Page 71 (1/1)

He blinks

At first I think he is about to deny it, to protest, to slap down the ugly accusation

But I recognize the flashes of expression: the tic of an eye, the quiver of his upper lip, the way his brows dran and afterward lift; he is running the Rings in his head, assessing the information at hand My face must look siht and spin and speed of the obstacle settle into ers, barely catching himself on the table

"Kiya," he whispers so softly I cannot truly hear him, but I have seen her na else he says because it always shakes hiives me a stab of joy because I want hi he conde death

He sinks onto a chair, hands braced on his knees His lips move in a prayer, but he has not the breath to voice it out loud The spicy fragrance of the steeping tea hits s ould sit in our courtyard as night embraced our content little faave up Mother’s devotion and our laughter for this sour victory

After a while he looks up, and he says, "Jessamy"

He sounds so wounded that I cannot help but creep over to hier and lean ainst the chair with its armrests carved in the ht him this chair

He rests a hand on my hair and strokes a thuain, as if the shock has torn all other words out of his h recompense for the pain but I can’t revel in it I can’t bear it

"You have to get them out," I whisper "If anyone can, you can, Father"

His voice is hoarse with choked-back tears Its vulnerability ht out of ot off the ship I was only twenty years old, wandering around dazed because Efea was a dazzling vision like nothing I had ever iined I remember the very arden but for a strip of dirt that my father’s brother cultivated for dill and peppers to flavor the bread Only at a festival could we afford to trade bread for a few precious, shriveled persimmons, the last of the crop Then in Efea there was an old woht "

Mother has told the tale of theirforeigner caught her before she fell facedown into a vat of urine Confusion resulted because neither spoke the language of the other

The yearning in his face burns out er turns to ashes

"Did you fall in love with her at first sight?"

"No one can fall in love at first sight Love is built over years, not snapped into existence like a flauished But I was so struck with her beauty and the pure joy of her laugh that sorew up I never saw beautiful young woed there The poets sing that a n soil leaves his heart behind in the farew up But in that one instant my heart leaped all the mountain vastness and the wild and windy sea to coo back to the old country Maybe I was Saroese once But I aht for Efea"

"Fight for Lord Gargaron, and his palace, and his ugly scheh the air to silence ht to keep you That I let aauzy theatrical tale do you think I could have said no to Lord Gargaron? The instant he stepped into the house, our fates were sealed"

Tears choke my throat "We can’t leave them there"

His stern voice comforts me "We won’t leave them there For her to have a life away fro what I know, I cannot call ht as well be dead Besides that, it is the worst kind of blasphe into the faces of the gods"

"Can you tell the priests?"

"Don’t be na&iuet them entombed aron has offered thee Or they fear him A man like that has many ropes hich to bind people to his will Now let ht The tombs are sealed with bricks, impossible to enter or leave unless you break the a hand wearily over his brow