"No," she said quickly. "I really like talking to you."

Then I do not understand.

"Everyone else is afraid of you," Siri said. "Because of how powerful you are."

But they took away my tongue to make me safe.

"It's not your Breath that scares them," Siri said. "It's your power over armies and people. You're the G.o.d King. You could order anyone in the kingdom killed."

But why would I do that? he wrote. I would not kill a good person. They must know that.

Siri sat back, resting on the plush bed, fire crackling in the hearth behind them. "I know that, now," she said. "But n.o.body else does. They don't know you, but they know how powerful you are. So they fear you. And so they show their respect for you."

He paused. And so, you do not respect me?

"Of course I do," she said, sighing. "I've just never been very good at following rules. In fact, if someone tells me what to do, I usually want to do the opposite."

That is very strange, he wrote. I thought all people did what they were told.

"I think you'll find that most do not," she said, smiling.

That will get you into trouble.

"Is that what the priests taught you?"

He shook his head, then he reached over and took out his book. The book of stories for children. He brought it with him always, and she could see from his reverent touch that he valued it greatly.

It's probably his only real possession, she thought. Everything else is taken from him every day, then replaced the next morning.

This book, he wrote. My mother read the stories to me when I was a child. I memorized them all, before she was taken away. It speaks of many children who do not do as they are told. They are often eaten by monsters.

"Oh are they?" Siri said, smiling.

Do not be afraid, he wrote. My mother taught me that the monsters are not real. But I remember the lessons the stories taught. Obediance is good. You should treat people well. Do not go into the jungle by yourself. Do not lie. Do not hurt others.

Siri's smile deepened. All of the learning in his life, he'd either received from moralistic folk tales or from priests who were teaching him to be a figurehead. Once she realized that, the honest, uncomplicated man that he had become was not so difficult to understand.

Yet what had prompted him to break that learning and ask her to teach him? Why was he was willing to keep his learning secret from the men he had been taught all of his life to obey and trust? He was not so innocent as he appeared.

"These stories," she said. "Your desire to treat people well. Is that what kept you from... taking me on any of those nights when I first came into the room?"

From taking you? I do not understand.

Siri blushed, hair turning red to match. "I mean... why did you just sit there?"

Because I did not know what else to do, he said. I knew that we need to have a child. So I sat and waited for it to happen. We must be doing something wrong, for no child has come.

Siri paused, then blinked. He couldn't possibly... "You don't know how to have children?"

In the stories, he wrote, a man and a woman spend the night together. Then they have a child. We spent many nights together, and there were no children.

"And n.o.body-none of your priests-explained the process to you?"

No. What process do you mean?

She sat for a moment. No, she thought, feeling her blush deepen. I am not going to have that conversation with him. "I think we'll talk about it another time."

It was a very strange experiance when you came into the room that first night, he wrote. I must admit, I was very scared of you.

Siri smiled as she remembered her own terror. It hadn't even occurred to her that he would be frightened. Why would it have? He was the G.o.d King.

"So," she said, tapping the bedspread with one finger, "you were never taken to other women?"

No, he wrote. I did find it very interesting to see you naked.

She flushed again, though her hair had long decided to just stay red. "That's not what we're talking about right now," she said. "I want to know about other women. No mistresses? No concubines?"

No.

"They really are scared of you having a child."

Why say that? he wrote. They sent you to me.

"Only after fifty years of rule," she said. "And only under very controlled circ.u.mstances, with the proper linage to make a child with the right bloodline. Bluefingers thinks that child might be a danger to us."

I do not understand why, he wrote. This is what everyone wants. There must be an heir.

"Why?" Siri said. "You still look like you're barely two decades old. You don't seem to be aging very quickly because of your BioChroma."

Without an heir, the kingdom is in danger. Should I be killed, there will be n.o.body to rule.

"And that wasn't a danger for the last fifty years?"

He paused, frowning, then slowly erased his board.

"They must think that you're in danger now," she said slowly. "But not from sickness-even I know that Returned don't suffer from diseases. In fact, do they even age at all?"

I don't think so, the G.o.d King wrote.

"How did the other G.o.d Kings die?"

There have only been four, he wrote. I do not know how they died for certain.

