Standing on top of this staircase staring down at them felt stupid, and I was so wiped out. Besides, he said the magic words. I did trust him.

I landed on the bench. Sean sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him. He was warm. It felt so nice.

“Tired?” he asked.

“Exhausted. You and I can’t go on dates anymore.”

“Why?”

“Date is a dirty word.”

He smiled. “That bad, huh?”

“Yes.” I snuggled closer to him. “All of them were bad, but Prysen Ol and Amphie were the worst. He kept going on and on about obscure philosophical and ethical issues. I almost fell asleep standing up. She talked for the entire hour, super intense and tiresome, and then tried to bribe me on the way back to her quarters. At least Oond’s dance was pretty.”

Although a whole hour of jazz fins was really too much.

Sean’s body tensed. “Bribe you with what?”

“Unspecified favors which she would provide when she became the spouse. She wasn’t really clear on that part, but she did threaten to blacklist us if I didn’t go along.”

Sean cracked a smile.

“When you smile like that, you look like you’re plotting murder.”

“Not always.”

“What’s the deal with Surkar?”

“He’s being strategic. They were in it to win it. He knows he’s done, so he’s cutting his losses.”

“Why? They won’t get anything now. They’ll leave empty handed.”

Sean stroked my shoulder with his fingers. “So will Dagorkun.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Surkar and his people must have had a plan. The spouse-thing fit into it somehow, and whatever that plan is, they really don’t want the Khan or the Khanum to know about it. Dagorkun is smart. He doesn’t need much to put things together. Disclosing their minor ask might give away their hand, so Surkar would rather keep his mouth shut and go home with nothing.”

Huh. I gave Surkar too little credit. It was a smart move. Dagorkun was free to suspect as much as he wanted, but without evidence, he could prove nothing.

“Do you think there will be a civil war within the Horde?”

“It will never get that far,” Sean said. “Judging by their history, the Horde will find a new enemy soon, someone dangerous and vicious. And then Surkar and his tribe might find themselves on the front lines. Nobody wants to admit it, but part of the reason the Nexus war lasted so long was because the Horde needed a meat grinder. