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She asks whether I’ve been offered a position. I tell her I have.

“Congratulations.”

The word makes me stand a little straighter. Since Hadrin ran, most people who know about my work have spoken as if I should be grateful they still let me near a bargain.

“I haven’t accepted.”

“You can be pleased they asked.”

I carry that back with me through the forest. By the time I reach the Heartwood, I can think about the job without immediately reaching for a reason to refuse it.

I can also admit that I want to see Daurek more than I want to answer another letter tonight.

After dinner, I ask him to take the longer way to my room.

He looks toward the eastern stairs. Then he offers his arm and leads me through the garden arch instead.

The pool is empty of children. Small lights shine beneath the hedge, showing where the path curves around the water. Beyond them, the upper branches are still bright with the last of the evening.

“I wrote to Karath,” I say.

Daurek keeps walking at my pace.

“To accept?”

“To ask about the work.”

“Did the letter leave today?”

“Tomorrow.”

He nods. I wait for a question about when I’ll decide. He stops beside the bench under the trellis and brushes a fallen twig from the seat.

“You can tell me you dislike it,” I say.

“I told you yesterday. I don’t want to repeat it every time you mention the offer.”

I sit. “You’d probably get tired of saying it.”

“I doubt that.”

I laugh, and he sits beside me.

For a while we watch the water. A moth circles one of the lights, lands on the stone edging, and folds its wings. I can hear someone shutting the garden windows behind the hedge.

“I liked being asked,” I admit. “Even knowing why Surevai is paying.”

“You should.”

“I thought you might tell me I could do that work here.”

“Would you like me to?”

“No. I’d start comparing the jobs, and I don’t want to spend this evening deciding which of you gets the better bargain.”

“Neither do I.”

“There’s something else,” I say. “Are you still sending the cancellation through?”