won't be any question who's actually done the thing. No sane person
would doubt that it was Otah's hand. And when Danat rides out to find
him, our men will be ready to ride with him. That will be the dangerous
part. You'll have to find a way to get him apart from anyone else who goes.
"And the upstart?" Daaya asked.
"He'll go where we tell him to go. We'll just have saved him, after all.
't'here will be no reason to think we mean him harm. They'll all be dead
in time for the wedding, and if we do it well, the joy that is our
bonding will put us as the clear favorites to take the chair. That
should be enough to push the Galts into action. Adrah will be Khai
before the harvest."
Idaan leaned hack, smiling in grim satisfaction. It was Adrah who broke
the silence, his voice calm and sure and unlike him.
"It won't work."
Idaan began to take a pose of challenge, but she hesitated when she saw
his eyes. Adrah had gone cold as winter. It wasn't fear that drove him,
whatever his father's weakness. There was something else in him, and
Idaan felt a stirring of unease.
"I can't sec why not," Idaan said, her voice still strong and sure.
"Killing the poet and freeing Otah would be simple enough to manage. But
the other. No. It supposes that Danat would lead the hunt himself. He
wouldn't. And if he doesn't, the whole thing falls apart. It won't work."
"I say that he would," Idaan said.
"And I say that your history planning these schemes isn't one that
inspires confidence," Adrah said and stood. The candlelight caught his
face at an angle, casting shadows across his eyes. Idaan rose, feeling
the blood rushing into her face.
"I was the one who saved us when Oshai fell," she said. "You two were
mewling like kittens, and crying despair-"
"That's enough," Adrah said.
"I don't recall you being in a position to order me when to speak and
when to he silent."
Daaya coughed, looking from one to the other of them like a lamb caught
between wolf and lion. The smile that touched Adrah's mouth was thin and
unamused.
"Idaan-kya," Adrah said, "I am to be your husband and the Khai of this
city. Sit with that. Your plan to free Oshai failed. Do you understand
that? It failed. It lost us the support of our hackers, it killed the
man most effective in carrying out these unfortunate duties we've taken
on, and it exposed me and my father to risk. You failed before, and this
scheme you've put before us now would also fail if we did as you propose.
Adrah began to pace slowly, one hand brushing the hanging tapestries.
Idaan shook her head, remembering some epic she'd seen when she was
young. A performer in the role of Black Chaos had moved as Adrah moved
now. Idaan felt her heart grow tight.
"It isn't that it's without merit-the shape of it generally is useful,
but the specifics are wrong. If Danat is to grab what men he can find
and rush out into the night, it can't be because he's off to avenge a
poet. He would have to be possessed by some greater passion. And it