"Only four kings in several hundred years, dead of mysterious circ.u.mstances..."

My father died before I was old enough to remember him, Susebron wrote. I was told he gave his life for the kingdom-that he released his BioChromatic Breath, like all Returned can, to cure a terrible disease. Regular Returned can only cure one person. A G.o.d King, however, can cure many. That is what I was told.

"There must be a record of that then," she said. "Somewhere in those books the priests have guarded up so tightly."

I am sorry that they would not let you read them, he wrote.

She waved an indifferent hand. "It was a long shot. I'll need to find another way to get at those histories." Having a child is the danger, she thought. That's what Bluefingers said. So... whatever threat there is to my life, it will only come after there is an heir.

Bluefingers mentioned a threat to the G.o.d King too. That almost makes it sound like the danger comes from the priests themselves. What reason would they have to want to harm their own G.o.d?

She glanced at Susebron, who was flipping intently through his book of stories. She smiled at the look of concentration on his face as he deciphered the text.

Well, she thought, considering what he knows of s.e.x, I'd say that we don't have to worry much about having a child in the near future.

Of course, she was growing more and more worried that the lack of a child would prove just as dangerous as the presence of one.

Chapter Twenty-Five.

Vivenna went among the people of T'Telir and couldn't help feeling that every one of them recognized her.

She fought that feeling down. It was a miracle that Thame-who had come from her own home city-had recognized her. Even if the people around her would have no way of connecting Vivenna to the rumors, particularly considering her clothing.

Immodest reds and yellows layered one atop another on her dress. The garment had been the only one that Parlin and Tonk Fah had been able to find that met her stringent requirements for neckline and hem. The tube-like in dress was after a foreign cut, from across the Inner Sea. It came down almost to her ankles, and though it was exposingly tight through the bust, the cloth covered her almost up to the neck, and had full sleeves.

Rebelliously, she did find herself shooting glances at the other women in their loose, short skirts and sleeveless tops. That much skin was scandalous, but with the blazing sun and the cursed lowland humidity, she could see why they did it.

After a month in the city, she also beginning to get the hang of moving with the flow of traffic. She still wasn't sure she wanted to be out. But, Denth had been persuasive.

"You know the worst thing that can happen to a bodyguard?" he had asked. "Letting your charge get killed when you aren't even there. We have a small team, Princess. We can either divide and leave you behind with one guard or you can come with us. Personally, I'd like too keep you where I can keep an eye on you."

And so she'd come. Dressed in one of her new gowns, hair turned an uncomfortable-yet un-Idrian-yellow, and left loose, blowing behind her. She walked around the square, as if out on a stroll, moving so that she wouldn't look nervous. The location was a city garden square. The people of T'Telir liked gardens-they had all kinds of them all over the city. In fact, from what Vivenna had seen, most of the city practically was a garden. Palms and ferns grew on every street, and exotic flowers bloomed year round.

Near her four streets crossed, with four plots of cultivated ground forming a checker-board pattern. A circular plot of ground in the center sprouted with a dozen different palms. The buildings surrounding the gardens were more rich than the ones in the market up the way. And while there was a lot of foot traffic, people made certain to stick to the sidewalks, for carriages were common. This was an upscale shopping district. No tents. Fewer performers. Higher quality-and more expensive-shops.

Vivenna strolled along the perimeter of the northwestern garden block. There were ferns and gra.s.s to her right. Shops of a quaint, rich, and-of course-colorful variety lay across the street to her left. Tonk Fah and Parlin lounged between two of these. Parlin had the monkey on his shoulder, and had taken to wearing a colorful red vest with his green hat. She couldn't help thinking that the woodsman was even more out of place in T'Telir than she was, but he didn't seem to attack any attention.

Vivenna kept walking. Jewels trailed her somewhere in the crowd. The woman was quite good-Vivenna only rarely caught a glimpse of her, and that was because she'd been told where to look. She never saw Denth. He was there somewhere, far too subtle for her to spot. As she reached the end of the street and turned around to walk back, she did catch sight of Clod. The Lifeless stood, standing as still as one of the D'Denir statues that lined the gardens, watching the crowds pa.s.s. Most of the people ignored him.

