Naamah's Curse - Jacqueline Carey [189]
I shuddered. “And I am very, very glad that you didn’t.”
Bao shuddered, too. “So am I. I am quite sure it would have driven me mad. But… then I began to doubt.” He touched his chest again. “Your spark, I’d felt it calling to mine in the meadow. I had to know the truth. And the rest, you know.” He turned to regard me, a rare vulnerability behind his eyes. “Do you hate me for it?”
“No,” I murmured. “Of course not! You crossed the Abode of the Gods to find me, you dared the Falcon in his eyrie and the Spider Queen in her lair. It wasn’t your fault it was all a lie. As for the rest…” I smiled ruefully. “You saw how vulnerable I was to Kamadeva’s diamond. How can I blame you?”
“Well.” Bao smiled a little. “Desire. It is a particular weakness of yours, Moirin.” He laid one hand on my cheek, cupping it. “And a particular strength, too.”
I leaned upward to kiss his lips in reply, softly, lightly. It felt like enough for now. Enough to feel his diadh-anam entwine blissfully with mine. Naamah’s gift did not often counsel patience, but in these days, it did. The shadow of the Spider Queen lay between us, and there was too much yet to be done.
“So.” Bao cleared his throat. “Shall we speak of your royal lady? I must admit, I’d rather.”
“It’s not what you think,” I said to him.
The acerbic glint returned to his eyes, familiar and welcome. “It seems I’ve heard those words before. Only this time, there isn’t a dragon to blame.”
“No.” I traced my finger down the strong column of his throat, letting my fingertip rest in the hollow, feeling the sturdy beat of his pulse. “But there is a diamond, which left me much disturbed; and my lady Amrita does not like to see anyone suffer. Out of the goodness of her heart, she has shown me many kindnesses.” I kissed him again. “That was one of them.”
“The Rani must care for you very much to have endured such a hardship,” Bao said in a grave tone.
I thumped his chest with the heel of my hand. “You are insufferable!”
He laughed; and I could not help but be glad, dizzyingly glad, that despite everything that had happened, despite everything that had befallen us, despite the dangers and challenges we yet faced, laughter endured.
I had a feeling there would be precious little of it in the days to come.
SIXTY-SEVEN
I was right.
The next gambit from Kurugiri came sooner than expected, and it drove any thought of laughter or levity far, far from anyone’s mind.
We were in another interminable counsel session in which no progress was made and everyone was miserable and frustrated. The problem of Kamadeva’s diamond remained. Our young strategist Ravindra pushed chess pieces fruitlessly around the board. Hasan Dar pored over the maps he had drawn based on Bao’s information—a fairly detailed map of the path and an outline of the fortress itself. Having exhausted his stores of knowledge, Bao had little left to offer. Amrita was quiet and worried, and I daresay I was much the same.
For a brief moment, it was almost a relief when one of the guardsmen interrupted the meeting.
“Hasan-ji,” he said tentatively to his commander. “You said to report anything strange?”
The commander’s handsome head came up. “Yes?”
“It is the night-soil collectors,” the guard said in an apologetic tone. “The bucket-men. I am quite sure six came at dawn, but it seems to me only five have departed.” He shrugged. “It has been some time now.”
Bao tensed. “That is not good,” he said quietly to Hasan Dar. “It is how Jagrati stole Kamadeva’s diamond from the temple in the first place. It is a ploy any man serving her might use. Usually you pay no attention to those you deem beneath notice. One is now loose in the palace.”
Hasan Dar