hissing indrawn breath; saw the smoothing of Simonides' face as he donned his servant's mask.
And for some strange reason, the metri's announcement frightened me.
Nihko still knelt against the ground. Not even for such an unexpected declaration would he raise his head in Sahdri's company.
The priest-mage himself bowed in my direction. 'Kal-Iha nahkte, ' he murmured, and the torches blew out.
I blinked into the sudden darkness, aware of the man's absence. 'What did he say? What was that spell he spoke?'
Darkness was replaced with the pale, soft luminance of moon and stars, a glow from lamps inside the household. Nihko lifted his dust-powdered face from the dirt. 'He said 'good night.' '
Only Del was detached enough from the emotions of the moment to find that amusing. I heard the expulsion of breath in brief, smothered laughter, glanced at her; saw how she immediately set her face into bland innocence. She met my scowl with a guileless smile.
I shook my head, drew in a deep breath, looked at the metri. 'Nice timing,' I said. 'Do you think it worked?'
Her face wore its customary mask. 'The truth often is of great effect.'
Herakleio, who had been gripping the two wooden practice blades, hurled them down. They clattered against the tile. Even in muted illumination I could see how high the color stood in his face. 'Truth,' he snarled. 'Truth, is it? Why? '
The metri answered steadily, 'Truth is truth.'
His cry was anguished. 'You would put him in my place?'
She was unmoved. 'No more than I would put you in his. The place is the place. The proper man shall be put in it when I am certain of his worth.'
Oh, she was the stone, as she had told me less than a month before. Hard, sharp, brilliant, and scintillatingly shrewd.
'Let's start over,' I suggested. 'I take it our unexpected visitor is someone with connections to our friendly first mate?'
Nihko had risen. Having recovered much of his equanimity now that the priest-mage had departed, he glared at me. 'One holds one's tongue when in ignorance, lest one lose it.'
I saluted him with the sword, letting moonlight like liquid run down the blade. 'Any time you like.'
'Stop,' the metri said. 'We are done with this tonight.'
'Done?' Herakleio's chopped-off bark of laughter contained no humor. 'I should say we have begun this tonight!'
Prima Rhannet seemed to have no interest in Herakleio's concerns. Her attention was fixed on Nihko. 'What can Sahdri do? Take you? Against your will?'
Grimly he said, 'loSkandics have no will. loSkandics set no foot upon the soil of this island once one is of ioSkandi. We live in the Stone Forest.'
'But you did set foot,' she said. 'This time. You've always stayed aboard ship before. But you never said why– '
He cut her off. 'It does not matter.'
'But it does, Nihko-'
'No. A brief amount of time is tolerated. More is-not.' He looked at his hostess, lowered his eyes, inclined his head. 'Metri, I thank you for the guest-right.'
'We have unfinished business,' she stated crisply. 'Until it is finished, the guest-right shall apply. And then you will remove yourself from my home and my land immediately. '
The flinch was minute, but present. Nihko kept his head bowed and murmured an answer in Skandic that apparently suited the metri, for she simply turned away with a gesture at Simonides for his aid.
'Wait,' I said, and she paused. 'What happens now?'
Her mask was in place. 'I have now claimed you my grandson in front of witnesses as well as a priest. He may be ioSkandic, not of the proper Order, but he serves the same gods. It has been said, and so it is.'
'And-?'
Her brow creased slightly. 'And you will continue to do what I have bidden you do. Teach Herakleio to be a man.'
That worthy's breath hissed between clenched teeth. 'Metri– '
She looked at him. 'And you will do whatever I say you shall, without question, without hesitation, no matter what it may be. That is the term of your service.'
All the tendons stood up beneath his flesh as he fought not to shout denials and curses at her. When he spoke, each word was squeezed out with such immense precision that I expected his head to explode. 'If it is to be sword-work, then I will have the woman train me.' His gaze shifted to me. 'Because she is better.'
Prima gulped a laugh. Nihko arched an eyebrow. I merely blinked.
It was Del who answered the intended insult. 'Sometimes,' she said. 'Some days, some moments, some particular movements. Other times, not.'
I nodded consideringly. 'That about sums it up.'
So, we had robbed him of that small revenge. Stiffly, Herakleio bowed to the metri, then took himself off.
'Well,' Prima said when his shape was swallowed by darkness, 'I would not wish to share his winehouse tonight.'
I smiled across at her. 'Or his bed?'
The captain met the gambit. 'Oh, it might be worth it. Herakleio in a temper… indeed, it might be worth it.' She fixed me with a bright, challenging eye. 'You might even enjoy it.'
'Go to bed,' the metri commanded; and then, surprising us all, added: 'Anyone's bed,' and gestured for Simonides to escort her into the house.
'Well,' I said after a moment of startlement shared equally by the others, 'at least my grandmother isn't a prude.'
Prima smiled sweetly. 'That must mean the blood runs true.'
I scoffed. 'Blood? I think not. She used the tool she had at hand: information designed to throw off that other blue-headed priestling for the moment.' I looked hard at her first mate. 'Who in hoolies is he? And what's he to you?'
Without a hint of irony Nihko said, 'Secret.'
I clamped my jaws tightly even as Del asked, 'Need we be concerned?'
Prima shrugged. 'Why should you?'
'Because we are here,' Del answered steadily. 'Because priests and mages often take an interest in people and topics seemingly unrelated, with dramatic effect. Because he looked at the brow ring hooked onto Tiger's necklet, and recognized it. It was then and only then that he offered a threat to Tiger. Therefore I ask, need we be concerned?'
'No,' Nihko said coldly, even as his captain's expression stilled to a feral blankness for a brief, stark moment before settling once again into its normal expressive mobility. 'All that concerns you now is how soon the metri will announce her heir before the priests-the proper priests'-he made it a derisive label-'and the assembled metrioi.'
'Yes?' I invited.
'If it's you,' Prima drawled, 'you will inherit all the wealth and power of the Stessoi. Centuries of wealth and power.' Her smile was arch. 'And all the dreams you ever dreamed will come true.'
'And what about your dream?' I countered. 'Aren't you done here yet?'
'We have guest-right,' Nihko snapped.
'And just what does that entail?'
Prima's smile shifted into unadulterated triumph. 'It means every metri in the city must pay me respect to my face. It means I will gain a reputation that surpasses my father's.'
'I thought you'd already accomplished that part,' I retorted. 'You steal men, their coin, their ships; he sells them.'
