out.â
âThe servant girl.â
âYes, the servant girl,â Kamran said irritably. âShe fled the scene when she saw me. She looked at me as if she knew me.â
âForgive me, sireâbut I thought you could not see her face?â
Kamran took a sharp breath. âPerhaps you will thank me, minister, for employing you with such a task? Unless, of course, you would rather I seek your replacement.â
Hazanâs lips twitched; he bowed. âIt is a pleasure, as always, to be at your service.â
âYou will tell the king I must bathe before our meeting.â
âBut, sireââ
Kamran strode away, his retreating footfalls ringing out once more through the cavernous hall. His anger had again begun to percolate, bringing with it a humidity that seemed to fog his vision, dim the sounds around him.
It was a shame, then, that Kamran did not dissect himself. He did not stare out of windows wondering what other emotions might be lurking beneath the veneer of his ever-present anger. It did not occur to him that he might be experiencinga muddied sort of grief, so it did not strike him as unusual that he was fantasizing, just then, about driving a sword through a manâs heart. In fact, he was so consumed by his imaginings that he did not hear his mother calling his name, her bejeweled robes dragging, sapphires scoring the marble floors as she went.
No, Kamran seldom heard his motherâs voice until it was too late.
Six
ALIZEHâS MORNING HAD BEEN, AMONG other things, disappointing. Sheâd sacrificed an hour of sleep, braved the winter dawn, narrowly escaped an attempt on her life, and eventually returned to Baz House with only regret to report, wishing her pockets weighed as heavy as her mind.
Sheâd carried the unwieldy parcel through several snowdrifts before arriving at the servantsâ entrance of the Lojjan ambassadorâs estate, and, after forcing her frozen lips to stammer out an explanation for her appearance at the threshold, the bespectacled housekeeper had handed Alizeh a purse with her pay. Alizeh, shivering and fatigued, had made the mistake of counting the coin only after relinquishing her commission, and then, forgetting herself entirely, dared to say aloud that she thought thereâd been some kind of mistake.
âForgive me, maâamâbut this is only h-half of what we agreed upon.â
âMm.â The housekeeper sniffed. âYouâll get the rest once my mistress decides she likes the dress.â
Alizehâs eyes went round.
Perhaps if her skirts hadnât been stiff with frost, or if her chest had not felt as if it might fissure from coldâperhaps if her lips had not been so very numb, or if her feet had notlost all sensationâperhaps then she mightâve remembered to bite her tongue. Instead, Alizeh managed only to contain the worst of her outrage. A miracle, really, that she spoke with some measure of equanimity when she said, âBut Miss Huda might decide she doesnât like the dress simply to avoid payment.â
The housekeeper recoiled, as if sheâd been struck. âCareful what you say, girl. I wonât hear anyone call my mistress dishonest.â
âBut surely you can see that this is indeed dishonââ Alizeh said, slipping on a spot of ice. She caught herself against the doorframe, and the housekeeper shrank back farther, this time with an undisguised revulsion.
â Off ,â the woman snapped. âGet your filthy hands off my doorââ
Startled, Alizeh jumped back, miraculously avoiding another patch of ice just two inches to her left. âMiss Huda wonât even allow me in the h-house,â she stammered, her body now trembling violently with cold. âShe wouldnât allow me to do a single fittingâshe could decide for any number of reasons that she doesnât like my w-workââ
The door slammed shut in her
Tom Clancy, Steve Pieczenik, Jeff Rovin