Sword-Maker(65)

Del’s smile widened. “I already have.”

Women can be nasty … I stood up, scraping my stool so hard it fell over against the wall, and looked Del dead in the eye, which isn’t a problem for me. “Can you just wait a minute? I’m trying to find out something.”

Del assessed Kima. “Five coppers, perhaps.”

“No, no—” I began, but Kima was swearing in outrage.

By this time the turmoil was of interest to the rest of the cantina. I overheard wagers being laid on which of the women would win. Or if either would be worth it.

Which made me want to swing Del around bodily so all could see what she was; the wager would be ended before it was properly begun. Then again, putting Del on display was not a thing I wanted to do, since it was hardly a compliment to treat a woman as an ornament.

Besides, she’d probably kill me.

I turned back to Kima. “You said—”

“Go with her!” Kima cried. “Do you think I care? Do you think you’re worth it? I’ve had sword-dancers better than you. I’ve had sword-dancers bigger than you—”

“How do you know?” Del asked.

I swore. “Will you just—? Del, wait … Kima!” But she was gone, flouncing across the cantina. It gave me leave to turn back to Del. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”

“If you want her that—”

“That’s not it!” I scraped a hand through my hair, attempting to control my tone. “What I was trying to find out was what she meant about a man claiming to be my son.”

“Your son?” Del’s brows rose as she hooked a stool with a boot and pulled it out from under the table. “I didn’t know you had a son.”

“I don’t—oh, hoolies, bascha, let’s just forget about it. Let’s just sit here and drink.”

Del eyed my mug. “You’ve been doing that already.”

I righted my stool and sat down. “Did you get us a room?”

“Two rooms; yes.”

I blinked. “Two rooms? Why?”

“To make it easier for you. So you can win your wager.”

“To hoolies with the wager.” I was a bit put out. I was feeling a bit kindlier toward Del of late, since she’d finally admitted she was wrong, and wasn’t of a mind to make the wager stick. It really was a silly sort of thing, anyway, and I didn’t see the sense in continuing the farce. After all, we were both healthy people with normal appetites, and it had been quite some time since we’d shared a bed.

Del smiled. “Giving up so easily?”

“I figure we’ve taken that wager about as far as we can go with it.”

Del’s tone was very solemn. “It was undertaken properly.”

“I don’t care. I don’t care. Let’s forget the wager.”

Now her face matched her tone. “We can’t. I think two rooms would be best. And not just for the wager … I need the time alone. I need the time to focus.”

“Focus?” I frowned. “I don’t quite understand.”

“For the kill.” Del’s attitude was matter-of-fact.

“So? You’ll just kill him. It’s what you’ve come to do. It’s what you’ve been meaning to do for six whole years.”

Del frowned. “Before, it would have been easy. But now …” Her voice trailed off. She looked at the table, picked at knife and sword scars, flicked bits of wood away with a grimace of distaste. “I’m different now. The task is the same, but I’m a different person.” She didn’t look at me. “I’ve been changed.”

“Del—”

Pale-lashed lids lifted. Blue eyes stared at me. “There was a time when it would have taken no effort at all, my task. When it was my whole world. When it was all I thought of. And the doing would have been sweet, because it was all I wanted.”

I waited in silence, transfixed by her intensity.

“But you have changed me, Tiger. You have blundered into my life and changed the way I think. Changed the way I feel.” Her mouth tightened slightly. “It’s not what I wanted. It was never what I wanted. But now you are here, and I find myself confused. I find myself distracted—and distraction can be dangerous.”

Distraction could be lethal.

“And so I will ask the gods and my sword to aid me in this. To help me focus myself, so I can complete my task without additional confusion. Without the distraction.”

I stared at her intently. “Didn’t you try that before? The night we met up again?”

Color came and went in her face. “You saw?”

“I saw.” I wasn’t proud of it. “Del, I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what you were doing, out there in the trees with that magicked sword. So I went to see for myself.”