Deceiver

Which was not to say they were bad. Or wrong.

They were just going to be work. A lotof work. Ru

But that kind of behavior was for guards that people set overhis aishid. Part ofhis aishid—that was something else, and it had stopped being fun, was what, because inside an aishid— there had to be trust. There had to be man’chi holding the whole thing together. And that was what he was notable to get out of these two.

He had escaped his tutor, escaped his lessons in the capital, and come out here to go on nand’ Bren’s boat and go fishing with Jegari and Antaro. Life was going to be easy and good and constant fun.

Now they had been shot at, the windows were all boarded up, both the boats were out of commission with repairs, and his father had sent him a gift to protect him, as if he was that same boy who had ducked out of the Bujavid to get away from that old fool of a tutor?

Hell, nand’ Bren would say. Bloody hell. And he could call those two over right now and tell them exactly what he was thinking, but they were too self-assured to take any shame of it.

And his father might thinkthose two were naturally in awe of the aiji of the whole aishidi’tat, and that they would follow his orders, if nobody else’sc but they were, in fact, just too smart to be impressed. They would absorb any warning the aiji’s son gave them and come out of it just the way he would, thinking he still could get the better of the situation and run things the way he wanted. They were more than twice his age and they had had a long time to get into bad habits. And they had every fault Great-grandmother said he had.

Which made him mad, because it meant maybe his father saw the same thing—

Was it possible? Would his father do that to him?

Things he was involved in were serious. Lucasi and Veijico thought they knew how serious and just how much they could get away with.

But he was Great-grandmother’s student, and nand’ Bren’s, and Banichi’s and Cenedi’s and Jago’s, and he was not going to be found at fault for their misbehaviors.

They thoughtthey had his father figured, and they could just run things in his household until hegrew up, and that they could get past Jegari and Antaro and be senior. On a second and third thought, probably everything had been fine with them until they had found out he was going to prefer two Guild trainees to them, and then they had gotten their backs up—gods, they mighteven have the notion of getting ridof Jegari and Antaro, if they were really ruthless.

And they were real Guild, and had no orders about thatc and no scruples.

That was a terrible, terrible thought.

He hadn’t thought it when, of course, he had told them how the household was to be ordered.

He had told them that back when he had made assumptions they would automatically have man’chi to himc

It was just not good, when he thought about things from the side of two very ruthless, very determined, almost-adult Guild.

Algini, who let very little slip, had given him a direct warning: They are not all good.

When Banichi and Jago and Cenedi had all been with him in deep space, Algini and Tano were the ones who had stayed on the space station. Algini in particular had helped reconstitute the Assassins’ Guild after the coup.

So Algini’s letting slip that one small expression was no casual remark. It was a very purposeful warning. Had he been asleep? He did not think Algini ever was.

So hehad to get control of his own aishid, fast, before somebody got hurt. He had given orders maybe his elders would not advise, and he had either to give up control of his own household to them—or get these two to change their ways.

Gods, mark it down to remember: a

Did his father carewhether his son and heir could rely on his own household—when a mistake could get people killed?

His mother and father were having another baby, a safebaby they would bring up themselves, and who would not have been off in space with Great-grandmother and nand’ Bren, that was what. Succeed or not. Obey or not. Rule or not. Make these two obey—or not. There will bean alternative to you.

Damn it!

Lucasi and Veijico were homework, was what. They were capable of becoming a real major problem.

And he could solve it one way by asking Great-grandmother to take them away and put them in herguard. She would make an impression on them, and she was almost the only person who could—because Guild who had served high up in the aiji’s house could only go to a related aishid; or they had nowhereto go. And in the Guild—that could be fatal. Were Lucasi and Veijico thinking about thatat all when they acted so snotty with Antaro and Jegari?

Or with him?

He couldgo to Great-grandmother, and she would assign them tower duty in Malguri, which was about as far from talking to anybody as you could getc for the rest of their lives.

If they were as smart as they thought they were, they would be afraid of that eventuality. They would have figured out that if this assignment went bad, they would know too many house secrets to be let loose into someone else’s employ.

So Lucasi and Veijico were in a bit of a trap, whether or not they figured it out. He was ahead of them in that.

And he was not ready quite yet to go to his Great-grandmother, but he had thought out his alternatives. He scowled at them, thinking this, and they noticed, and pretended not to, and then he smiled at them with his father’s nastiest smile. They would ask each other, later, “What was that look about?” and they would probably not come up with the right answer.

Which proved that they were not quite as smart as they thought they were.

He had to impress them and get them to takeorders from Antaro and Jegari. That was the first thing on the menu. And he could notsit around playing with the slingshota and being told that he could notmeet the bus and could notfind out what the important business was between nand’ Bren and Lord Geigi. He had a rival. His father had warned him about that. And maybe his father had even thought he would go on playing games while things were happening that were serious, even after being warned. Maybe his parents had decided he was stupid.

He was not Baiji. Maybe if he were, having Lucasi and Veijico around would not matter at all and he could just sit back and let them run his life.

But he was notBaiji. And his father regarded him enough to challenge him, really challenge him. That was an encouraging idea.

So he got up, he had Jegari go get his better shirt and best coat, and Antaro help him with his pigtail and ribbon, to look absolutely his best.

He was, first of all, going to go call on Great-grandmother, because he was sure Lord Geigi and Lord Bren would both be talking to Great-grandmother among the very first things they did, and if he were there when they came back, and in very good graces because he showed up looking like a gentleman, he might be able to stay with Great-grandmother once the bus arrived. And it shouldbe coming soon. The airport was about a quarter of an hour past the train station: he had heard staff say that.