Denth was right. Lifeless weren't plentiful, but they also weren't uncommon. Several walked the market carrying bags for their owners. Few of these were as muscular or as tall as Clod-apparently, Lifeless came in as many shapes and sizes as people. They were put to work guarding shops. Acting as packmen. Sweeping the walkway. All around her.

She continued to walk, and she caught a brief glimpse of Jewels in the crowd as she pa.s.sed. How does she manage to look so relaxed? Vivenna thought. Each of the mercenaries looked as relaxed and calm as if they were having a leisurely picnic meal.

Don't think about the danger, Vivenna thought, clinching her fists. She focused on the gardens. The truth was, she was a little jealous of the T'Telir. People lounged, sitting on the gra.s.s, lying in the shade of trees, their children playing and laughing. D'Denir statues ran in a solemn line, arms out raised, weapons at the ready, as if in defense of the people. Trees climbed high into the sky, throwing forth branches which grew strange flower-like bundles.

Wide-pedaled flowers bloomed in planters; several patches of them were actually Tears of Edgli. Austre had placed the flowers where he wanted them. To bring them back, to use them to adorn a room or house, was to seek ostentation. Yet was it ostentatious to plant them in the middle of the city, where all were free to enjoy them?

She turned away. Her BioChroma continued to sense the beauty. The compact life, so much in one area, was like a buzz inside of her chest.

No wonder they like to live so close together, she thought, noticing how a group of flowers scaled in color, fanning toward the inside of their planter. And if you're going to live this compactly, the only way to see nature would be to bring it in.

"Help! Fire!"

Vivenna spun, as did most of the other people on the street. The building Tonk Fah and Parlin had been standing next to was burning. Vivenna didn't continue to gawk, but turned and looked toward the center of the gardens. Most of the people in the garden itself were stunned, looking toward the smoke billowing into the air.

Distraction one.

People ran to help, crossing the street, causing carriages to pull up shortly. At that moment, Clod stepped forward-surging with the crowd-and swung a club at the leg of a horse. Vivenna couldn't hear the leg break, but she did see the beast scream and fall, upsetting the carriage it had been pulling. A trunk fell from the top of the vehicle, plunging to the street.

The carriage belonged to one Nanrovah, high priest of the G.o.d Stillmark. Denth's intelligence said the carriage would be carrying valuables. Even if it wasn't, a high priest in danger would draw a lot of attention. The trunk hit the street. And, in a twist of good fortune, it shattered, spraying out gold coins.

Distraction two.

Vivenna caught a glimpse of Jewels standing on the other side of the carriage. She looked at Vivenna and nodded. Time to go. As people either ran toward gold or fire, Vivenna walked away. Nearby, Denth would be raiding one of the shops with a gang of thieves. The thieves got to keep the goods. Vivenna just wanted to make certain those goods disappeared.

Vivenna was joined by Jewels and Parlin on the way out. She was surprised to feel how quickly her heart was thumping. Almost nothing had happened. No real danger. No threat to herself. Just a couple of accidents.

But, then, that was the idea.

Hours later, Denth and Tonk Fah still hadn't returned to the house. Vivenna sat quietly on their new furniture, hands in her lap. The furniture was green. Apparently, brown was not an option in T'Telir.

"What time is it?" Vivenna asked quietly.

"I don't know," Jewels snapped, standing beside the window, looking out at the street.

Patience, Vivenna told herself. It's not her fault she's so abrasive. She had her Breath stolen.

"Should they be back yet?" Vivenna asked calmly.

Jewels shrugged. "Maybe. Depends on if they decided to go to a safe house to let things cool down or not."

"I see. How long do you think we should wait?"

"As long as we have to," Jewels said. "Look, do you think you could just not talk to me? I'd really appreciate it." She turned back to look out the window.

Vivenna stiffened at the insult. Patience! she told herself. Understand her place. That's what the Five Visions teach.

Vivenna stood u, then walked quietly over to Jewels. Tentatively, she laid an arm on the other woman's shoulder. Jewels jumped immediately-obviously, without Breath, it was harder for her to notice when people approached her.

"It's all right," Vivenna said. "I understand."

"Understand?" Jewels asked. "Understand what."

"They took your Breath," Vivenna said. "They had no right to do something so terrible."