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Idaan entle, bloodless battle People bound bruised liht plasters to suck out the wasps&039; venom But already, all down the wide street, the talk had turned back to the business of the council

Her neck was burning now, but she pushed the pain aside There would he no decision made today That was clear Kaet more time It had to be that It couldn&039;t he more, except that of course it could The fear was different now, deeper and ainst the wall at thebeside hiry welts that covered his arms and face Idaan went to her husband His eyes were hard and shallow as stones

"May I speak with you, Adrah-kya?" she said softly

Adrah looked at her as if seeing her for the first time, then at his fa ther He nodded toward the shadows of the alley behind him, and Idaan followed hiue and distant

"It was Otah," she said "He did this Iie knows"

"Are you about to tell ain? It was a cheap, desperate trick It won&039;t matter, except that anyone who doesn&039;t like us will say we did it, and anyone who has a grudge against our enees"

"Who would do it?"

Adrah shook his head, impatient, and turned to walk back out into the street and noise and light "Anyoneto solve every puzzle in the world"

"Don&039;t be stupid, Adrah Soainst-"

The violence and suddenness of hisaway, his hack to her, and then a heartbeat later, there was no more room between them than the width of a leaf His face isted, flushed, possessed by anger

"Don&039;t be stupid? Is that what you said?"

Idaan took a step hack, her feet unsteady beneath her

"How do youout my lover&039;s name in a crowd?"

"What?"

"Ceh, you called his name

"I did?"

"Everyone heard it," Adrah said "Everybody knows At least you could keep it between us and not parade it all over the city!"

"I didn&039;t mean to," she said "I swear it, Adrah I didn&039;t know I had"

He stepped hack and spat, the spittle striking the wall beside hiaze locked on her, daring her to push hier with defiance or subo hard It wasn&039;t unlike the feeling of seeing her father dying breath by breath, his belly rotting out and taking hiet better, will it?" she asked "It will go on It will change But it will never get better than it is right now"

The dread in Adrah&039;s eyes told her she&039;d struck home When he turned and stalked away, she didn&039;t try to stop him

FELL ME, HE&039;I) SAID

I can&039;t, she&039;d replied

And now Ceh at the bare wall and wished that he&039;d left it there The hours since uish he&039;d never known He&039;d told her he loved her He did love her ButGods! She&039;d ineered her own father&039;s death and as much as sold the Khai&039;s library to the Galts And the only thing that had saved her was that she loved him and he&039;d sworn he&039;d protect her He&039;d sworn it

"What did you expect?" Stone-Made-Soft asked

"That it was Adrah That I&039;d be protecting her froi," Cehmai said

"Well Perhaps you should have been more specific"

The sun had passed behind the ht hadn&039;t yet taken on the ruddy hues of sunset This was not night but shadow &039;The andat stood at the , looking out A servant had co a meal of roast chicken and rich, dark bread The sh the platter had been set outside to be taken away He hadn&039;t been able to eat

Cehle in the back of his mind met the confusion at the front Idaan It had been Idaan all along

"You couldn&039;t have known," the andat said, its tone conciliatory "And it isn&039;t as if she asked you to be part of the thing"

"You think she was using me"

"Yes But since I&039;m a creature of your mind, it seems to follow that you&039;d think the same She did extract a promise from you You&039;re sworn to protect her"

"I love her"

"You&039;d better If you don&039;t, then she told you all that under a false impression that you led her to believe If she hadn&039;t truly thought she could trust you, she&039;d have kept her secrets to herself"

"I do love her"

"And that&039;s good," Stone-Made-Soft said "Since all that blood she spilled is part yours now"

Cehmai leaned forward His foot knocked over the thin porcelain bowl at his feet The last dregs of the wine spilled to the floor, but he didn&039;t bother with it Stained carpet was beneath his notice now His head was stuffed ool, and none of his thoughts seeht of Idaan&039;s s into him as she slept Her voice had been so soft, so quiet And then, when she had asked him if he was horrified by her, there had been so much fear in her

He hadn&039;t been able to say yes It had been there, waiting in his throat, and he&039;d sed it He&039;d told her he loved her, and he hadn&039;t lied But he hadn&039;t slept either The andat&039;s wide hand turned the bowl upright and pressed a cloth onto the spill Cehmai watched the red wick up into the white cloth

"Thank you," he said

Stone-Made-Soft took a brief, dis water into a basin to rinse the cloth, and felt a pang of sha care of him now He was pathetic Cehmai rose and stalked to theHe felt as much as heard the andat co to do?"

