Page 6

“Then correct the record.”

“That requires council approval. Until the council rules, the market treats a returned bride as someone in a disputed sale. The registrar would have her confined.”

Vai rubs her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Locked in the rooms behind the auction yard?” she asks.

Neimura hesitates.

“Answer her,” I say.

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Until the dispute is settled.”

Her attention moves to the road. She shifts her weight toward it, then back again. The rain has softened the ground around one boot.

I step aside, giving her a clear way beneath the canopy.

“Come out of the rain.”

“I heard what you said.”

“So did I. I shouldn’t have said it that way.”

She remains where she is.

The branches can cover another pace of road. I could bring the shelter to her, and nearly do. But she is looking at me, waiting for an answer to what I said.

“You won’t be sent to the holding rooms,” I say. “You can stay here while we arrange a safe return.”

She looks at Neimura. “You knew.”

“Yes.”

“You knew he hadn’t agreed. You knew I couldn’t just turn around when I found out.”

“I expected him to accept the arrangement.”

“For three days you let me think he wanted me here.”

Her voice breaks on the last word. She presses her lips together and looks away from both of us.

I turn on Neimura. He brought her through three days of rain and let her expect a welcome at the end of it. He has been beside me through sieges. He knows I won’t abandon someone who came here trusting my word. He let her believe I had asked for this marriage.

“Give me the seal.”

He unfastens it from his belt. I take it before he can offer an explanation.

“For forty years,” I say, “you’ve carried this because I trusted you.”

“I understood the risk.”

“You took it with her life.”

A thorn tears through the bark beside my thumb. Neimura lowers his gaze to it, but I keep the seal between us until he looks at me again.