Текст книги "Betrayer"

Автор книги: C. J. Cherryh

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

“So,” Machigi said, chin on hand. “If we were to proceed on this course you name, what would be your first desire? Not that I shall grant it, understand, but let us see where you would start.”

“I have already started, nandi, by being sure the Guild does not blame you for the outrages in Najida. It remains for you to deal with your internal enemies.”

“So we do the bloody work for you—and weaken our own territory.”

“Within the Marid, nandi, you will have a far surer sense where to apply force—and justice.

You are the authority here in the Marid. That is agreed.”

A slow smile came to Machigi’s face, and this time it seemed less cold.

“We shall see, nand’ paidhi. You will continue to be my guest, you and your aishid. Should you desire to dismiss the bus inconveniently blocking the public driveway and send Tabini’s agents elsewhere, they will have safe passage, so long as they do not get off the bus inside Taisigi land. You will have free access to phones at any hour. And you may have any material comfort and convenience you may wish. Cease to concern yourself about poisons. If we quarrel, you will know it well before suppertime. My cook has been strongly cautioned.”

“One is gratified to know so, nandi. And may one ask one additional favor? Might I send my brother’s wife and the young Guildswoman back to Najida on the same bus?”

A wave of Machigi’s hand. “Do as you please in that regard.”

“One is personally grateful, nandi,” he said, and he meant it. “And maps. I shall need access to continental maps. I need place names.”

“So. Go, give those orders, see the lady and her bodyguard off, and do as you please today. I wish my drive unobstructed and my land free of the aiji’s men. Request your maps of staff, make your notes. And then we shall talk again, nand’ paidi.”

That, and the gesture, added up to dismissal. Now he had to get up. He tensed muscles and made the try. Twice. The second time he made it.

And Banichi and Jago, across the room, had both broken impassivity but stopped themselves from any untoward move.

“You should allow my physician to attend that.”

“Bruises. Only bruises, nandi. Thank you, but my aishid’s attendance suffices.”

“As you choose,” Machigi said with a wave of his hand. “Send and dispose, use the phones, ask staff for any comfort or service. Be at ease in my hospitality, nandi.”

“Nandi,” he responded, with a parting bow, and walked toward the door. Banichi and Jago joined him, and he didn’t look back.

3

« ^ »

It was silence all the way back to the suite—Banichi and Jago were observing strictest formality, and they went escorted by two of Machigi’s bodyguard, despite Machigi’s assurances of freedom.

They reached the rooms, closed the door behind them, and Bren let go a carefully held breath, as much breath as he had with the bandages and the heavy vest.

Barb was on her feet to meet him. So was everybody else. But nobody spoke.

“Is there any objection,” Bren asked Banichi and Jago then, “to taking advantage of the permissions granted?”

A slight hesitation. “No,” Banichi said. “There is no objection.”

Jago had reservations, perhaps—she had that look—but none that she advanced, considering everything they said was under surveillance. She nodded agreement once, emphatically.

His aishid, the four of them, would be the ones to die along with him—if he was wrong in his approach, or if the negotiations blew up in some reversal of intention. He apparently had the chance to get everybody else out of the Maridc assuming there was no deception involved.

There could well be. He couldn’t know if he was dooming everybody on that bus.

But if that was the case, he and his bodyguard were fairly well doomed, too, in the long run.

They were given a chance to communicate with Najida– knowing everything they said would be recorded.

But Machigi had encouraged the notion that the dowager was not that wrong in her assumptions. He had signaled willingness to consider the dowager’s offer—at least in theory.

One could not take it for an absolute. It was, however, better than the alternative.

“Barb,” he said, “whatever you’ve got to pack, pack.”

“We’re leaving?” Barb exclaimed.

“You’re leaving. I have work to do. Veijico.” He changed to Ragi. “You will go with Barb-daja down to the bus and go back to Targai, then on to Najida.”

“Yes,” Veijico said, just that.

“Bren,” Barb protested, “are you going to be all right here?”

“I think so,” he said. “I’m not kidding, Barb. Right now, I want you to get together whatever you came with and go, this minute. Veijico, too. We’ve got a chance to get you out. Toby needs you. I promised I’d get you back.”

Barb spread her hands. “This is what I’ve got to pack,” she said shakily. “I’m ready.”

