Traitors Gate

'I don't think she speaks well of many people,' said Miravia in a choked voice. 'Oh, Mai, do you think of Anji every waking moment? When you close your eyes, do you see his face? Imagine his voice? Wish you might taste his lips? All the while knowing you are an utter fool for being obsessed?'

'No.'

'No!' Miravia turned so quickly Mai lost hold of the comb, which remained trapped in her curls. 'No?'

'Of course I think of him often. But I have other responsibilities, obligations, duties. Atani. My business interests. The household. I can't think of Anji all the time! I think of him enough! You are infatuated with Keshad. There's nothing wrong in that unless you lash yourself off a cliff for a man you don't know.'

Miravia leaned back against her, and Mai wrapped her arms around her as Miravia spoke. 'It's true you hear tales and songs telling of a glance seen across a street or looks exchanged in a garden that seal two hearts. How the arrow of a lilu hits its mark and makes the victim miserable for the rest of her days. I saw him that day, in your courtyard, that one time. Now I can't stop thinking of him.'

'That isn't love, dearest,' said Mai, as a pressure of annoyance built in her chest. 'You can't love someone you don't know.'

'Do you love Anji?'

'Of course I love Anji.' She disentangled herself from Miravia and went back to combing her hair, because combing hair calmed her surging heart. 'But I didn't love him when he plucked me out of the marketplace.'

'You told me you did!'

'I was very frightened. So I had to believe it, didn't I? I had to sing the songs that allowed me to ride each day into unknown territory. Then, afterward, well…' Her hands ceased their stroking; she wrapped her fingers in Miravia's hair as she recalled the sweetness of Anji's lovemaking.

'You're blushing,' said Miravia with a laugh, not needing to look at her to know that heat had flooded her skin. 'Stop that! Your husband will return soon enough, a moth to your flame. Let me comb out your hair, or does he like to do that for you?'

They both began to snort and giggle, and Mai had to wipe her eyes and her running nose with a scrap of cloth. 'Oh, hush,' she said, 'we'll wake Atani.'

The curtain swayed, and a dark hand pressed it aside. Priya looked in, smiling. 'Is all well? Have you awakened the baby?'

'No, thank you, Priya. All is well. Is there any signal of Anji's return?'

'No.' She vanished behind the curtain.

'Where did he go?' asked Miravia, settling on her knees as Mai hitched up her taloos to her hips and sat cross-legged with her back to the other woman.

'I don't know. I sat through the entire afternoon at his side. He wanted me to tell the chiefs and sergeants about life in the Hundred and how I would help them find local wives and settle into local households once the war was over.'

'Is he that sure we will win?'

'That's the story he must tell himself and others, isn't it? It's the tale I tell myself. They asked about the brothel, very shyly, I must admit, for they didn't wish to trouble me with such questions, but Anji told them that they must ask me everything even though he didn't expect that question! That's how he found out that since last time we were here, a temple to the Merciless One was dedicated and raised, at the order of Astafero's council! I thought he was going to ride down and burn it to the ground at that very instant. He said before he would permit no temple of Ushara in the settlement. He's still angry about' — she faltered, because she had

never told Miravia about Anji hitting her — 'about me taking you to Ushara's temple in Olossi. But I turned his anger to my advantage, because he hadn't a word to say that he was willing to say in front of others. That allowed me to speak. I told the men about the local customs and that they must never offer coin in Ushara's garden and so on. You know all that better than I do. After all that, he calmed down, and the meeting was over at nightfall, right before you returned. Then an urgent message came from his mother.'

Miravia pulled the hairsticks and combs out of Mai's hair and let it fall. 'You shouldn't fight her.'

'I don't want a battle. But what am I to do? Accept a place as his second, inferior wife?'

'You cannot ever be that to him!'

'I am a merchant's daughter. She is an emperor's sister.' Hu! Now she was crying.

'It won't come to that. He loves you.'

'As you love Keshad, perhaps?' she asked bitterly. 'He loves my beauty, anyway. People do not marry for that kind of love. Their clans arrange a contract. Or a woman is purchased. Or two families seek an alliance. Or cousins pool their family fortune with a wedding. There are many reasons, but not that one. He would be a fool not to marry her and secure the benefits she brings to him. Anyway, if he does not marry her, his cousins will try to kill him.'

'They may try to kill him no matter what he does or says. She might try to kill him, once she's in his bed. With a dagger she's hidden in her bosom!'

Mai sobbed, and Miravia embraced her, and then they both began to laugh because laughing was better than crying.

The sixth bell tolled across the settlement to mark the final descent into night.

Miravia shrieked and scrambled to her feet. 'I have to go! I said I would meet him-!'

'No!'

'Yes!' How Miravia's face glowed at the thought of meeting a lover she ought not to have. 'I thought, if I just devour him, then I'll have done it and I can think more clearly. And he'll have slaked his thirst, and he'll leave me alone and stop pestering me!'

'You go to the temple?'

'I go every week. I don't have to obey my family's strictures any longer. Why should I deny myself?'

To know that the women and men of the Hundred worshiped at Ushara's temple was one thing. To see Miravia making ready to leave with a reckless look in her eyes left Mai stammering. 'B-But Chief Tuvi is a good man.'

'Yes, he is a good man. What has that to do with anything?'

'I am hoping — you two could marry.'

'He's as old as my father!'

'You were about to be married off to a man twice as old! That makes him half as young! He'll treat you kindly, and leave you alone to run your business affairs as I do mine. Then we'll always be together.'

'Oh, Mai.' Miravia bent to kiss her. 'You're the one who sheltered me. Without you, and all you risked for me, I would be in Nessumara now in a cage. If you don't want me to go to Ushara's temple, I won't go.'

Mai smiled ruefully as she snagged Miravia's scarf off the floor. She'd bought this scarf for Miravia months ago, admiring its beautiful color. The scarf was a gift of friendship, not an obligation to bind Miravia to Mai's wishes.

'Of course if you want to go, you must go. I will not rule you as I was ruled. Hold still.' She tied it to conceal Miravia's hair, adding a pretty knot for flair. 'Go on.'

At the curtain, Miravia grinned. 'Anyhow, Mai, who is to say I cannot meet a lover in the temple and marry a different man?' Then she was gone.

Mai stared at the curtain as it rippled and stilled. The lamps burned. The shadows lingered. Was she sad? Happy? Bewildered? Upset? She hardly knew what to think, and yet the memory of Miravia's deliriously hopeful expression made her smile.

Priya slipped into the chamber, crossed to her, touching her hand. 'Plum blossom, are you well? So Miravia has gone off to meet the Devourer, has she?'

'Should I have dissuaded her, Priya? Keshad's rather unpleasant, but she thinks him handsome.'

'I believe she acts wisely. The flame may burn hot and short, and then afterward even if there is pain at its death, it will be extinguished. Held apart, it will smolder for far longer than if it is allowed to consume the fuel of desire. Or they may find they truly care for each other.'

'Two clanless people do not marry for love, Priya.'

'What do you suppose O'eki and I did?'