Women From The United States

"You eat more than Gen did after prison", he said. "I have more sympathy with him all the time. Are you going to finish that drumstick?" I asked. "I am. Stop staring at it."

"Everything, it seemed, depended on gold. The magus and I had fallen easily back into our old habits. He lectured constantly, and I asked questions to my heart's delight. Where he had once been my master and I his apprentice, I had become king and he my sole advisor. Where we had once focused on natural history and philosophy, we now concentrated on administration, taxation, and the prosecution of war. He had begun his lessons by quoting the duke of Melfi: "To make war you need three things: one, money; two, money; and three, money." He went on to tell me the things I should have known already, that I would have known if I had been a more promising heir to the throne and not exclusively interested in poetry."

"I'd suggested eating it before we left the market. I'd also suggested eating it on the road. I was not so comfortable with my new authority that I could say, "We eat the chicken now!" but the magus had seen that I was considering it."

"He was confident, I think, of the success over both Eddis and Attolia right up until the world heard that the Thief of Eddis had stolen the queen of Attolia and meant to marry her."

"I think he was delighted to see you safe," said the magus, "and grieved that the next time you meet, it must be as king and king and not as friends."

"Will you serve me and my god?" "I will, Your Majesty." "Then come out," said the king, helping him, "knowing that you'll never die of a fall unless the god himself drops you."

"Grown more confident of the queen's humor, Relius said, "I had not pictured you for a fishwife." "Lo, the transforming power of love.""

"He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you."

"A story?" Phresine was surprised. "What makes you think I can tell stories?" "Insight," said the king. "Go on."

"The king, the master of the fates of men, before their eyes was reduced to a man, very young himself, and in love."

"I wouldn't destroy an entire house to destroy one man. But I would destroy a man to destroy a house."

"He had seen a temple fall once, in an earthquake. Small gaps had appeared between the stones, and these had grown until each separate stone tottered in opposition to the ones below. First the columns supporting the porches and then the walls had tumbled down. So, piece by piece, did the king hammer out the enormity of the disaster Sejanus had precipitated on his house."

"He looked up from the where he had been carefully smoothing the embroidered cover, and seeing his face, Costis felt the shock like a physical blow. If Attolia could look like a queen, Eugenides was like a god revealed, transformed into something wholly unfamiliar, surrounded by the cloth-of-gold bedcover like a deity on an altar, passionless and calculating."

""Who knows but that you will get up to find that the world has inverted itself yet again?" He looked around the room at the other attendants as if in warning, but spoke to Philologos. "Remember, the love of kings and queens is beyond the compass of us lesser mortals." If anyone noticed, no one commented that he had called the Thief of Eddis a king."

"As the queen raged at him, he responded, first calmly, then with his own heat. "Is there no one that you will see punished?" the queen shouted. "Are you fond of Teleus now that you preserve his life at all costs?" "I only asked you to reconsider." "There is nothing to reconsider!" "You know why I need him." "Not anymore," the queen declared with finality. The king ignored the finality. "Now more than ever," he insisted. "He has failed-" "That was not entirely his fault!" "Then you will unmake my decisions?" Attolia dared him to try. "You said that I could," Eugenides flatly replied. Pushed too far, the queen lashed out. The king made no effort to avoid the blow. His head snapped around and his forehead struck the doorjamb. He staggered and caught himself. By the time he opened his eyes, she was at the door and then she was gone."

""Yet you prefer his mercy to my justice." She meant from the king. She knew where the message had come from."

"The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day."

"For a moment Costis could see, not so much what was hidden but that there were things hidden that the king did not choose to reveal. Things that were not for Costis to see. There was no understanding him, but Costis knew he would march into hell for this fathomless king, as he would for his queen. So long, he worried, as they didn't order him in opposite directions at the same time. What he would do when that happened, Costis couldn't guess."

"The king paused. "Your master of spies is a liar, and this time he is lying," the king said slowly, "to you." Attolia frowned, then almost imperceptibly shook her head. "Have him arrested," said the king. After another pause he added unequivocally, "Now." If he succeeds in having me killed, you could be the next Captain of the Guard. What, then, if the king destroyed Relius? Who would replace him? Costis hardly breathed. The king hadn't ordered the arrest himself, though he could have, but he had directed the queen to do so, in public. Now they would see if the queen could protect her own or not."

