The landshaper sent her an unpleasant look. “One and a half.”
“Two.”
“Didn’t they teach you that goodwill should be rewarded in negotiations?” she asked in exasperation.
Lannahi suppressed a smile. “They taught me to use advantage at every turn.”
A vein on Lizaar’s temple pulsed. “Remember, I didn’t promise you that no landshaper will Challenge you. I said they would hold off for a while.”
“I won’t forget it for a moment.”
After another meaningful look that included a whole range of unspoken insults, Lizaar relented.
“Deal.”
Chapter 14
There was a quiet truce between Lannahi and Lizaar. In the presence of other officials—especially in front of Varrdan—the woman continued to act reticently, but Lannahi began to finally feel less like a thief and more like a partner. When Lizaar pushed aside her resentment and focused on the tasks before her, her qualities, which Lannahi had heard about from the gossip Souhi had gathered, had resurfaced.
“Lizaar will conduct the negotiations on my behalf. I suspect that you have reservations about her new status, but I suggest that you treat her with the knowledge that one day she will be free. You wouldn’t want to have her as an enemy then, would you?”
Besides pleasantries, these were the only words Lannahi spoke at the meeting with the artisans from Sapphirinetower. Lizaar took care of the rest, and Lannahi didn’t think she could have done any better herself. Smart, pragmatic, and commercially minded, she would be a dream Chancellor one day.
It was a shame that it was too early to tell her that.
“I heard a rumor,” Blann announced cheerfully when she returned with the cases full of treats they intended to eat during their sleigh ride.
Given the stubborn silence of the palace residents who were determined to remain as unhelpful as possible, this was groundbreaking news. Lannahi didn’t even try to hide her curiosity.
“What rumor?” she urged the green-tongued when the woman continued to grin instead of speaking. Eshshar had returned to work yesterday. Did Blann manage to get something out of him?
“Ashared is not Lizaar’s lover,” Blann blurted.
This definitely wasn’t the kind of news Lannahi was expecting, and for a moment, she just stared, not knowing what to make of this information.
“Then who is he?” Souhi asked soberly.
Blann’s enthusiasm dimmed a little. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “While preparing the vegetables, I tried to engage Eshshar in conversation and asked how long Lizaar and Ashared have been a couple, but then he gave me that rude look and said in that rude tone that Ashared is not Lizaar’s lover and that I shouldn’t say things that I have no idea about. When I asked him to enlighten me on the matter, he threw me another unpleasant look and without a word went back to work.”
Souhi frowned. “And that’s all?” When Blann nodded, her brow wrinkled even more. “So why are you so happy? This information changes nothing for us. Regardless of what is truly between them, Ashared will try to protect Lizaar so we have to keep an eye on him anyway.”
“But isn’t it interesting?” the green-tongued asked genuinely surprised by Souhi’s lack of enthusiasm. She shifted her wide-eyed gaze to Lannahi. “This is interesting, isn’t it, Lannahi? You got interested, didn’t you?”
Her liveliness made it hard to stay indifferent so Lannahi’s smile wasn’t entirely forced. “It’s interesting,” she agreed. Seeing Blann’s satisfaction, her smile grew.
“You see?” the flowerspeaker turned to Souhi. “Itisinteresting.”
Souhi snorted with laughter. “Okay. Come on. We need to change.”
When they left her chambers, Lannahi also started preparing for their sleigh ride. She tried to ignore the strange feeling fluttering in her chest. The information brought by Blannwasinteresting, but just as Souhi said, it didn’t change anything about their situation. There was nothing to dwell on.
Despite this conclusion, her thoughts persistently revolved around Ashared. If he wasn’t Lizaar’s lover, then what was he to her? There was no doubt that Lizaar trusted him and that the two were close. He visited her chamber in the evenings and touched her in public as if he had the right to do so. Lannahi hadn’t seen anyone else who acted so familiar toward Lizaar as he did. It was possible that they were just friends but…
I owe a debt of gratitude to Lizaar’s uncle.
What had Nahid done for Ashared that the latter was willing to alter his entire life to pay off his debt?
And why didn’t Eshshar just decide to keep quiet about this particular information?
