'True. I am sorry for your losses.' Though I feel no sorrow, in particular.

'I thank you for your heartfelt condolences. God has seen fit to bless me with three more sons, but the spaces left by those two children lost will never close. It is almost like losing your own flesh. That is why I feel I understand something of what you have lost, in these same wars. I am sorry for those losses also.'

'Most kind.'

'We are leaders. War is what happens when we fail. Or are pushed into failure by the rash and the foolish. Victory is better than defeat, but… not by much. Therefore, the Emperor offers peace, in the hope that this may be a permanent end to the hostilities between bur great nations. We have no true interest in crossing the seas to make war, and you have no true interest in toeholds on the Kantic continent. So we offer peace.'

'And is that all your offer?'

'All?'

'What will our people make of it, if we surrender Dagoska up to you, so dearly bought in the last war?'

'Let us be realistic. Your entanglements in the North put you at a considerable disadvantage. Dagoska is lost, I would put it from your mind.' Tulkis seemed to think about it for a moment. 'However, I could arrange for a dozen chests to be delivered, as reparations from my Emperor to your King. Chests of fragrant ebony wood, worked with golden leaf, carried by bowing slaves, preceded by humble officials of the Emperor's government.'

'And what would these chests contain?'

'Nothing.' They stared at each other across the room. 'Except pride. You could say they contained whatever you wished. A fortune in Gurkish gold, in Kantic jewels, in incense from beyond the desert. More than the value of Dagoska itself. Perhaps that would mollify your people.'

Glokta breathed in sharply, and let it out. 'Peace. And empty boxes.' His left leg had gone numb under the table and he grimaced as he moved it, hissed through his gums as he forced himself out of his chair. 'I will convey your offer to my superiors.'

He was just turning away when Tulkis held out his hand.

Glokta looked at it for a moment. Well, where's the harm? He reached out and squeezed it.

'I hope you will be able to persuade them,' said the Gurkish envoy.

So do I.

To the Edge of the World

To the Edge of the World

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