"As Attolia spun, she felt a tug at her hair and, turning back, felt another. Then she felt her carefully arranged hair slipping down her neck. Eugenides, minding the pattern with his feet and spinning the queen with one hand, had been pulling out her hairpins one by one when her back was turned. The rest of the pins loosened, and her hair dropped free. It swung out as she spun and the last of the pins bounced and slid across the marble floor. The queen was several inches taller than Eugenides, and he leaned back to counter her spin. To those watching, it didn't seem possible that he could succeed, but with one hand, and no visible effort, he defied the laws of the natural world. Phresine, the queen's senior attendant, watched them from behind the throne as her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth. Faster and faster they moved, never faltering, until the music shrilled at an impossible tempo and the pattern gave way to a long spin, each dancer reaching in with one hand and out with the other, holding tight lest they fall away from the other, until the music stopped abruptly and the dance ended."

"Why were these the only dances you knew?" "Because no one would dance with me. Thieves are never popular." I know why, thought Attolia, but aloud she asked, "Why are you familiar with the square dances?" The music quickened. "My mother taught me. We danced them on the rooftops of the Megaron. According to legend, the Thief and any partner the Thief chooses will be safe." "You are king now," she pointed out. "Ah, but they say that if the king dances, the entire court can safely dance with him." "Spare me," said Attolia, "and my court, from dancing on the roof." "It probably only works in Eddis."

"The dandified Attolian who had spoke, a patron, but not a baron by any means, glanced at the queen to see if she approved, but she was looking the other way. The king shrugged his shoulders slightly and said, "I could send you to ask them." The man laughed. "It would be a long trip, Your Majesty. I would so much rather hear the answer from you." "Oh, the trip would be much quicker than you think," said the king pleasantly. "Most of my male cousins are dead." The silence that had begun at the head table had spread to the edges of the hall. The Attolian's smile grew uncertain. The king didn't smile back. Those who understood shifted uncomfortably in their seats."

"Your Majesty," he asked innocently, "is it true that your cousins once held you down in a water cache?" Ornon, in the act of putting down his wine cup, paused. "Is it also true that they wouldn't let you out until you agreed to repeat insults about your own family?"

"The queen turned back to face him. "I could hang you," she said. Eugenides looked up at her. "You missed your chance for that," he said."

"Unable to guess the answer, she asked, "Who am I, that you should love me?" "You are My Queen," said Eugenides. She sat perfectly still, looking at him without moving as his words dropped like water into dry earth. "Do you believe me?" he asked. "Yes," she answered. "Do you love me?" "Yes." "I love you." And she believed him."

"Nothing mortals make lasts; nothing the gods make endures forever."

"You must choose now. Between the two of us we can reach a treaty without a wedding. You don't have to marry him, but if you choose to marry him, you have to believe him." Attolia turned, and Eddis thought that behind her mask the queen might be afraid, and so she finished lightly. "You have to believe him, because he's going to have you entire palace up in arms and your court in chaos and every member of it from the barons to the boot cleaners coming to you for his blood, and you are going to have to deal with it." Attolia smiled. "You make him sound like more trouble than he's worth." "No," said Eddis thoughtfully. "Never more than he is worth."

"He lies to you?" Attolia asked. "Constantly," said Eddis. "He lies to himself. If Eugenides talked in his sleep, he'd lie then, too." Attolia looked stunned. "And you can't tell?" Eddis thought for a moment. "I sometimes believe his lies are truth, but I have never mistaken his truth for a lie. If he needs me to believe him, he has his own way of showing his veracity."

"Least said, soonest mended isn't the advice for every occasion, Your Majesty, isn't the advice for every occasion."

"...She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower." "And?" Eddis prompted. "Well," said Eugenides, "it's a challenge."

"If it is an affliction, it is as you said: The gods know me so well they can predict my behavior. They don't control it. They could know I would love her, but they don't make me. I've watched her for years, you know. All those times when you didn't know where I went, mostly it was to Attolia."

"He looks--" Attolia hunted for the word. "Defenseless" came to mind, but it wasn't the one she wanted, nor was "young," though he looked even younger when he was asleep. "Quite guileless," she said at last. "Oh, yes," said Eddis. "I'm always willing to forgive him anything - until he wakes up."

"Eddis looked at her minister, curious. "Your head?" she asked. Attolia explained. "He had to be forcibly dissuaded from strangling his son." "So have we all from time to time," Eddis said seriously."

"You don't understand your weakness, if you think the greater nations will protect you. We will see how much longer you rule your backwater, Your Majesty. You will soon enough discover the limits of your resources." "Will I? I think you underestimate me still, Nahuseresh. While we are being forthright with each other, I admit I find it tedious."

