Adrah scowled.
"How would I do that? We hired men to free him, take him away, and kill
him. They took him away, and his body floated hack down the river. But I
wasn't there, I didn't strangle him myself. I can't keep these men from
knowing who's paid their fee and also be there to hold their hands,
Idaan. You know that."
Idaan put her hands to her mouth. Her fingers were shaking. It was a
dream. It was a sick dream, and she would wake from it. She would wake
up, and none of it would have been true.
"He's used us," she said. "Otah's used us to do his work."
"What?"
"Look at it! We've done everything for him. We've killed them all. Even
... even my father. We've done everything he would have needed to do. He
knew. He knew from the start. He's planned for everything we've done."
Adrah made an impatient sound at the back of his throat.
"You're imagining things," he said. "He can't have known what we were
doing, or how we would do it. He isn't a god, and he isn't a ghost."
"You're sure of that, are you? We've fallen into his trap, Adrah! It's a
trap!"
"It is a rumor started by Cehmai'Iyan. Or maybe it's Maati Vaupathai
who's set you a trap. He could suspect us and say these things to make
us panic. Or Cehmai could."
"He wouldn't do that," Idaan said. "(:ehmai wouldn't do that toto us."
"TO you, you mean," Adrah said, pulling the words out slow and bitter.
Idaan stopped her pacing and took a pose of query, her gaze locked on
Adrah's. As much challenge as question. Adrah leaned hack in his chair,
the wood creaking tinder his weight.
"He's your lover, isn't he?" Adrah said. "This limp story about wanting
to offer condolences and being willing to back my claim only if he could
see you, could speak with you. And you sending me away like I was a
puppy you'd finished playing with. Do you think I'm dim, Idaan?"
Her throat closed, and she coughed to loosen it, only the cough didn't
end. It became laughter, and it shook her the way a dog might shake a
rat. It was nothing about mirth, everything about violence. Adrah's face
went red, and then white.
"This?" Idaan finally managed to stammer. "This is what we're going to
argue about?"
"Is there something else you'd prefer?"
"You're about to live a life filled with women who aren't me. You and
your father must have a list drawn up of allies we can make by taking
their daughters for wives. You have no right to accuse me of anything."
"That was your choice," he said. "We agreed when we started this ...
this landslide. It would he the two of us, together, no matter if we won
this or lost."
"And how long would that have lasted after you took my father's place?"
she asked. "Who would I appeal to when you broke your word?"
Adrah rose to his feet, stepping toward her. His hand open flat, pointed
toward her like a knife.
"That isn't fair to me. You never gave me the chance to fail you. You