she firmed her inward resolve. Her house had stood at the brink of ruin since the death of her father and brother. She must do nothing to risk the gods' displeasure. If she failed, if she lost sight of the ways of her ancestors over an affair of the heart, every Acoma retainer from the least servant in her scullery to her beloved senior advisers would suffer. Their years of loyal service and the honour of her family name must never be sacrificed for the sake of dalliance with a slave. Nacoya had been right. Kevin was a danger to her, best put aside without regret.
Damn the barbarian, she reflected with irritation.
Couldn't he learn his place quickly, and become a Tsurani slave? Couldn't he cease his poisonous, perilous thinking?
Sadness pushed through her confusion and mixed with annoyance at herself. I am Ruling Lady, she scolded inwardly. I should know what to do. Miserably, Mara admitted, 'But I don't.'
The servant by the garden gate who awaited his mistress's command called out,'My Lady?'
Mara bit back a needlessly harsh reply. 'Send for my son and his nurse. I would play with him for a while.'
The man returned a proper bow and hurried to do her bidding. Immediately Mara's mood brightened. Nothing brought a smile to her lips more reliably than the boisterous laughter of her son as he chased after insects, or raced till he was breathless through the garden.
Desio hammered his pudgy fist into the tabletop, causing a candle to topple, and a dozen jade ornaments to scatter and roll upon the carpet. A nervous servant hurried to gather the fallen items, and First Adviser Incomo stepped aside to avoid being struck by the rolling pedestal that had supported a goddess figurine.
The servant arose, 'My Lord,' he implored cautiously, 'you must patience.'
'But Mara is about to gain a vassal!' Desio howled ' lazy idiot Jidu of the Tuscalora doesn't even see coming a half-dozen precious carnn.
clutched to his chest. Desio chose that moment to bang ~j table again. The servant cringed, and with shaking hands began to restore the ornaments to their former resting place Incomo regarded his Lord's flushed face and sighed with restrained impatience. He was weary from days spa.
indoors, each one filled with long and profitless hours in attendance upon a Lord whose mind held no subtlety. yet until cousin Tasaio returned, Incomo could do little except endure Desio's ranting.
'If only we could arrange a raid to burn those chocha-la, bushes,' the Lord of the Minwanabi complained. 'Then Jidu would see his ruin staring him in the face, and we would t rescue him with a loan that would compel his loyalty to us Where did that fatheaded needra bull find the foresight to disguise informants among his workers? Now we dare not intervene without damaging our credibility in the council.'
Incomo did not trouble to voice the obvious: that with their current outlays in bribes to get Mara assigned to duty in Dustari, the Minwanabi finances could hardly be: extended any thinner; and Lord Jidu was a poor prospect for a loan at any time, with his reputation for drinking gambling, prostitutes, and bad debts. Not to mention that Mara would most certainly counter a Minwanabi loan by ruining Jidu, ensuring no funds could be recovered. Even if: she remained ignorant of an enemy's transaction, the: problem would simply recur next year. Incomo knew better than to waste his breath with explanations. He prepared to endure another hour of complaints, when a voice interceded from the doorway.
'The informants among the workers were not Lord Jidu's, but spies set in place by Keyoke,'Tasaio said as he entered.
'They are the reason two hundred Acoma warriors stage manoeuvres on the borders of Jidu's estates.'
'Keyoke!' Desio echoed. His face turned deeper purple.
'The Acoma Force Commander?'
Tasaio's smile thinned at this statement of the obvious.
'Seeing the Tuscalora chocha-la safely through the harvest is in the Acoma's best interest,' he reminded.
'Mare's security is too tight,' Desio grumbled, but with a shade less heat. While the relieved servant finished with the ornaments and scuttled into the background, the portly young Lord sought his cushions. 'We could not send an assassin to poison this Force Commander with any assurance of success - we've already lost a man trying to infiltrate the Acoma herders. And from what we've discovered about that gods-lucky Strike Leader, Lujan, we might not benefit so greatly from Keyoke's death. The upstart might be recently promoted, but he could prove just as able