like suns, ’til he flinched and looked as if he would go fleeing for the door.
It would not have yielded. And he did not. He stood still, with his little shred
of dignity, his body clenched, the tic working at his face as she let the spell
fade.
So this was a man. At least the remnant of one. The remnant of what had almost
been one. He was still young. She began to pace round him, back of him, to the
scarred left side. He turned the other way to look at her. The tic grew more and
more pronounced.
‘And what if I could not do what they wish? I have turned their betters down
before. You come carrying their messages. Is there nothing – more personal you
would want?’
‘The p-pain.’
‘Oh. That. Yes, I can ease it for a time. If you come back to me. If you keep
your bargains.’ She stepped closer still, took the marred face between her
hands. ‘Jubal, on the other hand, would like you the way the beggars left you.
He would flay you inch by inch. Your sister -‘ She brushed her lips across his
own, gazed close into his eyes. ‘She has been under a certain shadow for your
sake. For what you did.’
‘Where is she? Ils blast you, whereT
‘A place I know. Look at me, go on looking, that’s right. That’s very good. No
pain, none at all. Do you understand – Mor-am, what you have to do?’
‘The Stepsons -‘
‘I know. There’s someone watching the house.’ She kissed him long and
lingeringly, her arms twined behind his neck, smiled into his eyes. ‘My friend,
a hawkmask’s a candle in the wind these days; a hawkmask other hawkmasks hunt