long tables, listened to Tempus and Ischade speaking quiet banalities about wine
and food and weather-
0 gods, get me out of here! Haught!
She would have hurled herself even into Stilcho’s arms.
“I don’t know where she is,” Ischade was saying, again, in a voice not meant to
carry. “I’ve searched. I’ve spent the night searching. I had hoped for better
news.”
“How much do you know?” Tempus asked.
A pause. Perhaps Ischade looked his way. Moria drank a mouthful of wine and
tried not to shiver. “I know,” Ischade said. And reached for Moria’s hand again
beneath the table.
“Who told you?”
Another profound silence. “Commander. I am a witch.”
Thunder rolled and cracked overhead. “Damn,” Tasfalen said.And reached for
Moria’s hand again beneath the table.
Gentle man, she thought. Gentleman. He doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t
understand what he’s into, he’s as lost as I am-Ischade invited him, she must
have. Oh, what are they talking about, priests and searching and a demon? 0
gods, where’s Haught? It was a lie about the lock, he’s not off on any errand,
not now, with Her like this and the storm and the house full of Rankan soldiers
Why was Stilcho with him? What could he have to do with Stilcho?
She took another glass of wine. A third when that ran out. The room swam in a
haze, and the voices buzzed distantly in her ears. She picked at food and picked
at another course and drank another cup until she could stare about the room
without more than a distant trepidation. The conversation about the hall grew
more relaxed. Tasfalen whispered invitation in her ear and she only blinked and