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There. Romantic enough.
Lady Wexyn smiled. “We’ll need a blanket.”
One of the inn’s tendrils snapped out of solid rock and hung a blanket on the tree branch. Kosandion offered his arm to Lady Wexyn. She rested her fingers on it, and they strolled down the staircase to the beach. Sean and I waited at the top of the staircase, giving them a little distance.
“Do you wish to tell me about your life in the Temple of Desire?” Kosandion asked.
Lady Wexyn took the blanket off the tree and spread it over the pebbles. “Sit with me, Letero.”
“Very well.”
They sat side by side.
“Are you tired?” she asked.
A hint of fatigue slipped through Kosandion’s mask. “It’s been a long day.”
“It has. Does this hour belong to me?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Then we don’t have to talk, Letero.” She smiled a serene, easy smile. “We can just sit here and watch the waves.”
I had the inn pull a couple of firm outdoor cushions out of storage and quietly slid them over to the couple. Lady Wexyn winked at me, moved her cushion closer, and leaned back against it.
For several seconds Kosandion sat next to her, unmoving, and then some of the rigid tension drained from his spine. He reached for his cushion, adjusted it to his liking, rested his arm on it, and let his gaze drift out over the water.
Sean and I were near the top of the staircase, with Kosandion and Lady Wexyn about thirty yards in front of us and fifty feet below. Going down there would be intruding, but letting the Sovereign out of my sight wasn’t an option.
A section of the rock slid out of the sheer wall, forming a small natural terrace to the right of us. A chunk of it curved, flowing into a smooth stone bench. I glanced at Sean.
“He’s safe,” he told me.
“What makes you think that?”
“Trust me. We can keep an eye on them from here.”
Standing on top of this staircase staring down at them felt stupid, and I was so wiped out. Besides, he said the magic words. I did trust him.
I landed on the bench. Sean sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him. He was warm. It felt so nice.
“Tired?” he asked.
“Exhausted. You and I can’t go on dates anymore.”
“Why?”
“Date is a dirty word.”
He smiled. “That bad, huh?”
“Yes.” I snuggled closer to him. “All of them were bad, but Prysen Ol and Amphie were the worst. He kept going on and on about obscure philosophical and ethical issues. I almost fell asleep standing up. She talked for the entire hour, super intense and tiresome, and then tried to bribe me on the way back to her quarters. At least Oond’s dance was pretty.”
Although a whole hour of jazz fins was really too much.
Sean’s body tensed. “Bribe you with what?”
“Unspecified favors which she would provide when she became the spouse. She wasn’t really clear on that part, but she did threaten to blacklist us if I didn’t go along.”
Sean cracked a smile.
“When you smile like that, you look like you’re plotting murder.”
“Not always.”
“What’s the deal with Surkar?”
“He’s being strategic. They were in it to win it. He knows he’s done, so he’s cutting his losses.”
“Why? They won’t get anything now. They’ll leave empty handed.”
Sean stroked my shoulder with his fingers. “So will Dagorkun.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Surkar and his people must have had a plan. The spouse-thing fit into it somehow, and whatever that plan is, they really don’t want the Khan or the Khanum to know about it. Dagorkun is smart. He doesn’t need much to put things together. Disclosing their minor ask might give away their hand, so Surkar would rather keep his mouth shut and go home with nothing.”
Huh. I gave Surkar too little credit. It was a smart move. Dagorkun was free to suspect as much as he wanted, but without evidence, he could prove nothing.
“Do you think there will be a civil war within the Horde?”
“It will never get that far,” Sean said. “Judging by their history, the Horde will find a new enemy soon, someone dangerous and vicious. And then Surkar and his tribe might find themselves on the front lines. Nobody wants to admit it, but part of the reason the Nexus war lasted so long was because the Horde needed a meat grinder. Their numbers are growing faster than they can manage. Nexus thinned those numbers and hardened the survivors.”
“But the Khanum was desperate to end it.”
“The Khan and the Khanum are not the only voices the Horde listens to. There are a multitude of tribes, the elders, the shamans, the bureaucrats, the honored generals who had distinguished themselves… Many of them saw Nexus as the necessary evil.”
He fell silent. There were a lot of dark memories there.
On the beach, Kosandion lay on his back, rested his head on Lady Wexyn’s thigh, and closed his eyes. The ocean lapped at the pebbles with a soft whisper.
