“More?” Mai asked.

“With thanks.” The envoy returned the cup to her hand. She smiled at him as she received it. “You mentioned another uncle, Uncle Shai, eh?”

He spoke pleasantly, but Chief Tuvi touched the hilt of his sword, and Avisha took a step toward Mai as if a change in the air impelled her motion.

“Aiyi!” Mai passed a hand over her eyes and seemed on the verge of tears. “Probably dead, too. It’s my fault.”

Priya tucked a hand under Mai’s elbow and firmly settled her on a pillow.

“How so?” asked the envoy as gently as a feather brushes.

Tears began to fall, some captured in the cup held in her hands. “There came a demon. A ghost.” She shook her head. “A ghost turned into a demon, maybe. She rode into our compound in Olossi and killed two of the soldiers. Then I didn’t mean to tell her but I did, so now she’s gone after Shai.”

“North,” muttered the envoy.

“North,” she echoed, or maybe he had echoed her.

Avisha shivered.

“And then I heard some days ago—that very day I met you at the gate, Your Holiness—that Shai had been attacked by bandits.”

“Where did that happen?”

“Near the town of Horn. That’s where the ring belonging to my Uncle Hari was found.” Her shoulders slumped. The cup rolled out of limp hands, and Sheyshi deftly caught it as Mai covered her eyes. “What if Shai is dead?”

The envoy had the kind of cheerful modest demeanor that makes the day more pleasant when he walks into your shop and asks to purchase braid and rope. Yet beneath all lay a disquieting expression, hard to fathom.

He looked at Avisha, eyebrow cocked as if in a question.

Unbidden, words rose. “I miss my father,” she whispered, but no one was listening. No one but him. His gentle smile lingered as he looked toward the door.

“Chief!”

Tuvi hurried outside. Mai looked up. Feet clattered on the walkway as male voices rose in greeting. The captain strode in, followed by guards and the handsome reeve, who halted to stare at the envoy of Ilu.

“Anji!”

The captain crossed to Mai, took both her wrists in his hands, and frowned as he examined her wan face. “Tuvi sent word you were not feeling well.”

For a moment he matched gaze to gaze with the envoy, and his brow furrowed as if the captain was trying to place the man. Then he nodded at Tuvi.

“Everyone out,” said the chief.

The chamber cleared with a bit of confusion, people getting in the way, Sheyshi running out and then running back in for the tea things and impeding the exit of others as she fussed. Avisha retreated to the walkway, wondered if she should collect the basin and pitcher, and then saw the reeve—marshal of Argent Hall, a very important man!—beckon to her.

Biting her lower lip, she went to him.

“I can’t recall your name. I’m Marshal Joss. We met in the Soha Hills.”