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"I don’t understand you," she said "It appears there’s a lot I don’t understand in this city"

This wo into her youthful, confused eyes Or, if she is, then she’s best actress I’ve everiirl had been sent instead of her sister Sickness on the part of the elder daughter, perhaps But Lightsong didn’t buy that She was part of so A plot, or perhaps several And whatever those plots were, she didn’t know about the cursed et ripped apart and fed to the wolves!

But what could he really do about it? He sighed, standing, causing his priests to begin packing his things The girl watched with confusion as he nodded to her, giving her a wan sh she probably didn’t need to She was his queen, even if she wasn’t herself Returned

Lightsong turned to go, then stopped, recalling his own first few months in the court, and the confusion he’d known He reached over, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder "Don’t let theet to you, child," he whispered

And with that, he withdrew

17

Vivenna walked back toward Leument she’d heard at the Court of Gods Her tutors had instructed her that discussions in the Court Assembly didn’t always lead to action; just because they talked of war didn’t mean it would happen

This discussion, however, seemed to mean more It was too passionate, with too ht, and that as inevitable

She walked with her head down on a nearly deserted street She was beginning to learn that she could avoid the roiling h more residential sections of the city It appeared that people in T’Telir liked to be where everybody else was

The street was in a wealthy neighborhood, had a slate stone sidewalk running along the side of it ItParlin walked beside her, occasionally pausing to study ferns or palm trees The Hallandren liked plants; most of the ho shrubs In Idris, each of the large ho the street would have been considered a e size--probably the homes of ht Is Hallandren going to attack soon? Or is this just a prelude to so still months, perhaps years, away?

Real action wouldn’t occur until the gods voted, and Vivenna wasn’t sure what it would take to get them to that point She shook her head Only one day in T’Telir, and already she knew that her training and tutorials hadn’t prepared her half as well as she’d assu And that left her feeling very lost She was not the confident, co truth was, should she have been sent to beco’s bride, she would have been nearly as in effective and confused as poor Siri undoubtedly was

They turned a corner, Vivenna trusting in Parlin’s aet theaze of one of the silent D’Denir statues The proud warrior stood with sword raised above his stone head, his ar around his neck He looked dra before they approached the steps to Lemex’s house Vivenna froze, however, when she saw that the door was hanging froe The lower part was cracked, as if it had been kicked very hard

Parlin pulled up beside her, then hissed, holding up a hand for her to be silent His hand went to the long hunting knife at his belt and he glanced around Vivenna stepped back, nerves itching to flee And yet, where would she go? The mercenaries were her only connection in the city Denth and Tonk Fah could have handled an attack, right?

Someone approached from the other side of the door Her BioChromatic senses warned her of the proxi to bolt

Denth pushed the broken door open, sticking his head out "Oh," he said "It’s you"

"What happened?" she asked "Were you attacked?"

Denth glanced at the door and chuckled to hi her in Through the broken door she could see that furniture had been ripped apart, there were holes in the walls, and pictures were slashed and broken Denth wandered back inside, kicking aside so his way toward the stairs Several of the steps had been broken

He glanced back, noting her confusion "Well, we did say ere going to search the house, Princess Figured we ood job of it"

VIVENNA SAT DOWN VERY CAREFULLY, half-expecting the chair to collapse beneath her Tonk Fah and Denth had been very thorough in their search--they had broken every bit of wood in the house, it sees Fortunately, her current chair had been propped up reasonably well, and it held her weight

The desk in front of her--Lemex’s desk--was splintered The drawers had been removed, and a false back had been revealed, the cos sat on the desktop

"That’s everything," Denth said, leaning against the rooed on a broken couch, its stuffing sticking out aardly

"Did you have to break so much?" Vivenna asked

"Had to be certain," Denth said, shrugging "You’d be surprised where people hide things"

"Inside the front door?" Vivenna asked flatly

"Would you have thought to look there?"

"Of course not"

"Sounds like a pretty good hiding place to ht we found a hollow space Just turned out to be a section of different wood, but it was iet really clever when it co important stuff," Tonk Fah said with a yawn

"You know the thing I hateup a hand