close to her; couldn’t stand being in Suma anymore.”
Perhaps he noticed her sudden pained look when he put the word “love” in the
past tense; perhaps he did not. She was worse than uncomfortable; she felt
positively wretched. Knowing that he was uncomfortable and worse did not help.
“I gave up my magickal practice,” he said, staring at the bar, rubbing and
rubbing it with his wet cloth. “Completely. I came here and became who and what
I am. This is my life. And now-gods, Jo, gods … why have you come here?”
She straightened up, lifted her chin, put back her shoulders. “Why don’t you
look at me, Ahdio, and I will tell you.” She waited until he did so. She saw the
torture in his large dark eyes and knew it showed in hers. First she swallowed
hard, and then she told him: “Because that woman you loved; she loved you too
and still does, and shamefully soon after Ezucar died, I came after you. Now I
am not going to leave, my love; you might try throwing me out but I will not go
back to Suma … or anyplace else, except where you are.”
With one huge hand on the bar as if he needed its support to keep his knees from
buckling, he stared at her. The look of pain had not left his face. She could
not imagine why until he said, “I am not about to take up Practice again, Jo.
That is behind me. The wizard Ahdiomer Viz is no more.”
“Oh?” she said, putting her head a little to one side. “What about the cats? And
that assistant of yours- Throde?”
Again he looked away from her stricken eyes and her beauty. He heard the rustle