'I wouldn't be so stupid. It's just a fact, and everyhar knows it.'

'Calanthe: champion of the underdog. It's a good image; as good as mine, I suppose, though just as rhetorical.'

Cal sighed through his nose. 'You are exhausting.' He pushed his plate away from him. 'Dinner was good. We eat like kings, while in other places...'

'Shut up. I don't want to hear it.'

'I know. Not many do.'

'I'll give you five years at most before you get totally disillusioned and just sit back to enjoy the good food. Don't you realise what Tigron and Tigrina are? Carnival attractions. We're not supposed to have opinions or do anything.'

'That's not true. Pell does a lot.'

'Five years, that's all,' Caeru said.

'I'll prove you wrong.' Cal stood up. 'Thanks for dinner.'

'Don't thank me. I didn't invite you.'

Cal began to leave the terrace, and for several seconds, Caeru debated what to do next. It might be better just to let Cal go, but then there would be Velaxis' scorn to deal with.

'Wait a moment,' Caeru said.

Cal paused. 'Yes?'

Caeru took a deep breath, and hoped it didn't show. 'Where are you going?'

'Back to my apartment to gloat over my useless plans.'

'You don't have to leave.'

Cal frowned. 'But I thought...'

Caeru stood up. 'Look, if you really want us to be friends, we could go out tonight. I'm bored. I want to visit the high waterfront. There's a club there, called 'Serpent Sapphire'. It's a rich har's play pen. Had good reports. I want to see it.'

Cal hesitated. 'Hmm. Why do you want to go with me?'

Caeru made a careless gesture with one arm. 'I enjoy our fights. I'm in the mood to socialise. Do I need another reason?'

'I'm not sure.'

'How brave are you? Will you do it?'

'I don't know...' Cal rubbed the back of his neck. What would it take to persuade him?

'Of course, it might embarra.s.s you to be seen in public with me.'

'It's not that.'

'Then what?'

'I can't help suspecting this might just be a ploy to get at Pell, but then I'm unusually paranoid.'

Caeru laughed. 'Why should he care? I'm less than dirt to him. He knows I can't affect his life, or anything in it, one little bit. This is nothing to do with him. I just want to go out. Be Tigron in this sense: escort me.'

Cal nodded, a little distractedly. 'All right.'

'Sit here. Wait. I'll get ready.'

Caeru rushed to his dressing room and spent a frantic ten minutes deciding what to wear. He eventually settled on an understated appearance: simple trousers and shirt of matt black silk. He smoothed down his hair and cleaned his face of any cosmetics. Tonight, he did not want to be a pretty bauble. He wanted Cal to see him differently.

When he finally reappeared on the terrace, Cal said, 'I see. We are incognito. Now who's embarra.s.sed to be seen with whom?'

'Sometimes, there is power in being natural,' Caeru said. 'Tonight I am me rather than Tigrina. Don't you know about that yet?'

'I know about masks,' Cal said.

They walked through the palace to the covered stable yard, which was surrounded on all sides by high columned galleries. Fortunately, these had not been too damaged by the earthquakes that had shaken the city when Cal had first arrived. Caeru asked that an open carriage be made ready for them. A ride through the balmy evening air would be pleasant. They would hear the purr of the sea and smell the flowers that hung heavily from the trees along the Processional Way. They could survey what was left of the ruins caused by Cal's elemental fight with Thiede.

From the moment they sat down in the carriage, Caeru knew that a different kind of tension had arisen between them. Cal wasn't stupid. He knew all the games. He might be wondering which one Caeru was playing.

'Serpent Sapphire' was situated on that part of the harbour frequented by the high-ranking families who lived on Immanion's fabled hills. It was surrounded by exclusive bazaars, which stayed open into the night and sold unusual items from around the world. The club itself was fronted by floor-to-ceiling window doors, which were all thrown wide, so that patrons could sit there to smell the sea and listen to the waves. An awning, from which ornamental serpents dangled, extended over the walkway outside. Beyond the first bar was a series of dim lit rooms, with different snaky themes. There was no sign of damage to the building, so repairs must have been undertaken very quickly. Although it was relatively early in the evening, several parties were already sitting at the tables in the bar, presumably having dined there on snake meat.

