veil were diaphanous, as were the gossamer wisps of material that seemed to float about her like smoke, leaving nothing of her beauty to the imagination. Her night-black hair was netted in gold and oil-scented. Her arms and legs tinkled with jewelry of gem and warded gold. She wore no mark of caste or rank. Only her hora pouch, secure at her belt, marked her as more than a wealthy Damaji’s most favored pillow dancer.
Inevera held all eyes as she glided into the room—both the dumbstruck gapes of the men, and the cold assessment of the Damaji’ting. Jardir’s face heated as she went to him, and against his will, he felt stirrings best left to the bedchamber. He tried to retain his composure, but she went right up to him, pulling aside her veil to kiss him deeply. She draped her soft body about him as if she were posing for a statue, marking him before all like a bitch marked a corner.
“What in Nie’s abyss are you playing at?” he whispered sharply.
“Reminding them that the Shar’Dama Ka is not bound by the laws of men,” Inevera said. “Take me right on the Skull Throne with all watching, if you wish. None will dare protest.” She slipped a hand between his legs and caressed him softly. Jardir gasped.
“I would protest,” he hissed, pushing her out to arm’s length. Inevera shrugged, smiling widely and caressing his face.
“All Krasia rejoices in your victory today, husband,” she said loudly for the room to hear.
Jardir knew he should respond in kind, making some bold speech, but such political posturing sickened him still, and he had other concerns.
“Will he live?” Jardir asked, nodding to Aleverak. The Damaji had lost great pools of blood, and his arm was a twisted ruin.
Belina shook her head. “Doubtful, husband,” she said, bowing her head as a proper wife—something his dama’ting wives had never done before.
“Save him,” Jardir murmured to Inevera.
“To what end?” Inevera breathed through her veil for his ears alone. “Aleverak is stubborn and too powerful. Better to remove him.”
“I promised him that when he dies, his heir may challenge Maji for the Majah palace,” Jardir said.
Inevera’s eyes bulged. “You did what?!” Everyone glanced her way, but the look was gone in an instant, and her body eased once more. She pulled away and sashayed down the dais steps, the sway of her hips, visible through her diaphanous robe, drawing the gaze of every man in the room. Jardir’s honor howled for him to gouge out every eye for feasting on what should be his alone.
Belina and the Majah Damaji’ting both bowed deeply and moved from Inevera’s path. “Damajah,” they greeted her in unison.
Aleverak had passed out from the loss of blood by the time Inevera finished examining the wound. She stood and looked to the Sharum. “Draw every curtain and close every door,” she commanded, and as several warriors rushed to comply, she had the others encircle her and the injured Damaji with their backs to her, holding up and interlocking their shields to bathe her and Aleverak in darkness.
In the darkened room, Jardir could see the faint glow of alagai hora pulsing through the living wall, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of Inevera’s chanted prayers. The glow throbbed for several minutes as the men in the room stood in awe.
Inevera gave a command, and the circle of dal’Sharum broke. Warriors rushed to open curtains, restoring light to the room, and there, lying calm next to Inevera, was Damaji Aleverak. Stripped to the waist, his flesh had lost its gray pallor, and he breathed comfortably. Gone were any signs of his wound, the bone or bleeding or even a scar. There was only smooth flesh across his shoulder.
Smooth flesh where there should have been an arm. The limb was nowhere to be seen.
“Everam has accepted Damaji Aleverak’s arm as a token of his submission,” Inevera announced loudly. “Aleverak is forgiven for doubting the Deliverer, and if he walks Everam’s true path from now on, he will rejoin his lost limb in Heaven.”
She went back to Jardir, draping herself over him once more. “My husband must cool his blood after such a victory as today’s,” she said loudly, addressing the entire room. “Leave us, that I may tend him in private, as only a wife can.”
There was a shocked murmuring among the men at this. It was unheard of for a woman, even a Damaji’ting, to give such orders to Damaji. They looked to Jardir, but when he did not contradict her, they had no choice but to comply.
“Are you an idiot?” Inevera snapped, when they were alone. “Putting your control of the Majah—not to mention your son—at risk, and for what?”
Jardir noted how she put Maji second. “I do not expect you to understand why it had to be done.”
“Oh?” Inevera asked, her tone venomous. “Is your Jiwah Ka such a fool, then? Why should she be unable to understand the wisdom here?”
“Because it is a matter of honor!” Jardir snapped. “And you have shown you do not waste a moment’s thought on such foolish things.”
Inevera glared at him for a moment, and then turned away, her dama’ting serenity back in place. “It is no matter. Aleverak’s heirs can be dealt with in time.”
“You will not interfere in this,” Jardir said. “Maji will just have to prove the stronger.”
“And if he fails?” Inevera asked.
“Then Everam does not wish him to lead the Majah,” Jardir said.
Inevera looked ready to respond, but only shook her head. “It isn’t a total loss. Word of your crippling Aleverak but allowing him to live and serve you still will only add to your legend.”
“You sound like Abban,” Jardir muttered.
“Eh?” she asked, though he knew she heard full well.
“Enough,” he said. “It is done and there is nothing for it. Now put on a decent robe and veil before you put impure thoughts into the minds of my men.”
“Bold as ever,” Inevera said, but she smiled behind her translucent veil, seeming more amused than irritated. “The Evejah commands women to wear veils so no man covet what is not his, but you are the Deliverer. Who would dare covet your woman? I have nothing to fear if I walk naked through the streets.”
“Nothing to fear, perhaps, but what advantage comes with the baring of your sex like a whore for any man to see?” Jardir asked.
Inevera’s eyebrows tightened, though her face remained serene. “I bare my face that none might mistake me. I bare my body that your power might be increased, for having such manly lusts that even the leader of the Damaji’ting must be prepared to service you instantly.”
“Another deception,” Jardir said wearily, sitting upon the throne.
“Not at all,” Inevera purred, sliding into his lap. “I am fully prepared to stand responsible for the lusts of Shar’Dama Ka.”
“You make it sound a task,” Jardir said. “A tedious price of power.”
“Not so tedious,” Inevera said, tracing a finger down his chest. She undid the fastenings of his pantaloons and moved to mount him.
Jardir could not deny the lust her beauty roused in him, but he felt, too, the Skull Throne under him, and he looked up as Inevera sheathed herself upon him, much as she had ridden the Andrah. Killing the man had done nothing to excise the image from his mind. It haunted him like a spirit denied passage to the next life.
Did Inevera truly feel passion at his touch, or were her moans and gyrations just another mask, like the opaque veil she had cast aside? Jardir honestly did not know.
He stood up, lifting her off him. “I am in no mood for such games.”
Inevera’s eyes widened, but she held her temper. “This says differently,” she purred, squeezing his stiffened member.
Jardir pushed her away. “It does not rule me,” he said, redoing the fastenings at his waist.
Inevera gave him the look of a coiled snake, and for a moment he thought she would attack him, but then her dama’ting serenity returned. She shrugged as if his refusal was no matter, glided from the dais, hers hips swaying hypnotically as she descended.
Hasik touched his forehead to the marble floor before the dais of the Skull Throne.
“I have brought the khaffit, Deliverer,” he said with distaste. When Jardir nodded, the guards opened the door
