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I hurried to the Commander’s office, but Valek had beaten me there He closed the door behind him as he joined me in the throne roo , and only a handful of advisers orking

"Find Margg and cancel tonight’s et some rest," he said

"Cancel? What for? It would look suspicious I’ll wear gloves to cover the bandages It’s cold enough at night; nobody will notice" When he didn’t reply, I added, "I’m fine"

He smiled "You should take a look at yourself in ain indecision "All right We’ll proceed as planned"

We stopped at the door to Valek’s office "I have some work to finish Rest and don’t worry I’ll be close by tonight" He inserted his key

"Valek?"

"Yes"

"What will happen to Nix?"

"We’ll patch hieon if he doesn’t cooperate, and when he’s done helping us, I’ll reassign hih? Or should I kill him?"

Military District 1 was the coldest, bleakest district in Ixia The possibility of Nix falling prey to a snow cat brought a wicked grin to ood If I had wanted hihtened his spine, snapping me a look A combination of surprise, amusement and wariness over my comment flashed across his face before he reined in his eain my stone-faced Valek

I smiledwould have to wait since I had a nu First, I needed a pair of gloves and a cloak As the cooling season dwindled toward the cold season, the nights had turned sharp and brisk, coating everything in a blanket of ice so that the blades of grass sparkled like dia fate that Dilana was still in her sewing rooossip before Ilike a worried matron "You don’t have any clothes for the cold!" She bustled about her stacks of uniforlets bounced with each movement "Why didn’t you cohed "I haven’t needed them till now Dilana, do youclothes to look at me "No, dear, just the ones that need it"

"Thanks," I said in a tone of affectionate sarcas me for the cold season, I was inundated with a heap of clothing With all of the flannel undergarments, wool socks and heavy boots, I probably could survive on the pack ice for weeks I stashed the pile into a corner of the room and asked Dilana to have someone deliver therin

"For now But I think when things settle down, I’ll be back in ht sourly It was more like if

I selected a heavy black cloak froloves into its deep pockets, and then draped it over my arm The cloak had two hand-size red diamonds stitched on the left breast and an oversize hood whose function was more to keep the rain off my face than to keeptime," Dilana said

"Why?"

"I believe Valek’s sweet on you I’ve never seen him take such an interest in a food taster before He usually trains them and leaves them alone If there was any potential for trouble, he would assign one of his sneaks to spy on the taster, but he wouldn’t bother with him personally, let alone live with one!" Her face had the avid glow of a gossip at full steam

"You’re crazy Deluded"

"In fact, he’s never taken an interest in a woht prefer one of his male sneaks, but now…" She paused draet Valek’s cold heart pu room more You need fresh air and a dose of reality," I said, knowing better than to believe a word Dilana said, but unable to control the silly little grin on hter followed ht," she called

The only reason Valek was interested in h the dim corridors, was because I was a puzzle for hiht he had all the answers about the southern ician and Brazell, I’d be sent back toI couldn’t letfor me to have a harmless infatuation that wouldn’t have any influence on my plans It wouldn’t Absolutely not To think he felt the same toward me would be disastrous

So I tried to convince h a sweetheart, was a victiination and was mistaken I tried very hard I tried all the way to the kitchen I tried when I saw Rand lurching around his ovens, re dozens of people The King’s blood still adorned Valek’s knife Valek was deadly, et that silly grin to go away no matter how hard I tried