“Then advise staff, Tano-ji,” Bren said. “One has no idea whether they will let us go down to see them off, but let us get this moving. We shall send Tabini’s men back to Targai, and then the bus will pick up my domestic staff at Targai and take them and Barb-daja and Veijico on to Najida. Set that in motion, nadiin-ji, and whatever we need to do, do it.”

“Nandi,” Tano said, acknowledging the order, and Algini went past them to the hall outside, presumably to talk with the staff stationed to guard them.

Bren decided a chair would be welcome, that one near the fire.

But Barb intercepted him, linking her arm through his, hugging it tight. “Bren, are you sureyou’re going to be safe?”

He gave a little laugh. “I don’t think you could protect me if I weren’t. But you can get back to Toby. Once they tell you it’s safe to sail, you and Toby take that boat and get the hell back to Jackson.” That was their home port, over across the strait. “Tell him I love him.”

“Don’t be giving me goodbye messages!” Barb turned around and was about to grab him around the ribs, but he fended her off at arms’ length, and she held onto his arms. “Bren!”

“Shhsh.” He took a firm grip on hers and shook her gently. “Shhsh. We’ll be fine. The reason I want you and Toby off the continent right now has less to do with what’s happening here in Tanaja than what’s likely to happen if this negotiation goes well. People opposed to it, some in this district, some maybe even up north, are likely to strike at any target they can find, and I don’t want them to find you and Toby available. You’re tolerably safe in Najida, but I don’t want you to get stuck on this side of the straits during a prolonged situation. All right? We’re talking about convenience.”

“You’re lying through your teeth.”

“Now, that’s unkind, Barb. I’m not. I’m telling you quite a bit of the truth, and I want you to convey it when you get back to Toby. You just take care of him. He’s doing all right, but he’ll do a lot better when you get there. Hear me?”

A nod, damp-eyed.

“Good,” he said, and set her back, with a look toward Tano.

“We are clear to proceed, Bren-ji,” Tano said. “The staff has received a confirmation from their lord’s guard. We have informed house staff that two persons will be coming downstairs to the bus, and house guard has confirmed the bus is free to leave. Guild will come to the door and escort the lady downstairs.”

He was not encouraged to go downstairs to see the bus off. He was not surprised at that. If he had become an asset in Machigi’s hands, Machigi was not going to wave temptation past armed personnel with man’chi to Tabini. It was not reasonable in his own mind that Tabini’s guard might assassinate him, but Machigi could know no such thing.

“Veijico,” he said.

“Nandi?” Instant, earnest attention—a vastly different young woman than before this situation.

“I have requested the Taisigi to look for your brother, nadi. If I can secure his safe return, I shall do so.”

A bow, a more than perfunctory bow. “Nandi.” And not a word else.

A knock came at the door, and it opened. Servants were there, along with uniformed Guild.

Things were moving uncommonly fast.

“Barb,” he said, “this will be your escort. Veijico will translate and speak for you. Let her.

You take care. Understood?”

He was afraid for a second that Barb was going to throw her arms around him. But she came and put her hands on either side of his face and just looked at him.

“Bren, please be careful!”

“I’m the soul of caution. Give everybody my regards. And get moving. They won’t wait around.”

He was unprepared for Barb to kiss him. She did, a quick kiss, and let go and went toward the door. Veijico moved with her.

Barb looked back once, in the doorway. Then she left, and Jago shut the door.

It was, on the one hand, a relief. On the other—

He couldn’t worry about it. He couldn’t let his mind go down that track.

And a man like Machigi—

Was damned hard to read. He’d gained some freedom: Machigi was undoubtedly watching him, wondering what he would do with it, and he couldn’t misstep.

It was also likely Machigi would tweak the situation to see how he reacted. But hopefully whatever Machigi did wouldn’t involve the bus. The situation in the driveway couldn’t go on for days and days—food and water, among other things, were limited—and for Barb and Veijico—

Barb was no asset in an emotional situation. Not with atevi involved. She’d just proved that.

He had around him now only those who wereassetsc those he least wanted to endanger, but that was the choice he had. He’d given Banichi orders to get out if he couldn’t salvage the situation. It was the most he could do for his bodyguard.

Except worry. And he couldn’t afford to give way to that, either.

They had just dismissed the one member of their party most likely to create an inadvertent situation with armed guards– that was Barb—and the young hothead most likely to try to be a hero—a word difficult even to express in Ragi, but Veijico’s inexperience had gotten them into this situation in the first place.

