“No more questions,” she murmured.
“One more. Why did you send those assassins against Alexandros?”
I felt her body twitch with shocked surprise. “How did you—” Then she caught herself. For a startled moment she stared down at me, speechless. At last she broke into a bitter laughter. “My creature exhibits some powers of intelligence, after all.”
“No one could profit by having Alexandros assassinated,” I reasoned. “But someone might profit by having me save Alexandros from assassination.”
“I wanted Alexandros to accept you. To trust you. When you started out for Athens he regarded you as one of his father’s men. Now he owes his life to you.”
“He hardly thinks so.”
“I know what he thinks better than you do, Orion,” she said. “Alexandros trusts you now.”
Again I asked, “But why did you—”
“I said no more questions.” And she slid her body over mine, supple as one of her snakes, eyes burning with human passion and something beyond.