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‘It gives the copying-houses in E to do now that they’ve exhausted the body of real literature’ Stragen shrugged ‘We’ve got a whole sub-genre of highly popular books spewing out of grubby garrets on back streets – lurid narratives which all take place in cehts The whores of Emsat absolutely adore them I rather expect the policemen at Interior share that taste After all, a policeman’s sort of like a whore, isn’t he?’

‘I didn’t exactly follow that,’ Mirtai said, ‘and I’usting involved in your thinking, Stragen Caalador, will you stop yawning like that Your face looks like an open barn-door’

‘I’m sleepy, little dorlin’ You two bin a-keepin’ o to bed You ape at et solars now, and Sarabian and I would be absolutely le’

‘Are we ready to be practical about this?’ Caalador asked, rising to his feet ‘I can have two dozen professionals here by this evening, and we’ll have all the secrets of the Interior Ministry in our hands by to’

‘And Interior will know that we have theen added ‘Our impromptu spy network isn’t really all that secure, Caalador We haven’t had enough tier’s probably subverted’

‘There’s no real rush here, gentlemen,’ Ehlana told them ‘Even if we do find the docu, on’t be able to do a thing about theain’

‘Why are you so positive that Sparhawk’s deceiving you, Ehlana?’ Sarabian asked her

‘It’s consistent with his character Sparhawk’s devoted his entire life to protectingaard at tih I’ve demonstrated to him that I’ soerous, and he doesn’t want me to worry All he really had to do was telland then lay out the reasons why he thought it was necessary I know it’s hard for you men to believe, but women are rational too – and far more practical than you are’

‘You’re a hard woman, Ehlana,’ Sarabian accused

‘No, I’m a realist Sparhawk does what he thinks he has to no matter what I say, and I’ve learned to accept that The point I’ out of the walls of the Interior Ministry, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it while Sparhawk and the others are out there wandering around the countryside We’re going to disband Interior and throw about a quarter of the E to place all of Ta our decrees The Daresian Continent’s going to look like an ant-hill that’s just been run over by a cavalry charge I don’t knohat Sparhawk’s doing, so I don’t knohat kind of i to let you put hier than I think he’s already in’

‘Do you know so, Ehlana?’ Sarabian said ‘You’re even more protective of Sparhawk than he is of you’

‘Of course I ae is all about’

‘None of ot too many wives, Sarabian Your affection’s dispersed Your wives each return only as ive them’

‘I’ve found that it’s safer that way’

‘But dull,passion that only has a single object is very exciting It’s sort of like living in a volcano’

‘What an exhausting prospect,’ he shuddered

‘Fun, though,’ she s a painful headache It was not that she found her duties as Ehlana’s lady-in-waiting onerous, but rather that she had an ier she put it off, the more difficult it would be To put it rather bluntly, the Baroness had reached the point where she was going to have to decide what she was going to do about Stragen

We must candidly admit that Melidere was no innocent Few irl has only one option in her dealings with the opposite sex A irl has two, and this was the crux of Melidere’s dileen, of course, would make a perfectly acceptable para, and he had exquisite manners Melidere’s reputation at court would not be tarnished by a liaison with hiinally been her intention, and the time had come for her to take the final step and to invite him to her bedchamber and have done with it The liaison could be brief, or it could be extended – renewed each tiive the affair a certain status, while at the sa them both free to pursue other amusements, as was normal in such situations Melidere, however, was not sure if that was all she wanted More andof a ement, and therein lay the dilemma

There is a rhythm, almost a tide, in the affairs of the heart When that tide reaches its high point, a lady nals points toward the bedchaer put it off She had to decide which set of signal flags to hoist

Stragen intrigued her There was a sense of dangerous excitement about him, and Melidere, a creature of the court, was attracted by that It could be intoxicating, addictive, but she was not entirely sure that the excitein to pall as the years went by

There was, ins and lack of any official status had hts where none had been intended He hovered around the edges of Ehlana’s court like an uninvited guest at a banquet, always fearful that he ht be summarily ejected He had the outsider’s awe of the nobility, see at times to view aristocrats almost as members of another species Melidere knew that if she decided to marry him, she would have to attack that first She personally knew that titles were a shaoing to persuade Stragen of that? She could easily buy him out of bastardy and into the aristocracy, but that would mean that she would have to reveal the secret she had kept locked in her heart since childhood Melidere had always concealed the fact that she was one of the wealthiest people at court, largely because her fabulous wealth had not been legally obtained