The Eastern Silver Mine, Etruria It's almost daylight when an exhausted Tetia emerges from the silversmith's workshop. Although her task is completed, she senses that Mamarce wished her to stay. That there was something left unsaid between them.
Larth doesn't speak as they ride through the breaking dawn and she can't help but doze against his broad back.
The journey gives her time to think.
Pesna will be pleased with the finished pieces. They will overshadow all his other treasures and make her the envy of artists across Etruria.
But there is still the problem of Teucer. Soon she must confess that she disobeyed him. Thanks to her, his awful visions have come to life and have been immortalised in silver tiles, which the magistrate now expects him to bless.
The depths of her deception make her sad. Their lives are drifting apart.
Larth pulls the stallion to a halt. 'We're here.'
Tetia doesn't move. Her mind is on the Gates of Destiny. Already they represent the greatest thing she's created and her worst betrayal – lying, cheating and deceiving her husband when he needed her most.
'I said we're here. Now get down – I am tired and still have to ride back.'
Tetia dismounts. She is so drained – part from the work and part from her pregnancy – that her knees buckle and she falls over.
Larth glances at her. Tugs the stallion's reins, wheels round and rides off without a word.
The grass is damp but Tetia stays down. She watches as the great horse's hooves carve up the ground, turves flying in its wake. Snorts of white breath are caught against a pink sunrise, the rider bent forward in his saddle, muscular arms working hard, hair flowing.
She's still thinking about how brutal and handsome Larth is as she gets to her feet and tentatively enters the hut. She smells the fire burning in the hearth before she even sees it. Teucer is sitting cross-legged, the flames illuminating his face. His head tilts her way as she enters. His voice is soft and without any trace of anger. 'Magistrate Pesna asks too much of my wife. You have been gone so long, I was growing worried.'
Tetia stops moving and looks pitifully at him; she's going to have to lie again. 'I am sorry, he had me make some things while I was there. A sort of test, I think.'
Teucer doesn't want a row; he tries to sound interested rather than annoyed. 'What kind of things?'
'Oh, nothing grand. Just small objects. Then he had me work with his silversmith and the old man changed everything I'd done, so I can't even describe what the things looked like when he'd finished.'
Teucer senses the tension in her voice. 'Well, I hope Pesna is as generous with his rewards as he is greedy with his demands on your time.'
She looks for a jug of water. 'I hope so, too. Teucer, I am bone-weary and our child kicks me like a mule – can we please not speak of the magistrate any more.'
He feels hurt. He's waited for what seems an eternity and now dreads that she'll be cross with him. 'As you wish.'
A thought strikes her. 'How did you know it was me coming in?'
He laughs lightly. 'I recognise your sounds now. Your steps are short but your breathing long. My father's feet make thunder – and he groans because of his knees.'
Tetia laughs. For a moment things are as they were: two lovers amused by things that only they understand.
'And my mother, she shuffles quickly like a small dog trying to bite its tail. As for old Larthuza – you cannot hear his feet because he mumbles constantly like a mountain stream.'
She finds the jug. 'So, even in the darkness you are learning a new way to see.'
'More than you might imagine. Come lie with me.'
'I'm just getting water. Would you like some?'
'No, I am fine.' He listens to the glug of the jug as his wife takes several thirsty swallows.
Tetia's lips are still cold and wet when she tiptoes lightly across the room to kiss his cheek. The gentle shock makes him smile, and for a moment that makes her happy too. 'I'm sorry I was so long. Really I am. How are you feeling?'
He puts his hand up to touch her hair. 'The pain has all but gone, yet still I am afraid. Later this morning Pesna will come and my bandages will be removed. What if I am for ever blind?'
She puts an arm around him. 'Larthuza says your sight might take much longer to return.'
'And if it doesn't?'
'Then we will manage. I know we will.'
'Pesna will want another netsvis. It is understandable. The best we can hope for is that he will let me live and both you and I will be able to leave.'
Tetia takes a deep breath. It is time to tell him the truth.
Or at least some of it.
But no sooner is a confession on her lips than she realises that if Teucer should remain blind, then her troubles are over. He will never see what it is she has made for Pesna, and never realise what he's being asked to bless at the temple. Even more importantly, he'll never be able to hurt the child inside her.