in the air. Good thing for the heating ducts this building boasts, or I 'd have to start thinking about sleeping in clothes.' He glanced over at Dara, who was still under the covers. 'That would be no fun at all, would it, my dear?'
'Whatever you say.' The Empress reached out a slim arm and tugged on the bellpull for a maidservant.
Anthimos sniffed. He let Krispos dress him and help him on with his boots. 'I'm for breakfast,' he announced. He looked over at Dara again and frowned. 'Aren't you coming, slugabed?'
'Presently.' The Empress' serving girl had come in, but she showed no sign of being ready to get up. 'Why don't you start without me?'
'Oh, very well. Krispos, ask the cook if he has any squab in the larder. If he does, I'll have a couple, roasted, with a jar of that sweet golden Vaspurakaner wine that goes so well with them.'
'I'll inquire, your Majesty.'
The cook had squab. He grinned at Krispos. 'With all the statues and towers in the city to draw pigeons, not likely I wouldn't. Roasted, you said his Majesty wants 'em? Roasted they'll be.'
Krispos fetched Anthimos the little birds, along with bread, honey, and the wine he'd asked for. The Avtokrator ate with good appetite, then rose and said, 'I'm off to be sorcerous.' Dara and her maidservant came into the dining room just as he was going out. His voice echoed through the central hallway: 'Tyrovitzes! Longinos! Fetch umbrellas, and smartly. I don't propose to swim to my little workshop.'
The eunuchs' sandals slapped on the marble floor as they hurried to obey. Krispos asked Dara, 'What would you care for this morning, your Majesty?'
'I'm not very hungry,' she answered. 'Some of this bread and honey should do well enough for me.'
She only picked at it. 'Can I get you anything else, your Majesty?' the serving maid asked. 'You're not a bird, to stay alive on crumbs.'
Dara looked at the crust she was holding, then set it down. 'Maybe a muskmelon would suit me better, Verina—stewed, I think, not raw.'
'I'll get one for you, Majesty.' Verina stood up, impudently wrinkled her nose. 'I'll spend the time it's stewing gossiping with the cook. Phestos knows everything that goes on here three days before it happens.'
'Nice to think someone does.' Dara listened to Verina's steps fading down the hall, then said quietly, 'Krispos, I want you to know I did not expect An—his Majesty to summon you last night. If you were embarrassed, I can only say I'm sorry. I was, too.'
'Oh.' Krispos thought about that for a while, thought about how much he might safely say to even a contrite Empress. Finally he continued, 'It was a little awkward, being treated as if I were only a—a convenience.'
'That's well said.' Dara's voice stayed low, but her eyes blazed. She clenched her hands together. 'That's just how Anthimos treats everyone around him—as a convenience, a toy for his amusement, to be put back on the shelf to sit until he feels like playing with it again. And by the Lord with the great and good mind, Krispos, I am no toy and I am sick to death of being used as one.'
'Oh,' Krispos said again, in a different tone. When angry, Dara was indeed no toy; she reminded him of Tanilis, but a Tanilis young and unskilled. Nor did the memory of her anger sustain her once it was gone, as Tanilis' did. Tanilis never would have let the Emperor keep her in the background like this.
'It was bad enough with Skombros, those tiny eyes staring and staring from that fat face,' Dara said, 'but after a while I got used to him and even pitied him, for what could he do but stare?'
Krispos nodded; he remembered having the same thought, watching the former vestiarios at that first revel he'd been to. Dara went on, 'But better he should have done without the oil, Krispos, or gotten it himself, than to have you bring it, you who have no need of such spectacles, who are whole and in every way as a man should be—' She broke off abruptly and stared down at her hands.
I knew before last night that your Majesty was beautiful,'
Krispos said softly. 'Nothing I saw then makes me want to change my mind.' He heard footfalls in the hall and raised his voice. 'Here comes that melon. I hope you like it better than the bread and honey.'
The Empress shot him a grateful look. 'I think I will, thank you.' Verina came in, uncovering the bowl in which the stewed muskmelon lay. 'And thank you, Verina. That smells lovely.'
'I hope it pleases you.' The maidservant beamed as she watched her mistress eat the whole melon. 'All a matter of finding out what you want, isn't it, your Majesty?'
'So it is, Verina. So it is,' Dara said. She did not look at Krispos; she knew how tiny and fragile a bubble privacy was in the palaces. For his part, Krispos understood for a new reason why vestiarioi were traditionally eunuchs.
'Stand aside there, you lumbering blond barbarians, or I'll turn the lot of you into yellow eels!'
Krispos watched with amusement as the Halogai scrambled out of Trokoundos' way. Despite the mage's big, booming voice, the northerners were far more imposing men than he, all at least a head taller and twice as thick through the shoulders. But they did not care to find out whether he meant his words literally.
Trokoundos stamped up the broad steps. Water flew from puddles on them at every step. 'You move, too,' he snarled at Krispos.
'Wipe your boots on this rug here first,' Krispos said. Glowering, Trokoundos obeyed. He trod so hard that Krispos suspected he wished he weren't stepping on mere carpet. 'What's the trouble?' Krispos asked. 'Shouldn't you be closeted with the Emperor?'
'He's given me the sack, that's what the trouble is,' the mage said. 'I just spent seventeen goldpieces on new gear, too, and I expect to get paid back. That's why I'm here.'
'Of course, if you can show me receipts for what you bought,' Krispos said.
Trokoundos rolled his eyes. 'It would take a stronger wizard than I even dreamed of being to get money from anyone in the government without receipts—think I don't know that? Here you are.' He pulled several folded pieces of parchment from the leather wallet he wore at his belt.