This was a club where the high society of Immanion met to dance, get drunk and behave disgracefully in relative privacy. Exotic hara from the most obscure tribes around the world acted as valets and escorts. The club's proprietors had delved deep into the darkest corners to find the most unusual hara, whose skins and hair were strange colours, or who were physically abnormal to some degree. In the wake of the initial great inception, many isolated tribes had developed in peculiar ways, which were often influenced by questionable magical practices that had soaked them in strange subtle energies. Such energies caused interesting mutations.

The first group of socialising hara Caeru noticed included the General of the Gelaming military forces, Ashmael Aldebaran, who was also a member of the Hegemony and a close confidant of Pellaz. Caeru knew that Ashmael had already accepted Cal completely, which Caeru had taken personally and found extremely insulting. Never once had General Aldebaran shown any support for the Tigrina. He'd made no public statement, but everyhar knew he shared Pell's view that Caeru was a scheming and manipulative adventurer. Therefore, it was hardly surprising that when Ashmael caught sight of Caeru and Cal together, his expression was eloquent in the extreme. He appeared shocked and puzzled but also intrigued.

'Oh look, a friend of yours,' Caeru said. 'Would you like to join him?'

Cal groaned in what Caeru supposed was a kind of mild despair and said, 'Do we have a choice? Won't it look odd if we don't?'

'Let's see,' Caeru replied. 'What would appear worse? Should we sit alone at a table, with the obvious implications, or join a party who are eager to discover why you, Pell's soul mate, are out on the town with me, the dark stain in Pell's life?'

'Did you plan this?'

'No. I would never plan to be in the same room as Ashmael Aldebaran.'

Even as they were speaking, Ashmael beckoned them over. He would be considering the fact that it could be no coincidence Cal and Caeru were out together while Pellaz was away from the city. This would not be happening otherwise. Caeru could sense Cal's discomfort. He knew Cal felt he was being disloyal to Pellaz and also that he couldn't understand why he should feel that way. A small part of him resented it too. Caeru moved to take hold of Cal's arm, but Cal jerked away before he could make contact.

'Relax,' Caeru said to Cal. 'You have to get used to this. I'm Tigrina, remember, and you are Tigron. We are supposed to be seen together.'

'I remember,' Cal muttered. This had never been part of his vision of reunion with Pellaz.

A har with pearly-scaled skin swooped to Caeru's side, clearly having recognised him immediately. He stared at Cal askance and asked how he might be of service. Caeru said they would like to be conducted to General Aldebaran's party, and then ordered the most expensive liquor the premises could offer. No mention of currency was made, but Caeru knew that later an outrageous bill would be sent to Phaonica, to be handled by the Tigron's office.

As they approached Ashmael's table, the general stood up, but this could hardly have been a gesture of respect. There was a hard edge to his voice as he uttered a greeting. He gave Caeru a particularly chilling glance. 'It isn't often we see the Tigrina out in the city at night,' he said.

'It isn't often I get the chance,' Caeru responded, more from instinct than sense. He generally avoided Pell's friends, who all frequented establishments of this type.

'Now you have an escort,' Ashmael said. 'How charming and convenient. You must be delighted. Are you fulfilling the role adequately, Cal?'

Cal directed a single dark glance at Ashmael and sat down. Caeru realised that if Ashmael continued to snipe in this manner, Cal would be lost to him by the end of the evening. 'I thought Cal should see more of what his colleagues get up to when they're playing,' Caeru said. 'If I hadn't persuaded him to come here, he'd have been working on his own all night.'

'Can't have that,' Ashmael said, raising his gla.s.s.

Cal ducked his head. 'I was forced into it.'

'You don't say!' Ashmael said, grinning.

Everyhar in the club was discretely observing Ashmael's table. By morning, the scandal of Cal daring to escort the Tigrina to a club would be all over Immanion.

Music pulsed out into the perfect Almagabran evening, spilling out of the open shutters along with sensual perfume that had been scalded by the hot dancing bodies. Cal appeared to enter into the spirit of the evening. He drank, though not to excess, and danced a few times, but Caeru could feel his wariness, an animal instinct that was teetering towards the imperative to flee. He hadn't come this far, nor gone through so much, to risk offending Pellaz.

In a way, we are married, Caeru thought, and that is bizarre. He thinks so too. I know he does.

After midnight, more hara came to the club, expanding its clientele to the point where it was no longer comfortable. It was impossible to talk, because the music was so loud. Caeru realised he could achieve nothing more in this place. He yelled into Cal's ear: 'I want to leave now. Do you want to stay or will you come back to Phaonica with me?'

