round Strat and did something to the other man, something that included not
quite touching him but circling him, something Strat didn’t like because it was
intimate and didn’t trust because he could tell that information was being
exchanged in a way he didn’t understand.
Abruptly, the creature called Haught turned in a flare of cloak and arrogance
and the door opened wide, then shut again behind him, leaving candles flickering
huge shadows upon the wall and a chill in the air Strat was expecting Ischade to
dispell with a caress.
But she didn’t. She said, “Ace, come here. Before the fire. Sit with me.”
He did that and she cuddled by his knee in that way she had, so much a woman
then that Strat could barely refrain from pulling her onto his lap. She looked
up from under the darkness that veiled her and her eyes clamped on his: “What I
am, you know. What I do, you understand better than many. What life Janni has
with me, his soul has chosen. Someone is going to come here, and if you don’t
tell him all of that, the result will not sit well with you. Do you understand?”
“Ischade? Someone? A threat to you? I’ll protect you, you know-“
“Hush. Don’t promise what you’ll not deliver. This one is a friend of yours, a
brother. Keep him from my doorway or, despite what I’d like to promise you,
he’ll become a memory. One that will hang between us in the air forever.” She
reached up toward his face.
He jerked his head back; she lay her head upon his knee. He couldn’t tell if she
was crying, but he felt as if he would, so sad was she and so helpless did the