wondered, and thought again that Caius would have known—and then I moved toward the connecting door between our rooms, mostly because I knew him and I knew he was standing there listening to everything we said, or everything she was saying, considering how the conversation had gone.
“Oh, hello there,” Caius said, standing there like a little saint. He’d already managed to change into something completely different, of course, though I noticed with some grim amusement that his hair wasn’t wet. He hadn’t yet bathed. If anything could ruffle his fur, that would. “Are you having a lovely time?”
“You might as well come in, Greylace,” Josette said, somewhat grudgingly, “since you two are such bosom buddies, and never go anywhere without each other. Far be it for me to separate you two.”
“Hold on just a…” I began, but then Caius was in the room, and I knew I’d never get another word in edgewise again.
“You look lovely this morning, Josette,” Caius said, before taking the only other seat there was. That left me to sit cross-legged on the bedding, which I did, but I sure as bastion wasn’t happy about it. This way, both Josette and Caius towered over me, and I felt like a child who was being punished.
“And you do too, as always,” Josette replied. “Now tell me what the blazes is going on.”
“How do I know you won’t go straight to Lord Temur and tell him everything I’ve told you?” Caius countered simply.
Josette looked like she wanted to throttle him, which I only halfway understood. Something was going on that I didn’t quite grasp, but they were each accusing each other just on the surface of other things that hadn’t been spoken yet. This was an entire level of diplomacy I hadn’t been made for, but here I was anyway, watching everything go down. I wished I had my sword. I wished I knew how to kick them both out, and let them go at each other on their own time.
“Are you suggesting that I’m sleeping with the enemy?” Josette demanded, once she regained her composure. “Because I’ll have you know, Greylace, that they aren’t the enemy any longer.”
“You two are very close,” Caius said.
“Indeed,” Josette replied. “Fostering good relations between sides is what I’ve been brought here to do—not brawl in the streets like a common thug.”
“I did not brawl,” Caius said.
“It’s true,” I agreed, though I didn’t know who I was defending, or why. “He didn’t. He’s much too small for that.” Caius looked deeply pleased, and I turned my eyes elsewhere, immediately regretting that I’d spoken up at all.
“You’re both behaving like idiots,” Josette said at length, “and I won’t allow it. If no one else speaks to you—admonishes you for the way you’ve been comporting yourselves—that’s fine. But I’m here to do my duty. If I wake up to the news that two of our number have been interrogated again, I’ll interrogate you both myself!”
“How delightful,” Caius said. “In that case, I think I should tell you that all our mail is being read without our consent—and, quite likely, altered.”
“Oh yes,” Josette said. “That I know. Why else do you think I have attempted to become so close to Lord Temur?”
“I had hoped,” Caius replied. “You’re such a logical sort. But then, think how romantic it would be—a lord of the Ke-Han and a magician from the Basquiat, thrown together by accident. Amidst the whirlwind of diplomacy and treason, they can only trust each other…”
“No thank you,” Josette said, just as I expressed my disgust with a low grunt.
“Well, I would support it, if you did love him,” Caius said, almost petulantly. “Nonetheless, I’m glad to see you’ve kept your head.”
“Unlike some,” Josette returned dryly. “What tipped you off to the letters?”
I listened to Caius’s explanation of the situation with some measure of disbelief and a significant amount of confusion. Whatever’d just happened made no sense to me, but if they’d intended to talk about this all the while, why hadn’t they come out and said something? Unless each one had some reason to distrust the other—which meant that Josette had come here because she hadn’t trusted me.
“I’m not a traitor,” I said, in the middle of Caius’s monologue about Yana.
“I didn’t think so,” Josette said, grinning.
“Indeed,” Caius added, “neither of us would ever suspect you capable of such double-dealings.”
“Was that an insult?” I asked. “Because I for one don’t think anyone should be proud of being smart enough to betray—”
“Yes, yes, that’s all