They’d also, in Veijico, dismissed their food taster.

Well, but that bus would get them to safety.

Which was a major load off his mind.

Machigi had promised him maps. He could look at the east coast, figure the possible assets, and make proposals. He could make phone callsc one of which could let him know the bus had gotten to safety.

He heaved a sigh, which encountered the solid restriction of the vest.

And he quietly unbuttoned his coat and shed it into Tano’s hands, then reached under his arm to unfasten the vest.

“Bren-ji,” Jago chided him.

“Just for here,” he said. “Only here.”

Jago helped him off with it, and Tano had gone to his room and come back with one of his ordinary coats, an informal one of plain blue cloth. He put that light garment on with a sigh of relief. It was cooler, it was lighter, it left him only the compression bandage, and that relief went a long way toward clearing his head. The painkiller still had him a little under its influence– God, he hadn’t wanted to deal with Machigi with that in his system, but without it—he wasn’t worth that much either.

Had Algini come back in? He’d lost track. It stuck in his somewhat muzzy head that Algini hadn’t come back inside the suite.

“Tea, Bren-ji?” Tano asked, and there was that chair by the fire and the little side table.

“Yes,” he said. “For all of us. Thank you, Tano-ji.”

Tano didn’t act as if anything was amiss. Maybe Algini had gone back to the rooms down the inside hall.

He sat down, a little light-headed, and Jago fixed a pillow for his back. It was a situation of fair comfort, and Tano quietly made sufficient tea for the lot of them. The door opened without a knock, and Algini came back into the room, from the outside door. He spoke to Banichi, then left again.

Maybe seeing to the bus’s departure. But nobody was saying anything. The business worried him—but there were listeners. He said nothing, just took the teacup when Tano brought it to himc and wished he knew what was going on.

Maybe nothing. He let Tano and Banichi and Jago relax for a bit in the peace of a round of tea and contemplation. He tried to think peaceful thoughts. Tried to think about the maps he needed and whether to ask for them brought here, or whether he should request to go to the sunny map room or whatever library existed here—every stately home had a library.

Algini stayed gone.

He set his cup down. So did the others.

“Since we are allowed phone contact,” he said, “if we can arrange a call to the dowager, nadiin-ji, that would probably be a good start. I also need maps of the region, of the west coast, and detailed maps of the East, including the coasts. If they can bring them here, excellent. If I have to go to the maps, that will be fine, too.”

“Yes,” Jago said, and she got up and went to the door to talk to whatever servants were stationed with the guards.

“I have a report to give to the dowager,” Bren said to Banichi and Tano in the meanwhile.

“Tano-ji, Banichi may have told you that Lord Machigi has taken the position that I am his mediator as well as the dowager’s—” He used the ancient word for the office, with all it implied. “So I shall eventually be conveying his position, so far as I know it, as his representative. As yet, I have no idea exactly what that position is, except that he has said that the dowager is generally correct in her perceptions.”

Tano nodded—and probably already knew everything he had just said, unless the local Guild had been interfering with his aishid’s communications. He was stating things for their eavesdroppers, putting the slant on things he wanted. And he smiled somewhat grimly. “They will monitor what we say. Which is expected. And since our purpose here is exactly what we said it was, we have no reason to object. We can do very little until Lord Machigi tells us what he concludes, but I also have to advise the dowager what proposals I have made, so at least we can be accurate about her position. I have some hope this negotiation will work.

There is absolutely nothing gained for anybody by another war. And a lot to be gained for the Taisigi in particular if we can work this out.”

Solemn nods. They knew exactly what he was doing.

And they knew their own business, which was to keep the situation as quiet as possible as long as possible, give no information away, and hope that even if every assumption the dowager had made was wrong, he could still talk sense to Machigi.

The lord of the Taisigi, he told himself, was young but not stupid.

Thatwas the best asset they had.

Jago came back in and closed the door. “They will bring a phone, nandi,” she said. “And the maps, with writing materials.”

“Excellent,” he said.

Algini also—finally!—came back into the room, from the hall, and cast a look at Tano, then came and picked up Bren’s teacup; when he set it down again, it weighted a piece of paper. A note.

That ticked up the heart rate a bit. Bren quietly picked up the note and read it.

