‘That stinks worse than ten-day-old fish.’ Kheda laughed with open disbelief. ‘Rekha must be busy placating Moth Redigal. That’s it, isn’t it? Moth must be agitating for her share in your pearl harvest by now.’ He took another step and leaned over Janne. ‘Every day you delay, the greater the risk that the truth will come out, that everyone will find out that the Daish reefs are barren this year.’
‘Have you told Itrac about the deal with Moth?’ Janne thrust at his chest with a forceful hand. ‘You’ve no qualms about betraying Daish trade secrets to your new wife?’
‘I must do my best for Chazen.’ Kheda allowed himself to be pushed back. You laid that duty upon me.’
‘You seem to forget you’ve a dragon stalking your isles,’ retorted Janne. ‘What will you do for Chazen if I refuse to take your pearls for these gems you’re so anxious to have? You need gems for barbarian lore, or for some barbarian mage you’re relying on to rid you of the beast. Don’t deny it,’ she concluded with malicious satisfaction.
‘I think the dragon’s presence strengthens my hand.’ Kheda smiled cruelly. ‘I told you we can contain it. I’ll share one Chazen secret with you, Janne, for old times’ sake. We can do more than contain it. We know how to lure it from place to place. Why else do you think I’m so confident that we can kill it when we choose?’ He stepped forward to look down on Janne again, this time resisting her attempt to push him away. We could lure it to Daish waters if we felt so inclined.’
‘You wouldn’t!’ Janne stared up at him, aghast.
‘If we don’t have the gems to trade for the lore we need to kill it?’ Kheda leaned forward, his weight resting on his hands, which were set flat on the chest on either side of Janne. What would we have to lose? If I’m to see Chazen lost, after all the pains I’ve suffered for this domain, I’ll take Daish down with me.’
Can I convince you of that? Can I convince you that I hate you so much now that I’d forget my love for my children and my duty to all the innocent people of Daish?
‘Then I want a better price than a few sacks of pearls,’ Janne hissed, ‘if you’re so convinced you can cleanse yourself of all suspicion and free this domain from all taint of magic with the shedding of this dragon’s blood.’ Her breath came fast and shallow.
‘Offer me terms,’ Kheda invited with cold precision.
‘Itrac was very eager to convince me that she is happy in this marriage, that your future will soon be secured in a child.’ Janne stood up, forcing Kheda away. The vase with the silver cranes toppled over to fall and crack into pieces on the floor, the sound startlingly loud within the enclosed space. They both ignored it.
Janne took a pace forward, coming so close that her gown brushed Kheda’s tunic. ‘Too eager. You still haven’t touched her, have you, Kheda? Don’t try lying to me. I know you too well. I know the look in a woman’s eyes when she’s remembering a night in your arms. I don’t see it in Itrac’s face. And I know your taste in women and your scruples. She’s barely older than our eldest daughter and you were never some monster like Ulla Safar to violate hairless girls. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.’ She paused for a moment, eyes closed.
‘So, Kheda, that’s my price. Don’t touch Itrac. Don’t take any acknowledged concubines either. I don’t know if this gossip about you and that poet girl is true—she’s barely older than Itrac after all. I don’t care. Leave her well alone or use your physic chest to make sure she never quickens with a child. Don’t leave the responsibility to her because folly or ambition will win her over some day. If you want Daish gems to save Chazen, then you make sure there’s no child born to this domain. I want only Daish blood to have any claim on Chazen when you die.’
‘Should I beware of any food from your hands, in case you decide to see if that day’s to come sooner rather than later?’ Kheda compelled himself to hold his ground, even though he could feel the taut warmth of Janne’s breasts through the thin layers of silk separating them. Why do you want Daish to claim Chazen, when you’ve condemned us all as tainted with magic?’
‘Don’t you want to see a better future for Chazen?’ Janne’s eyes didn’t move from his face. ‘Sirket’s posterity will be untouched by magic. You’re not, of your own deliberate choice, and neither is Itrac, innocent victim though she’s been in all this. You could secure an untainted future ruler for this domain and free all the domains hereabouts from the fear that echoes of your actions may yet cause disaster in years to come. I want to see Daish free of that burden.’
‘And I would be leaving my son an inheritance to make him the equal of the most powerful lords in these reaches. You know exactly how to tempt me, Janne.’ Kheda still refused to retreat. ‘I might be more convinced if you hadn’t baulked at any action that would have tied Daish to lands so tainted with magic last year. You wouldn’t see Itrac protected by a tactical marriage to Sirket.’
He looked at her with cold contempt. ‘I see your principles aren’t so strong when your pearl harvest fails. You really are desperate to get your hands on the Chazen reefs, aren’t you? You tried to tempt me with Rekha and the children and when that failed, you’ve come to play a harder game. Can I expect to find you slipping into my apartments tonight, to offer ease for my hardness? What’s happened to the Daish reefs? A plague of black prickle-stars eating corals and oysters alike?’
‘You’re telling me that this dragon’s blood will purify this domain.’ Janne stood still, rigid, face upturned to him. ‘If I’m wagering that’s true and that you’ll do what you’re boasting and kill the beast, if I’m staking Daish gems on your word, and Daish’s safety from the creature, I want a worthwhile return.’
‘You still think you’re in a position to dictate terms?’ Kheda prodded Janne’s chest with a hard finger. ‘I’ll tell you what you’ll get and, more importantly, what you won’t get. You’ll get sufficient pearls to conceal the bareness of the Daish reefs for this year and this year alone. You won’t get me scorning Itrac for you or Rekha and having you stake a claim on Chazen through Sirket or any other of my children. On the other hand, you won’t get every boat spreading whispered speculation around every domain within reach about just what the dire omen of the pearl-harvest failure could mean for Daish Sirket’s rule.’
Because I wouldn’t do that to my son. But this is something I’m not going to forgive in a hurry, Janne; you’re fomenting such antagonism between our domains that I cannot offer him the least advice.
Kheda took a breath to cool his anger. ‘In return, I will get sufficient choice gems from the Daish treasury to suit my purposes—and don’t forget, I know exactly what’s in those treasuries, so I’ll tell you exactly which jewels I want. Then you won’t see the dragon plundering those Daish islands that lie nearest to Chazen, so that all our neighbours’ galleys start shunning your waters as well as ours, since they’re stained with magic. As for the future, we’ll let the consequences of all our actions play themselves out. We’ll see just who’s vindicated by omens and events.’
‘Yes, we will. Who knows what the stars to come will reveal.’ Janne whirled around and walked towards the door, the silk of her gown swishing angrily. ‘Are we agreed?’ Kheda demanded harshly. ‘Pearls for gems?’
Janne halted, not looking back at him. ‘And this conversation never happened.’
‘I’ll send Dev to Birut with a list of the gems I require,’ Kheda called as she wrenched the door open and stormed through it. Janne made no response.
‘She didn’t look any too pleased.’ Dev came in from the corridor wearing a crooked smile. ‘Quiet!’ As Kheda walked back into the warlord’s private sitting room, a blur of green and scarlet beyond the high windows caught his eye.