"I don&039;t know"

"Do you think she&039;s got her legs around him now? Just at the moment, I mean," the andat said, its voice as calm and placid and distantly aet her knees apart now and again And she hter her fairls would do"

"You&039;re not helping," Cehmai said

"It could he you&039;re just a part of her plan She did fall into your bed awfully easily Do you think they talk about it, the two of them? About what she can do to you or for you to win your support? Having the poet&039;s oath protecting you would be a powerful thing And if you protect her, you protect thei noithout drawing her into it"

"She isn&039;t like that!"

Cehathered his will, but before he could turn it on the andat, before he pushed the rage and the anger and the hurt into a force that would make the beast be quiet, Stone-Made-Soft sently kissed Cehmai&039;s forehead In all the years he&039;d held it, Ceh of the sort

"No," it said "She isn&039;t She&039;s in terrible trouble, and she needs you to save her if you can If she can be saved And she trusts you Standing with her is the only thing you could do and still he a decent lared at the wide face, the slow, cal for a shred of sarcas to confuse me?" he asked

The andat turned to look out theand stood as still as a statue Cehmai waited, but it didn&039;t shift, even to look at him The rooms darkened and Cehmai lit lemon candles to keep the insects away His hts, each of theether

When at last he went up to his bed, he couldn&039;t sleep The blankets still smelled of her, of the two of them Of love and sleep Cehmai wrapped the sheets around hihts didn&039;t allow rest Idaan loved hiht, all this time It was his duty to tell what he knew, but he couldn&039;t It was possible-sheHe felt as cracked as river ice when a stone had been dropped through it, jagged fissures cut through him in all directions "Where was no center of peace within him

And yet he must have drifted off, because the stor down half his netting with a soft ripping sound He crawled to the corridor al, the shrieking and the nausea were all in the private space behind his eyes It had never been so powerful

He fell as he went to the front of the house, harking his knee against the wall The thick carpets were sickening to touch, the fibers seeers like dry wor table The white le white stone was shifted out of its beginning line

"Not now," Cehmai croaked

"Now," the andat said, its voice loud and low and undeniable

The rooed hiah He&039;d played it a thousand times He shifted a black stone forward He felt he was still half drea The stone he&039;d moved was Idaan Stone-MadeSoft&039;s reply moved a token that was both its fourth coluy with sleep and distress and annoyance and the an gry pressure of the andat struggling against hione until twelve moves later when he shifted a black stone one place to the left, and Stone-Made-Soft smiled

"Maybe she&039;ll still love you afterwards," the andat said "Do you think she&039;ll care as much about your love when you&039;re just a man in a brown robe?"

Ceh and sinuous as a river, and he saw his mistake Stone-Made-Soft pushed a white stone forward and the storm in Cehmai&039;sHe was sticky with the rancid sweat of effort and fear He was losing He couldn&039;this own ry and stronger than he was In his confusion, Idaan and Adrah and the death of the Khai all see on the board Each was enmeshed with the others, and all of the toward freedoone because of him

"It&039;s your move," the andat said

"I can&039;t," Ceh as you care to," it said "Just tell et easier"

"You knew this would happen," Cehmai said "You knew"

"Chaos has a sreed "Move"

Cchmai tried to study the board, but every line he could see led to failure He closed his eyes and rubbed thehosts bloomed in the darkness, but when he reopened therew in his belly He felt he was falling The knock on the door behind hi of a different world, a memory from some other life, until the voice came

"I know you&039;re in there! You won&039;t believe what&039;s happened Half the utkhaiem are spotty elts Open the door!"

"Baarath!"

Cehht have been a whisper or a screah The librarian appeared beside him The stout ?" Baarath asked "Are you sick? Gods, Cehmai Stay here Don&039;tme paper And ink"

"It&039;s your move!" the andat shouted, and Baarath seemed about to bolt

"Hurry," Cehle before the paper and ink brick appeared at his side He could no longer tell whether the andat was shouting to hia like a whirlpool The stones shifted with significance beyond their own, and confusion built on confusion in waves so that Cehht until it was a certainty

There was too much There was more than he could survive The only choice was to si within his, and if he couldn&039;t ht, he could at least make them end