the First Lord."
"But wouldn't Gaius protect you?"
"If he could," Serai said. She shook her head. "He's been slowly losing power among the High Lords, and he isn't getting any younger. He won't be First Lord forever, and once he isn't..." The courtesan shrugged.
Isana felt sick at her stomach. "That's what that talk about the gown was all about. Lady Aquitaine was offering you a position with her, wasn't she."
"More than that. I should think she meant to offer me my freedom, a title, and most likely a position in whatever would pass for the Cursors under her husband's rule."
Isana was quiet for a moment. "That's quite an offer," she said.
Serai nodded, silent.
Isana folded her hands in her lap. "Why didn't you take it?"
"Her price was too high."
Isana frowned. "Price? What price?"
"Isn't it obvious, darling? She knew that I was your guardian. She offered me power in exchange for you. And made it known that the results might be unpleasant if I denied her."
Isana swallowed. "Do you think she wants me dead?"
"Perhaps," Serai said, nodding. "Or perhaps only within her control. Which might be worse, depending on the next several years. From what she said, it seems obvious that her husband is very nearly ready to move against the Crown."
They rode in silence for a moment, then Isana said, "Or it might not have been a threat."
Serai arched a brow. "How so?"
"Well," Isana said slowly, "if word of your true allegiance has gotten out, and you didn't know about it... could what she said have been a warning? To point it out to you?"
Serai's eyebrows lifted delicately. "Yes. Yes, I suppose it could have been, at that."
"But why would she warn you?"
Serai shook her head. "Difficult to say. Assuming it was a warning, and assuming that Kalare and Aquitaine are not working together to bring Gaius down, it would be most likely that she warned me in an effort to deny Kalare the chance to kill me. Or capture me to learn what secrets I keep."
"We're both in the same oven, then. Whoever is killing Cursors would not mind seeing the pair of us dead."
"Indeed," Serai said. She glanced at her hands. Isana did as well. They were trembling harder. Serai folded them and held them tight against her lap. "In any case, given how little we know about the current climate, it seemed best to me that we leave before something unpleasant happened."
She paused, then said, "I'm sorry we didn't manage to gain the First Lord's ear."
"But we must," Isana said quietly.
"Yes. But remember, Steadholder, that my first duty is to protect you-not to try to manage affairs in the Calderon Valley."
"But there's no time."
"You can't gain the support of the First Lord from the grave, Steadholder," Serai said, her tone frank, serious. "You're of no use to your family dead. And just between you and me, if I die before I get a chance to wear a gown of those new silks from Aquitaine, I will never forgive you."
Isana tried to smile at her attempt at levity, but it was too strongly underscored by an emotional undertow of anxiety. "I suppose. But what is our next step?"
"Get back to the house all in a piece," Serai said. "And from there, I think a nice glass of wine might soothe my nerves. And a hot bath."
Isana regarded her evenly. "And after that?"
"After wine and a steaming bath? I should be surprised if I didn't sleep."
Isana pressed her lips into a line. "I don't need you to try to amuse me with clever evasions. I need to know how we're going to get to Gaius."
"Oh," Serai said. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Going out of Nedus's house is a risk, Steadholder. For both of us, now. What do you think our next move should be?"
"My nephew," Isana said firmly. "In the morning, we'll go to the Academy and find him so that he can carry the message to the First Lord."
Serai frowned. "The streets aren't safe enough for you to-"
"Crows take the streets," Isana said, the barest trace of an angry snarl in her voice.
Serai sighed. "It's a risk."
"One we have to take," Isana said. "We don't have time for anything else."
Serai frowned and looked away.
"And besides," Isana said, "I'm worried about Tavi. The message must have reached him by now-it was left in his own room, after all. But he hasn't come to see me."
"Unless he has," Serai pointed out. "He might well be waiting at Nedus's manor for us