that? Do you understand that I must close the circle completely, myself, if I’m
to have peace, if I’m to be free of her?’
Myrtis met Cythen’s rabid stare and, whether she understood the dark emotions
and memories that drove the younger woman or not, she finally nodded. ‘Still, if
you are to have a chance at all, you must abide by what I tell you to do,
Cythen. If he does not find you attractive, he will search elsewhere. I will
give you her chambers and her clothes; that will give you an advantage. I will
send Ambutta to bathe you, to help you dress and to arrange your hair.
‘When he returns again, if he returns again, he will be yours. You may stay as
long as you please, but he is not to be harmed in this house! Now then, you must
also seem to belong here, and it will rouse suspicion if you take no others
while you wait. I will set aside your portion -‘
‘I’m a virgin,’ Cythen interrupted in a far from steady voice. When her mind was
focused on the fish-eyed murderer other sister, she could manage to ignore the
implications of the plan she had agreed to; but faced with the pragmatic logic
of the madam, she began to realize that vengeance and determination might not be
enough.
Myrtis nodded, ‘I had suspected as much. You would not want your sister’s
slayer, then, to be the first -‘
‘It won’t matter. Just tell everyone that I’m being saved for just the right
man. That’s often the way of it anyway, isn’t it? A special prize for a special
customer?’
Myrtis hardened. ‘In those places where courtesan and slave are the same that