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“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m looking forward to not being married to you,” Kadou said with a grin, and Evemer must have blushed because Kadou laughed, too.
“Go to bed,” he grumbled.
Tadek brought the news in with breakfast and the rest of Kadou’s mail. He was still dressed in the green armsman’s uniform, the colors of Sirya. “Message from the gates came in last night around midnight,” he said. “The flying squad . . . well, flew.”
Kadou set his coffee cup down with a clatter. “Which gate was it?”
“South. I’d wager they’re heading down the coast road to grab a ship out of Nadirintepe.”
Kadou exhaled. “Right. No need to keep our own harbor closed, then. Paper and ink, please? I’ll draft the order right away.”
Tadek smirked and brought them out from under the table, already ready. “Thought you might say that.”
Kadou scrawled out the orders, sealed them, and called for a cadet to run the message out to the Copper Court and thence down to the harbor.
“So,” Tadek said neutrally. “Couldn’t help but notice Evemer slept in your room last night.”
Kadou occupied himself with pouring another cup of coffee. “Yes. I didn’t feel comfortable, and he was kind enough to sleep on the divan. New place, you know. New sounds at night. The overwhelming memory of that time I was nearly kidnapped, and then the other overwhelming memory of the time I actuallywaskidnapped . . .”
“Oh, of course,” Tadek said. “That’s a pretty good line. Solid, plausible, just a sprinkling of passive-aggression to make your audience feel guilty for even asking. Everything you’d want in a cover story, really. Nice.”
Kadou, aware that he was stealing a trick from Evemer and that it was probably blindingly obvious, very pointedly said nothing.
“Look,” Tadek said, a glass-sharp edge of frustration coming into his voice. “I don’tcare. All right, I do a bit, but I’m working on it and that’s my problem. By the way, you need to give me a day off, I’ve got some business down in the city to take care of. That’s not the point. Point is, you can do whatever the hell you want, and you don’t owe me shit.”
“Home and hearth,” Kadou said.
“Fuckhome and hearth. I’m talking to you as your friend Tadek right now, not your armsman. Don’t give me any of that ethical bullshit. I just . . .” He stopped, clearly biting back words. “I don’t care aboutthat. The thing I do care about is being lied to.”
“Sounds like some of that ‘ethical bullshit’ to me.”
“Kadou,” Tadek said, leaning forward on the table. “The thing that’s driving me crazy right now isn’t the fact that it’s happening, it’s the fact that I don’t know for sure whether it is. If you don’t want to tell me, fine. Do what Evemer does: tell me it’s none of my business and douse me under a water pump.That’sa fair and reasonable way to handle it.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. I like that a lot more than I like you looking demurely down into your coffee and murmuring the same sort of bullshit excuse you’re going to give anyone else whenever they get around to asking. You can tell me to fuck off all you want, or you can tell me what’s going on. Butdon’tlie.”
“Fine.” Kadou set aside his coffee so that he could not be accused of looking demurely into it. “There’s . . . a thing.”
Tadek let out a long breath. “Right. All right. Thank you.”
“It’s not—” Kadou gritted out. “It was never about replacing you, or—”
Tadek held up a hand. “You don’t have to tell me anything else. It’s none of my business, is it? You can do as you please.”
“It’s complicated. It’s not even really happening. I can’t talk about it. It’s sort of happening. You don’t want to know about this. I don’t know if it’s happening either, come to think about it. It both is and isn’t happening. And yes, it’s driving me crazy too.” He stopped, suddenly aware that he was babbling. Grabbed his cup again, took a fortifying gulp. “You’re in charge of my calendar,” he said wildly. “I’ll give you as many days off as you want if you can find me a free afternoon.”
Tadek said, slow and suspicious, “What for?”
“There’s something I need to do at the temple, and I really,reallycan’t tell you anything more.”
Tadek mulled this over. “Does this have anything to do with Evemer being a secret prince?”
“Since you mention him, whereisEvemer? There’s no water pump around here, will it work if he dunks you in a fountain?”
“I feel like I’m this close,” Tadek muttered to himself. “I’ve almost got it. It’s on the tip of my tongue.”
“Leave it alone. Do you want your day off or not?”
