‘You don’t have to come, either,’ Arlen said. ‘Send Darsy Cutter if you ent got the stomach for it.’

‘Oh, shut it,’ Leesha snapped.

Jardir watched as the greenlanders ascended the slope. As Inevera foretold, they brought Leesha Paper, his daughter, and his new son-in-law with them, as well as the greenland prince who had laid claim to the Hollow Tribe. This was well. It would make things easier when the Par’chin was cast down, and despite Amanvah’s letter, he could not deny a flash of pleasure at the sight of Leesha after six weeks apart.

He looked at the man leading the greenlanders, and despite the changes to his appearance, Jardir knew his ajin’pal instantly. The way he sat a horse, his carriage and careful gaze. He, too, had always felt safe at the greenlander’s side, always knew where he stood in the man’s esteem.

Oh, my brother, Jardir thought sadly. Truly Everam is testing me, if I must kill you twice.

The greenlanders dismounted and tethered their horses on the opposite side of the cliff from the Krasian mounts. Jardir and his seven stood to meet them, their backs to the yawning drop.

‘It has been too long, Par’chin,’ he said when the greenlanders came forward. He could not see into the Par’chin’s heart in sunlight, but Jardir could sense the power in his ajin’pal, contained by the will of a sharusahk master. The son of Jeph carried a fine warded spear, but it was plain wood and steel, with none of the innate power of the Spear of Kaji. ‘You look well.’

‘No thanks to you,’ the Par’chin said, ‘and a thousand years is too soon to have to look at your face again.’ He spat at Jardir’s feet, and there was tension in Jardir’s entourage at the insult.

He threw an arm out to stay them, and met the eyes of Jayan, the most volatile of the group. ‘You are here as witnesses, not participants.’

He turned back to the Par’chin, pointedly ignoring the spittle on his boot. ‘You remember my Jiwah Ka, of course, and Abban, Damaji Ashan, and Shanjat. These,’ he gestured at the others, ‘are Damaji Aleverak of the Majah, and my sons Jayan and Asome.’

The Par’chin nodded. He turned to the woman to his right, whose sparse clothing revealed enough flesh to make even Inevera look demure. She was covered in painted wards as he was. Her eyes were wild, with none of the Par’chin’s control. She looked at him with open hatred. ‘My wife, Renna Bales, and His Highness Count Thamos of Hollow County, brother to Duke Rhinebeck of Fort Angiers. I believe you know the others.’

Jardir nodded. ‘Before we begin, I would speak with my intended privately, to assure myself of her good treatment.’

‘And I, my daughter,’ Inevera put in. Jardir cast an irritated eye at her, but she ignored him.

‘Intended?’ Thamos asked. The look he gave Leesha made Jardir’s eyes narrow.

Leesha came forward without waiting for anyone’s permission, and Amanvah followed a moment later. Jardir took Leesha aside. When they were far enough that their voices would not be overheard, he moved to embrace her. ‘Intended, how I have missed your touch …’

Leesha pulled back, stepping to the side and evading his arms. ‘What is this?’ he demanded. ‘We shared more than a simple embrace the last time we were alone.’

Leesha nodded. ‘But we are not alone, and this is not the time, Ahmann. I won’t have you marking me like a dog. I have already refused your proposal.’

Jardir smiled. ‘Thus far.’

‘No, not thus far,’ Leesha snapped. ‘I lay with you in the pillows, yes, but I am not your property, and I will never wed you. Not if you divorce all your wives and return to the Desert Spear, nor if you kill all the dukes of the Free Cities and name yourself king of Thesa. Never.’

‘And this is why you betrayed me?’ Jardir asked. ‘The warrior you poisoned made it to me alive with Amanvah’s letter. I know what you were doing on the road.’

Leesha’s anger seemed to lessen at that. He had expected her to become defensive, but instead she let out a relieved breath. ‘Oh, thank the Creator,’ she whispered.

‘This pleases you?’ he asked, confused.

‘I don’t have a dama’ting’s stomach for poisons,’ Leesha said. ‘And I betray no one by warning my people about the truth of your intentions.

‘Speaking of poisons and betrayal,’ she went on, ‘did your daughter’s letter mention how she herself tried to poison me with blackleaf while we were in the Palace of Mirrors? Or that your wife had me kidnapped and beaten the night after we first made love?’

Jardir could feel his face grow slack at the words. He reached out, taking her hand that he might sense her aura even in the light. He hoped to find proof of the lie, but he sensed beyond doubt that she spoke truth. Anger filled him, but then he sensed something else as well, and his rage was forgotten.

‘You carry a child!’

Leesha’s eyes widened. ‘What? I most certainly do not.’ Jardir did not need to probe these words. The lie was as clear in her eyes as it was in her aura. She was as aware as he of the new life that pulsed in harmony with her own.

Jardir grabbed her arm, squeezing so tightly she flinched in pain as he dragged her into the shadow of the cliff wall. ‘Do not lie to me. Is it that pathetic greenland …’ He looked closer in the shade, examining the life within her. ‘No, the child is mine. It is mine and you sully it by cavorting with this chin princeling. Did you mean to hide this from me? Do you think I will let this man, or any man, keep me from claiming what is mine? I will feed his balls to the dogs. I will—’

‘You will do nothing.’ Leesha yanked her arm away, holding the other protectively over her belly. ‘This child isn’t yours, Ahmann! I am not yours! We are human beings and do not belong to anyone. This is where you fail time and again, and why my people will never bow willingly to you. You cannot own people.’

‘You parse words like a khaffit to deny what you know is just,’ Jardir said. ‘Would you deny the child the chance to know its father?’

Leesha laughed, the sound harsh and biting. Her aura coloured with disdain, and it stung to see it directed at him. ‘You have over seventy children, Ahmann, and you barter them like casks of ale. How many of them do you truly know?’

Jardir hesitated, and Leesha’s aura flushed with victory. She gave him a mocking smile. ‘Tell me the name days of all of them, and I will be your wife, here and now.’

Jardir gritted his teeth, flexing his fingers to keep them from curling into a fist.

So that’s why she smelled different. Arlen growled low in his throat as he watched Jardir and Leesha, his sharp ears catching every word. He cursed himself. He would have seen it long ago had he Known her like he did everyone else.

Should have told me, he thought. Never would have brought her if I’d known. Probably why she didn’t. Word of this gets out, it could ruin everything. Not for the first time, he wondered whose side that woman was on.

‘Thought you said there wern’t nothing left ’tween you and Leesha Paper,’ Renna said, snapping him from his musing.

Arlen glanced at her, and then back at Leesha and Jardir. He tensed as Jardir grabbed her arm. ‘Don’t mean I want to see her playing kissy with a man who did his best to murder me.’