Certain Guild disappeared from Shejidan in Murini’s fall. Most of these, outlawed by Guild decree, entered service in the Marid, from which they trusted they would not be extradited to face Guild inquiry. Not all such are reliably in Guild uniform, and some may have falsified identities. My own presence here is known. Your mission here directly threatens the lives of these outlaws, since if Lord Machigi associates with the dowager, their sanctuary is threatened. Lord Machigi’s bodyguard is aware and is taking measures as of this hour.

Measures. When the Guild said that—there was bloodshed.

So there were high-level fugitives, then, the very highest– Guild members who, two years ago, had carried out the overthrow of Tabini-aiji and the murder of no few of Tabini’s staff, on behalf of the usurper Murini.

The Guild in Shejidan had cleaned house after Tabini’s return. Some of the people responsible for the coup had been killed. Others had run for it—mostly south, even those with no southern connections.

Outlaws. Desperate, skilled Assassins.

Machigi himself might be in increasing danger.

Should I have sent the bus off? he wondered. Here they sat, his four bodyguards isolated and out of touch with the Guild, and now with Machigi’s bodyguard evidently engaging in a purge of individuals who, until his arrival, might have assumed they had a permanent safe haven here.

Certainly the renegades would bear him no good will at all. Persons who employed them wouldn’t, either.

Andc my own presence herec was downright chilling. Whoever knew what Algini was, or had been, in the Guild, was notthe average Guild member. They were individuals possibly with very high-level skills, and were already proven to bear a very chancy man’chi to anything at all. There were a dozen atevi words for people who betrayed a service. On the one hand, they had the disposition to govern—to be aijiin. On the other– and a paper-thin distance removed from that—they had the disposition to be a problem to society.

The Guild itself was a focus for man’chi: in a sense it was a clan of its own.

But it had fractured during Murini’s takeover. It had become fragmented.

And now some of its problems were aiming at him andpotentially at Machigi himselfc with ambitions and intentions of its own.

That was not a comfortable thought. And now Machigi’s guard had found out and presumably had told Algini what Algini had just reported to him.

Nobody from Machigi’s bodyguard wanted to come here right now and explain things to the rest of them. Algini had gone outside to talk to—whoever he had talked to, and he had stayed out long enough to worry him.

Second point—Algini had written it out, not said it aloud, so it was something to be kept even from those elements of Machigi’s guard that were monitoring their conversations.

That was very worrisome.

Maybe the servants were equally suspect.

The cook they had to trust?

Damn.

Damn.

And damn.

Bloody damn it. He hadn’t expected local politics to come to a head this fast even with him stirring the pot.

But it was predictable, wasn’t it? He had come here in a pain-killered fog, upset the political situation with his brain just a little too closely focused on the good Machigi could become to the situation, and now Machigi himself had become a target.

Depend on it, Machigi’s potential enemies would have long since moved agents in on him, watchingc that went on in every noble house in the aishidi’tat. In whatever houses there had ever been marriages and associations with other houses, staff traveled, staff joined other houses, settled in—and functioned as an information network. If the lords were getting along nicely, it was two-way. Or information moved only one way if things had gone to hell.

Staff spied. That was a given. A sensible lord dismissed servants who were suspected of dual loyalties, but sometimes the most astute judge of man’chi made a mistake.

And cell phones, hell. Members of the legislature in Shejidan had been tying themselves in knots over whether to import cell phone technology from the human enclave, sure that there were benefits to be had. Hehad been trying to think of a dozen arguments against it going into public use, but atevi great houses didn’t need cell phones. Their problem was keeping information inside, not making it one step easier to disseminate. There was always the information you knew but politely weren’t supposed to know, so you didn’t act as if you knew; and there was the information your associate knew, and you knew he knew, and it was good he know, for the sake of trust, but it was just too hot for you ever to mention to him personally. Servants told other servants, who told the lords and movers, who then didn’t have to officiallyknow.

Which saved a lot of lawsuits and Guild actions, not to mention personal stress.

Machigi didn’t officiallyknow who was gunning for him at the moment, but very likely his staff was busy sussing out who it was. And if Machigi’s staff was faithfully in hisman’chi, they would be telling him all they dared, all they could, all they guessedc because theirwhole interest would be Machigi’s survival, no matter what.

The paidhi didn’t officiallyknow that he wasn’t safe under this roof, nor had Machigi officially told him—quite the opposite, actually—but nearly simultaneously Machigi’s staff had told hisstaff the paidhi was in danger, which was actually encouragingly good behavior on the part of his host’s household

Did Machigi know?