""Treachery," said the Mede. "Diplomacy," said Attolia, "in my own name," as the rest of her guard rose up from the grass behind their captain."

"They are mice, Nahuseresh, hiding in their mouseholes, hoping their own familiar cat will come home to drive you away. At least when I hang people from castle walls, it is because they are traitors, not because they drive hard bargains. You seem willing to hang anyone who is displeasing to you. How kind of you to show my barons that if I am a hard ruler to cross, you are a worse one to serve. I must thank you for that as well as your emperor's gold. They will be most mousy and well behaved for months."

"Nahuseresh, if there is one thing a woman understands, it is the nature of gifts. They are bribes when threats do not avail." The queen shook her head. "The problem with bribes, Nahuseresh, is that after your money is gone, threats still do not avail."

"And now we wait," she said, not bothering to hide her smile of delighted anticipation as her guards conveyed the messenger out of the door. "Wait for what?" the Mede asked. "Hmm?" Attolia focused herself on the present. "Good heavens, I don't know," she said. "Eddis produces such lovely threats when her Thief is concerned."

"The Thief leaned close to the queen to speak almost in her ear. "From shadow queen to puppet queen in one rule," he whispered. "That's very impressive. When he rules your country, and tells you he loves you, I hope you believe him." He anticipated her blow and leaned back. Her hand only brushed his cheek in an entirely unsatisfying manner. "At least that's one lie I didn't tell you," Eugenides said."

"He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than in the word of the Thief of Eddis. He was famous in three countries for his lies."

"The moon disappeared behind a cloud. Eugenides was only a dark form against the darker water behind him. "Before you make a decision," he said, "I want you to know that I love you.""

"Think of it as stealing not you but the king's faith in you." "And what happens to me without the king's faith?" "If you're smart, you leave Sounis," said Eugenides. "Quickly."

""I didn't come to Sounis to blow up His Majesty's warships. I told you someone else had to do that." "What did you come for if not to murder my king?" "I came to steal his magus." "You can't," said the magus in question. "I can steal anything," Eugenides corrected him. "Even with one hand." He took a step forward into the moonlight and waggled his fingers. The smile on his face made the magus feel worse, not better."

""You said I should do something." Eugenides smiled in the dark, twisting the knife of his revenge a little deeper into the magus. "I did?" "As you were leaving, after your extremely edifying visit in the spring. You said ‘You could still do something.’ Your exact words." "I meant talk your queen into surrendering, not destroy our navy in its own harbor!" the magus shouted."

""Eugenides," he said. He had recognized the voice. "Yes." "What have you done?" "Not much yet," answered the Thief from the darkness. "I remain fairly limited in my physical activities." He held up his right arm, and the magus started before realizing that the hand he saw had to be a wooden one, concealed by a glove. Another booming explosion filled the air, and the magus turned back to the window but could see only a glare reflecting on the whitewashed walls of the buildings below. "I had to send someone else to light the fuses," Eugenides said behind him. "Fuses?" asked the magus, with a sick feeling. "In the powder magazines of your warships," Eugenides explained. "Powder magazines?" "You sound like the chorus in a play," said Eugenides. "And the play is a tragedy, I suppose?" "A farce," Eugenides suggested, and the magus winced."

"I can't steal things without two hands," Eugenides said bitterly. "That's why she cut one off." The queen of Attolia was only ever "she." The name Attolia rarely passed his lips, as if Eugenides couldn't bear the taste of the word in his mouth. "There are a lot of things that a person with two hands couldn't steal," Eddis said. "So?" "Surely if it's impossible to steal them with two hands, it's no more impossible to steal them with one. Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time."

"It matters, because I can't do anything more for this country, and it matters," he yelled as he threw the papers back to his desk, "because I only have one hand and it isn't even the right one!"

"How could you come once a week to talk about the weather and not mention a war?" Eddis sighed. "Will you sit down and stop shouting?" "I'll stop shouting. I won't sit down. I might need to throw more inkpots."

"I'll be your minister--" "Of the exchequer? You'd rob me blind." "I would never steal from you," he'd said hotly. "Oh? Where is my tourmaline necklace? Where are my missing earrings?" "That necklace was hideous. It was the only way to keep you from wearing it." "My earrings?" "What earrings?"

"We invoke the Great Goddess in our hour of need for her wisdom and her mercy," Teleus said in the demotic. "Ere translates as love, a rather ruthless love, not mercy, Teleus. The Great Goddess of Eddis not known for her mercy."