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"So if I wear a servant’s mask, no one will look twice at lance at Thynos "That’s right"

"Excellent That’s settled, then You three go about your business as usual I will return here after I see my father and wait for you Where am I likely to find my father before the feast? Is there a private cha?"

"There you go, Nar, the daughter you alished for but never had," says Thynos with a laugh "Gives orders like her father, doesn’t she?"

How can he kno ives orders?

"The eastern tower is set aside for the husband" By Kalliarkos’s pleased expression, he is enjoying the e are running Rings around the ned as his minders "It was my father’s before he died You will find General Esladas there before he co else you can recommend, Lord Kalliarkos?" I ask

Inarsis smiles, obviously amused by our interplay, but Thynos frowns

Kalliarkos glances up at the starry sky "We willSisters rise in the east, about er at the feast while ratulations of the courtiers and guests We can return to Garon Palace long before dawn"

He looks at aze smoky and intense A spark leaps between us, as if he is pro another adventure before sunrise I ae that at first I don’t"

24

It’s easy to be a Commoner I just have to keep my head down, never look any Patron in the eye, and always step out of their way When I reach the servants’ gate with its trio of bored soldiers standing guard, I ignore the way they ogleto copy the way e

"Doon but it broke down so I had to walk" As I speak I pat the Garon badge pinned to the shoulder of , one looks as if he is wondering if he can get aith squeezing my breast, and the third frowns suspiciously

Sh

"Guess your mother didn’t want to whore you out like she did herself, eh, mule?" says Squeezer as his hand drifts toward my torso

"Leave it" Suspicion slaps the otherplenty of laundry and maybe a few men’s necks Go on,to return it" He winks, expecting round lest I betray nity I deserve When I curve o

The villa boils with activity In the outer courtyard a quarter ons In the inner stable yard people load twenty wagons with chests and furniture while others prepare carriages fitted with gold-threaded curtains and cushions I walk briskly through the co a featureless leather h the bustling kitchen nets me a precious lacquered tray coirl fetches a pot of hot water and a little basket of pungent herbs I have helped my mother prepare this mix of dried petals and needles a thousand times It is one of the niceties she loves to co day I used to think her devotion to us all hten on the tray: she will never again serve hi household life I once coolden and treasuredfro rises two stories high, flanked by square towers Lights burn in both Frohter of women; shapes move within the upper chamber In the eastern tower a person stands at thelooking over the garden Being lit fronize my father’s posture and the cut of his shoulders anywhere

In this villa owned by a princely family, servants swarm like rats The lacquered tray fends off unwanted questions No one calls you over to give you a task when you are already about an urgent uards stationed at the bottohtly tea is already an established fact in his new household, although it is now a servant who brings it, not a loving partner