Possibly he had found out at about the same time Algini had handed him that note.

Just after Machigi’s staff had let him send Barb, Veijico, and that bus off cross-country.

And there wasn’t a damned thing he could do now.

The fact that the paidhi had initiated that request to get the bus out of here could, in the way of atevi subterfuges, make Machigi wonder how much the paidhi had specifically known.

But if you went on wondering who knew what in atevi politics, you could tie yourself in knots. It had been logical for him to want to clear the decks. He had asked. Machigi had agreed. More, Machigi’s staffhad agreed. He just had to sweat it out for the next few hours.

Letting house staff come and go in the apartment unsupervised right now wasn’t a great idea.

“And the phone?” he asked after his moment of silence.

“We shall arrange it with staff, Bren-ji,” Tano said, and added: “One assumes Cenedi may wish to receive the call– officially speaking.”

“One would expect that,” Bren said, “and I gathered our host has no objection to our speaking to him.” Cenedi, Ilisidi’s chief bodyguard, would at least listen in on any conversation—and might insist on taking the call himself to preserve the dowager’s distance from the situation.

“A moment, Bren-ji,” Tano said, and got up and went out to the hall.

“We shall be relying on our host’s hospitality,” Bren said, “since we have sent Veijico away.

I hope we shall manage to have some teacakes on hand today. That would be welcome. But use your own discretion, absolutely.”

“Your staff has necessarily become very well-read in recipes,” Banichi said with some humor. “Tano in particular is very good at detecting substances you would rather not eat. And we have a list we routinely clear with kitchens, where we have the opportunity. Shall we officially pass it to Lord Machigi’s staff?”

It was a nice little list of spices that wouldreliably poison a human, some fairly subtly. “Do so, at your discretion,” he said. It wasn’t as if spies over the years couldn’t have found it out.

And advising staff meant there was a record, so if something did turn up, they at least had grounds for complaint.

In a very short time Tano came back in carrying the promised phone, which he plugged in beneath a small table just inside the roomc where it would reside permanently, one hoped.

And it was time to use that phone and try to give Machigi some solid ammunition in arguments with his advisors. Bren reached for the chair arm and levered himself up. Jago got up and slipped her hand under his good arm.

“At your pace,” she said, and without the weight of the vest, movement was far easier and less painful, he was glad to know. He stood on his feet and straightened with a deep, almost unrestricted sigh.

Tano meanwhile had begun the process of connecting to Najida, which had to have clearances from the local operator, who had to consult security, who apparently immediately gave the go-ahead. Machigi’s household interface was thus far very good.

So, one was certain, was security’s finger on that line. The question was now—how many sides of the household were listening.

Tano made contact with Najida. A junior servant answered the phone at his estate and requested the dowager’s attention—a request that would ordinarily go through the major d’, Ramaso, and then through the dowager’s chief bodyguard, Cenedi, about as fast as it took a junior servant to traverse the main hall at a near run.

But the dowager’s own chief of security, in charge of the house, had pounced right on an incoming long-distance call. “Cenedi-nadi,” Tano said with no delay at all, “the paidhi-aiji wishes to speak to the aiji-dowager.”

Nowfootsteps were involved; and Tano had time to pass the handset to Bren.

He listened. Evidently Ilisidi was going to talk to him with no intermediary. That was a little unexpected—indicating Ilisidi had uncharacteristically wantedthis call. He heard the pickup on the other end.

“Nandi?” he said, a choice of address which itself ought to alert the dowager that something was odd.

“ Nand’ paidhi.” Ilisidi said quietly.

“Nand’ dowager, my respects. Lord Machigi has chosen to view my office as that of a mediator, in the ancient sense. I have acquiesced to this view and I have made certain proposals to him in your name.” God, had he! Machigi had appropriated him somewhat afterhe had done that, but the precise sequence was neither here nor there in the current. “I ask you hear all my proposals to Lord Machigi in that light, nand’ dowager.”

There was a small silence after that warning—a small silence that weighed very heavily and made him wonder whether Ilisidi might now break off contact, at least temporarily. Or hand him on to Cenedi, to be dealt with at a lower official level.

But she said, calmly and formally: “ We shall hear you, nand’ paidhi.”