'I'll come with you,' Cal said, on his feet before he'd finished speaking.

They sat in silence in the carriage, while Caeru paid more attention than was necessary to the pa.s.sing sights. This hadn't quite worked out how he'd planned, but then, how had he planned it anyway? He sighed. 'This hasn't worked, has it?'

Cal stared at him unflinchingly. 'What were you expecting?'

'I don't know. Something new. Is he always going to be at your shoulder? If so, that's a shame. I dared to think we might be friends, given all the effort you've put into charming me. It was an act, wasn't it? You never thought you'd reach me. Now I'm being nice and you're running scared.'

Cal raised his hands. 'Your feud with Pell is big and it had been going on for a long time before I got here. Don't try to involve me in it.'

'But you are involved. You're here. Didn't you take magical training or something to transform yourself into a good har? If you want the job of Tigron, you have to take all of it on. You have to take me on, because I won't let you do otherwise.'

Cal rubbed at his face. 'Back off, Rue. You've had your fun.'

Caeru relented. 'I'm sorry. I really am. I wanted this to be different, but I can't help going for the jugular. I hope you understand why.'

'Yeah.'

The carriage ascended the curving driveway to the palace. Mellow lights gleamed out from a hundred windows. 'Your home,' Caeru said. 'Isn't it beautiful?'

'You are astounding,' Cal said. 'You could have just said, "don't set foot in my apartment again". Believe it or not, that would have worked. You didn't need to go to all this bother.'

'Strangely enough, that was not my intention.'

Cal grimaced. 'Pell's not wrong about you.'

Caeru laughed. 'Thanks. I said I was sorry. Come and have a nightcap.'

'No.'

'Please.' Caeru stared into Cal's eyes, searching for some spark, some glimmer of complicity. 'I took your place. You took mine. Somehow, we have to let that go. Both of us.'

Cal sighed deeply. 'All right. We'll talk. But the minute you start yapping like a b.i.t.c.h, I'm out of there.'

Caeru's staff had thoughtfully lit a fire in his sitting-room, because the evening warmth had slipped away to chill. A decanter of brandy and two gla.s.ses stood waiting on a table. Caeru detected Velaxis' hand in that. He poured himself a gla.s.s and drank it quickly while Cal was still padding around trying to find a comfortable place to sit.

'Brandy?' Caeru asked, offering Cal a gla.s.s. 'The best, imported from Thaine.'

Cal shifted in his seat, took the gla.s.s and sniffed it. 'Reminds me of Saltrock.'

'Once the home of your erstwhile friend, Seel, of course,' Caeru said. 'Another of my great admirers. And yours too, now, from what I've heard.'

Cal cast him a glance and Caeru raised a hand, 'Sorry, I promised, I know. I'll not say anything.'

'It's in your blood.'

'No it's not. It's in my mouth. I can't stop myself.'

Cal laughed, an unexpected sound. 'This is insane.'

Caeru walked behind Cal's chair and watched the back of his head as he drank. 'I'm not always like this. It's you. It's fear, maybe, or something...'

Cal glanced round at him. 'I'm not always like this either. Usually, I could take you out with a single well-aimed word.'

'So, here we are, tongue-tied, spitting out inappropriate knots.'

'Too much alike, maybe...'

'They say Pell seduced me initially because I looked a little like you. Not that I do, of course. It's just the hair, but, who knows?'

Cal grinned. 'You will never be as wondrous as me, Rue.'

'I know that.'

'Aha, a concession! One point to me.'

Caeru smiled, and leaned forward. He didn't mean to do it, but somehow he was compelled to put his mouth against Cal's own. He felt the sudden sigh of breath, saw a vague flurry of images. He could feel how Cal's neck pained him, twisted as it was, and saw how he had been waiting for this to happen all night, from the moment he'd agreed to go to the club. Underneath the sparring, all the time, had been this. Cal didn't pull away for a good half minute.

'Rue, no...'

Caeru ran his fingers through Cal's hair. 'Why not?'

'It's not a good idea. You know it isn't.'

'What are you afraid of? Didn't Pell once say to you that all he owned was yours? He did say that, didn't he?'

'He didn't mean this. He didn't mean you scheming to get me while he was away, so you could act out your own private vengeance plan. If you are mine and I am yours, then Pell should be part of it too.'

'I cannot imagine a greater abomination.'

'I'm sure you can.'