Intruder

“Stand fast, nandi,” Bren said, “one begs you. You will not go near that trouble. A domestic matter—a missed message, perhaps. The lord of Ajuri thought he had a di

That part was wrong. Very wrong. And wrong behaviorin the Bujavid translated immediately to suspect.

“Relay to Cenedi, Jago-ji.”

“Cenedi is aware of it. The aiji-dowager does not wish to be delayed.”

Ilisidi and Komaji didn’t get along. Increasingly, considering the aiji-dowager’s affiliation with Tatiseigi and her taking Cajeiri into her orbit, they did not get along.

“Inform Lord Komaji’s bodyguard that the aiji is not present at this event,” Bren said quickly, thinking that if Ajuri were completely distraught, he might be coming into the Bujavid with the intent to seek out Tabini-aiji—and a major event downstairs was one place Tabini might be suspected to be in attendance. “Inform Jaidiri.” That was Tabini’s bodyguard. “And the door guards.”

“Yes,” Algini said.

But then a voice rose above the rest: “We are not among the invitees here, either? This is remarkable,nadi!”

“One hasto meet him,” Bren said, and went, regardless of his bodyguard’s expressed opinion. He had to. Until the dowager arrived, and before the two could encounter unaware, hewas in charge. Lord Machigi was under hisprotection, and Machigi’s bodyguard had every reason to be on a hair trigger. He headed for the door at his fastest walk, with his bodyguard around him, Lord Geigi left where he had stood, and doubtless both bodyguards in rapid communication, with Geigi’s bodyguard, with Machigi’s, with the door guards, and with Cenedi.

Komaji. Lord of Ajuri. Cajeiri’s grandfather had made it through the polite line of servants at the door; he was not making it through the line of Bujavid guards. And Cenedi, one hoped, had stalled the dowager inside the hall with the lifts, which was virtually clear, and not let her get delayed in the crowded main hallway.

“Lord Komaji,” Bren said with a bow, and to the Bujavid guards: “Please let him through, with his guard. I shall take responsibility.”

“Nandi,” the senior of that guard said, and signaled his unit to stand aside.

“Where is the aiji?” Komaji asked abruptly.

“He is not here, nandi. One begs you and your guard stay only a moment. This is the aiji-dowager’s event, and she is about to arrive.”

“I am impatient of discourtesy.”

So, one assures you, is she,was what popped into his head, but what he said, gently, was, “One entirely understands, nandi. May one offer you the courtesy of the event, pending—”

“I need nothing from a human who has interfered repeatedly in the upbringing of my grandson, who has provided the worst of advice to the aiji and to my daughter, who is the focus of the most pernicious influences in the court!”

There was, surrounding that outburst, an increasing and deathly silence.

And amid it, from the doorway and inward, the distinct tap-tap-tapof the dowager’s cane.

The gathered lords and ladies and bodyguards moved out of the way like a living wave, ahead of a dark little figure whose black lace sparkled with drops of red ruby and garnet.

Lord Komajii sucked in his breath, and bodyguards froze in place. Bren froze, thoughts racing, whether to get physically between—no. If bodyguards needed to move, they would. Cenedi was on Ilisidi’s left, Nawari on her right, and six more were at her back.

“Well,” Komaji said. “Well. A gathering of unlikely allies for an even less likely association with bandits, plotters, and humaninfluence.”

“And without a drop to drink, as yet,” Ilisidi said in a low tone, into a dead hush in the hall. “Esteemed father of my grandson’s wife, one thought you were due upstairs at this hour.”

“You know precisely the situation, and you delight, clearly, in making such a provocative remark, nand’ dowager. Such a calculated statement is beneath you.”

“Ah, so acting withoutcalculation is your preference, clearly. You are out of place and uninvited here as well, nandi. We recommend you retire quietly, before matters go less in your favor. Do so quietly and with dignity, and witnesses will have far less to remember of our meeting.”

“You have worked against my daughter from the first! Youwere the agency that took my grandson from his mother, to bring him up under your own influence! You encourage the boy to defy his mother, and you will not be content until you have driven a wedge between my daughter and her husband, for your own advantage. Your ruthlessness with a child you directed into misbehaviors is incredible!”

Ilisidi rested both hands on her cane, with a slight waggle of her jeweled fingers. “Do go on.”

“Oh, I can go on,nand’ dowager. I can go on! For years you have schemed to get the aijinate into your own hands, in actions going back long before mytime! You have dictated the policy of the aishidi’tat while your own district stands apart from its institutions, and now you make independent treaties as if you ruled the world! You have made independent agreements without consulting the legislature or your own grandson! You have done every underhanded maneuver within your power to bring your great-grandson under your influence, you have co

“How interesting,” Ilisidi said in a silence in which one could hear a pin drop—and with Machigi and his bodyguard likewise afforded a clear view across the hall. Three times her jeweled hand opened wide and closed on the knob of the cane. “Lord Komaji—I do not call you Lord Ajuri, not to involve your unfortunate relatives in this unfortunate moment. Your frustration is truly pitiful, but we ca

“Failures! Where are your successes,lady? In this agreement with the enemy? In the corruption of the aishidi’tat? In the stealing and corruption of a child?”

Bang!went the cane, so loud in the hall people jumped, yet Ilisidi seemed hardly to have moved.

“Failures, Lord Komaji, failuresto support your own daughter and her husband in the aftermath of the coup. Failure to rally to the aiji’s side until my grandson and your daughter had gained Lord Tatiseigi and Lord Dur and Taiben as allies and were wi

“You confuse me with my predecessor!”

“Oh? Were you not related to my great-grandson before you took over the clan? Were you held prisoner? Could you not have mustered at least yourself and your bodyguard, when a handful might have made a difference—and did? Do not lecture us about forwardness in defense of the aishidi’tat, Komaji-nandi!”

“You endangered my grandson in the midst of conflict, you subjected him to human influence and have set his unskilled hand on agreements with an uncivilized rabble of smugglers, wreckers, and pirates!”

“The ancient peoples of Mospheira, nandi, who diddefend your grandson! Where were you?You do have a history of showing up at the tail end of any fight, claiming a right to decide the outcome, when you have done nothingto win the war. Here we have won a peace—and a regional agreement; and here you are again, at the last moment, unwelcome in ma

“You are a disgrace!” Komaji shouted.

“Oh, that will quite be enough,” Ilisidi said with a wave of her hand, and Cenedi stepped to the fore.