He found he’d held his breath. He took another. “This is the situation, nand’ dowager. Lord Machigi’s interests are first of all linked to the Marid itself, which in his view has not prospered equally with other regions of the aishidi’tat. I have informed him that your district presents advantages in association and that you are approaching him with that in mind. He has asked further. I have pointed out to him the undeveloped fisheries and markets of the extreme East Coast, and his advantage of deepwater ships and shipping, which the Taisigin and their associates have in abundance; and I have proposed, as your representative, nand’

dowager, that you would hear suggestions for trade and development in that district of the East, using Marid shipping. He, speaking for the Taisigin Marid, maintains that the Marid was dealt with unfairly from the outset of the aishidi’tat, in the dismissal of Marid claims to the west coast and in the settlement of the Mospheiran peoples in that district without consultation with the Marid. This action, he feels, is the origin of the ongoing disputes between the aishidi’tat and the Marid as a member state. This remains a sore point, but the east coast is not without interest to Lord Machigi. Andc” Another breath. The next point was major. “One has also mentioned access to the space station, afterthe establishment of good relations. This would seem to be a logical step, in due course.”

“ Go on, nandi.”

She had not hung up, or passed him to Cenedi—so perhaps Ilisidi was at least not outraged.

He had taken wild, desperate chances.

But she had sent him without consultation. Had trusted him to use his knowledge creatively.

“I have proposed, nand’ dowager, that if you entered association with the Tasigin Marid, it might begin a pattern of remedy, first undertaking agreements for development of east coast harbors and shipping, to your benefit and to the benefit of the Marid as a whole. Second, I have officially informed Lord Machigi that you are bringing the Edi and the Gan into the aishidi’tat. I have maintained that the law of the aishidi’tat, once binding the Edi and the Gan, will assure the safety of Marid shipping on the west coast. And, felicitous third—” God, was there felicity at all in a structure of tissue and tape? “Nand’ dowager, I am about to propose that Lord Machigi seek more frequent rail and air links between Shejidan and the Marid, to carry the goods of the East up to Shejidan, once they arrive in Marid ports. This would provide economic benefits to the region, enable goods from the Eastern trade to flow up to Shejidan from Tanaja, while maintaining the traditions and culture of the Marid. The traditionalism of the Taisigin Marid is a close match with the sentiments of the east coast. It seems essential to bring a prosperity that will not damage that culture.”

There. He had gotten it all out, in decent order, sounding saner than it was. And if the dowager now called him a lunatic and burst the bubble, he was in a great deal of trouble.

Another silence followed. “ We will take all these matters under advisement, nand’ paidhi.”

He hardly expected instant agreement. He said, one last clarification, one plea for a crumb of progress: “The premise of personal association, nand’ dowager, between yourself and Lord Machigi underlies the initial section of the proposal. One would hope that exploring that, at least, is not out of reach.”

“ We have counterproposals,” Ilisidi said crisply. “ We can restrain the aishidi’tatand the Guild from proceeding against the Marid. When he can claim the same from his side, he will hold sufficient power, and we shall then be favorably disposed toward these proposals.”

Fly to the moon, that was. Control the Marid. Nobodycould control the Marid. A thousand years of history had said nobodycould control the Marid.

But in principal, she hadn’t disagreed. She hadn’t come back with the microfocused specific he’d hoped for. She’d offered Machigi a sweeping counterproposal.

Become the head of the Marid.

Then talk.

He felt numb all the way to his fingertips.

But he represented Machigi. He had to representMachigi’s interests.

“May one infer, nand’ dowager, that you will persuade your grandson to view Lord Machigi’s moves as self-defense?”

Silence for a moment.

Daredone remotely suspect she was getting all the aishidi’tat’s enemies down to one vulnerable neck?

No. It wouldn’t work like that. Machigi might dominate the others, but every district would still have its lord. Kill him, and the whole structure went back to chaos.

“We have stated our position,” Ilisidi said. “What happens within the Marid will not greatly concern us, until it has issue.”

Us. Who was us? And what was she up to? He’d honestly triedto structure a peace deal. She hadn’t repudiated what he’d done—she’d just made a counterproposal.

She’d promised the Edi a lordship and a seat in the legislature. She’d declared Machigi should take over the Marid. Not a shred of reference to her grandson. Had he somehow gotten aheadof her next step? Ilisidi was finally, after half a century, making a serious bid to dictate a solution to the old issues that had dogged the aishidi’tat from its founding—things shehad backed God knew how long ago.