“You have no idea what you can do to a man, Delilah, when he first sets eyes on you. Believe me, no man—no whole man—can think with anything else.”
Del grimaced. “I never asked for that. It is a burden, not a gift.”
“Funny,” I said idly, “I’ve never found it a burden.”
She slanted me a glance. “Vanity doesn’t become you.”
“Everything becomes me.”
“Even Chosa Dei?”
I scowled; the game was over. “As far as I’m concerned, he has no stake in this. He’s not part of me. He’s not even part of the sword; he’s merely a parasite.”
“But deadly. And now that we know Shaka Obre is in no way linked to this jhihadi …” She let it trail off. “I still can’t believe it. Ajani—a messiah?”
I shrugged. “He’s an opportunist. Maybe there really is something to this jhihadi business—after all, it was the old holy man in Ysaa-den who first mentioned the Oracle and jhihadi—and Ajani concocted a plan based on what he’d heard.”
Slowly, Del shook her head. “I can’t reconcile the man I knew with the man Bellin knows.”
I gave it a moment, then spoke carefully. “Are you so sure you can reconcile him with anything? What you remember is brutality and murder … you saw Ajani and his men kill your entire family. You saw Jamail on fire. You suffered Ajani’s—attentions. At fifteen years of age—and under those circumstances—you could never judge a man. Never see his potential for anything as complex as this. All you could do was feel … and emotions—or the lack of them—don’t allow for much objectivity.”
Del’s tone was flat. “What they allow for is the ability—and the desire—to kill a murderer.”
“And so we are back where we began.” I straightened. “But maybe not.”
“Maybe not? Tiger, what are you—”
“Come on,” I said intently, “there’s someone I have to talk to.”
“Now? It’s late.”
“Come on, bascha. This won’t wait.”
Elamain, of course, thought I’d come to see her. Until she saw Del.
“Esnat,” I said succinctly.
Sabo, who had greeted us at the door, went at once to fetch his master. This left Elamain standing in the room swathed in the silk of her hair as it poured down the front of her nightrobe. Delicate feet were bare. I found it oddly erotic; then recalled that to Southroners, any part of a woman was, since she hid it under so much.
“Esnat?” she echoed.
“Business,” I said briefly. “You may as well go back to bed.”
Elamain flicked a glance at Del, then looked back to me. “Only if you’re in it.”
“Don’t waste your time,” Del suggested. “He is a man, Elamain, not a tame cat … and I, unlike you, believe he has more sense and integrity than you give him credit for. Teasing and tricking a man is no way to win him.”
Elamain’s eyes widened. “Who is teasing? Who is tricking? I hide nothing of what I want. No more than you do what you want, wearing a man’s weapon—”
But she didn’t get to finish, because Esnat came into the room.
He’d been asleep and was not yet fully awake. He blinked as he saw us, pulled his robes into order, raised brows at Elamain’s presence. Thin dust-colored hair, now unencumbered by a turban, hung lankly to narrow shoulders. The spots on his chin were worse. I realized all over again I was supposed to dance for this man, so he could impress a woman.
Except his courtship might have to wait.
“I want honesty,” I said. “Why are you here?”
Sabo, Elamain, and Esnat stared. It was not what they’d expected.
“Why?” I asked again. “Sasqaat is clear across the Punja. It’s a small domain. Why would you come all the way to Iskandar? Why, for that matter, would any tanzeers come? What’s in it for them?”
Something flickered in Esnat’s eyes. Now I knew I had him.
“Don’t waste my time,” I said. “You’re a tanzeer, and not a stupid one, no matter what you’ve led Elamain and others to believe. The masquerade is over, Esnat. I want the truth. Then I’ll give you mine.”
Esnat glanced around. Then gestured at cushions and rugs. He sank down on the nearest one even as Del and I found seats. “The Oracle,” he said.
Elamain, who had opened her mouth to protest the situation, now closed it. A crease marred her brow. Clearly Esnat’s answer was unexpected and baffling; she’d believed they’d come to Iskandar for another reason entirely.