Page 100 of The Boy Bride

“He was joking,” he signed to Gurti. Aloud, trying to make his Hawada sound halting, he explained: “He doesn’t like me, but he’s loyal to my husband. He’d never break his oath.”

Gurti gave him a long look, as if trying to decide whether he really believed that. Then she looked at Faru. Her expression had not softened.

“You should know better than to speak so lightly of curses, my lord.”

“I never speak lightly, woman.”

Gurti stood at the top of the stairs with her arms folded for a moment, then flapped a hand sharply at Faru.

“You’re in my way.”

He gave her an aggrieved look and took his time descending the stairs, childishly.

“I’ll speak to Khatu,” she called after him as he was going out the back door of the house. “Don’t say anything to him until I find out what’s going on. And don’t make any promises to that other young woman’s family.”

“I will do what I think best.” The door banged closed behind him.

“I apologize for my husband’s behaviour,” Gurti signed when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“It’s kind of you,” Lill signed back, “but you don’t have to.”

“Did you and Vanu make up after your fight?”

Lill blinked in surprise. Had Vanu told her about that? He talked to Gurti about that kind of thing?

“Yes, thank you,” he managed.

The back door of the hall opened again to admit Khatu, followed closely by Barda, bows and full quivers of arrows over their shoulders.

“Lill!” they chorussed excitedly.

“Sun in the winter, what are you doing here, Lill?” said Khatu.

“Came to see me,” said Barda, elbowing his brother in the ribs.

“Earth’s pussy! He’s a happily married boy, brother! He probably came to see me.”

Lill said nothing, because in fact he’d come to see both of them.

“You didn’t catch anything?” their mother observed.

“Nah, we didn’t hunt,” said Khatu easily. “We went down to Sakka instead. Ah! We’ve got a letter for you, Lill. Not for you, for your man. Barda, what’d we do with it?”

Barda dug out the letter and presented it to Lill, while Khatu tried to avoid their mother’s questions about why they had gone to the village instead of hunting as they had planned.

“Better take this back to my husband,” Lill said, brandishing the letter, and made his escape.

Chapter 27

Pretty But Deadly

Lill would have preferred to sleep in the house—he’d had enough of sleeping outdoors—but at least there was a bed on the roof.

“When you get back from the mission,” Arsha said when he showed him the sleeping arrangements, “you can have your own room like I do. If you’d like that.”

“I would like that,” Lill said. He hoped Arsha could not tell just how much he would like that.

He doubted he could hope to get it, because the mission as Arsha had described it to him sounded impossible. Kill the Lion of the Summer Pass? Hadn’t the Great King’s entire army been trying and failing to do that for ten years?