She noticed two small spots darken on his cheek. Perhaps this ordinary man did feel something after all. ‘The empress,’ he said, a little too pointedly, ‘would doubtless welcome your friendship. Alas, she is presently unwell. In any case, I must think on this. But I cannot give you the answer you desire now. I fear your stay here will be longer than you intended. The Arab fleet is already in the Sea of Marmara. We expect to see their sails to the south at any moment. Once we do, there will be no leaving this city.’

‘I understand this, Majesty. And I pledge to do whatever I can to help you achieve victory.’

‘Indeed?’ Leo snorted. ‘I mean it as no insult, Lady, but from what you say you are powerless to do very much for me at all.’ Leo tipped his head at Katāros. ‘All the same, you are a welcome guest in this palace. Please treat it as your own.’

‘You are very kind, Majesty.’ Leo had already half-turned away when she added, ‘There is one other request I have to ask of you, which is certainly in your power to grant.’

Leo turned back with a rustle of purple silk. ‘Go on.’

‘There is a countryman of mine in this city. I understand he serves a general named Arbasdos.’

‘I know Arbasdos. But nothing of this man. What is he to you?’

A good question. What was Erlan to her? She hardly knew herself. ‘He is important to me,’ she said.

‘Important?’ Leo peered at her carefully, then laughed. ‘By the saints, look at her, Lord Chamberlain! I feel almost envious of this man.’

‘He was a warrior who served my father,’ continued Lilla. ‘I have need of him myself now.’

‘He must be an impressive man indeed if you came all this distance for him.’

‘I came to seek an audience with you, Majesty. When I learned that this man also had come to Byzantium, I resolved to find him.’

Leo turned to Katāros. ‘Do you know of this man?’

Katāros’s shadowed eyes shifted between them. ‘I have heard something,’ he answered in Greek. Lilla listened as the emperor spoke with his official, picking up only one word. Doúlos. At last the chamberlain addressed her directly. ‘I believe the man you seek is a slave in the general’s household. I have heard he is a warrior of formidable skill. And. . .’ He paused, seeming reluctant to continue.

‘And?’

‘I understand he is being held in very poor conditions.’

‘He belongs in my service,’ she replied quickly before her imagination flew too far. She turned to the emperor. ‘I implore you, Majesty, to have him released at once and brought to me.’

When Katāros relayed this to Leo, the emperor laughed. ‘Alas, there are some things even an emperor cannot do. Whatever is the price of this man’s freedom, it is between you and the strategos.’