquered table. 'You just might be.' Then he kissed her, and she was suddenly so weary that she sagged against him, letting his embrace support her. 'If he was born as human as you or I but has become a demon, it must be because corruption has eaten his heart. So you must be doubly cautious, Mai. I suppose I'll let you visit him, as it seems I must if we are to get any information out of him. That's information we desperately need. We can take Miravia with us. She may have some special sorcery to challenge his-'
'Miravia!' She pushed out of his arms and stared at him, but he was not a man who teased for the pleasure of seeing you squirm. 'She can't stay in the temple.'
'Ah. I went to the Ri Amarah last night.'
'When you were still angry with me.'
He smiled crookedly. His dimple flashed. 'I went to offer them a larger share of the oil of naya we put on the market.'
'Anji! The oil of naya is the foundation of our wealth. If we unconditionally offer the Ri Amarah a larger share of what we put on the market, then we're cutting into our own profit-'
'I was still angry with you. Hear me out. I never got that far. The entire household was in an uproar. The Hieros had sent word that Miravia had entered the temple. Master Isar told me the entire tale. He had no idea you were involved in any way with her escape. Or that I might already know where she was.'
'Tuvi said they'd hired an agent. A man was watching our gates. If he saw her, or me-'
'The agent will no longer trouble us.'
'But-'
'He'll tell the Ri Amarah nothing.'
Something about his clipped tone made her shy away from further comment. 'Yet so many people saw you, and me, at the docks in Dast Olo-'
Anji shook his head curtly. 'It's unlikely anyone in Olossi will pass on stories from the street to the Ri Amarah. Or that Master Isar would believe such gossip if he heard it.'
'Every merchant listens to the word on the street.'
'Certainly. But they have no proof to connect your visit to the temple with Miravia's flight there. Without such proof, I am too valuable an ally for them to cast aside on hearsay. What matters to us is that they now consider Miravia to be dead.'
'Dead! Poor Miravia.' She blinked, but no tears flowed. 'Yet that means she is free.'
'Orphans who have no protection and nowhere to shelter are not 'free.' They are vulnerable and inclined to end up dead. However, we can adopt Miravia. It would be valuable to us to have such a person in our household
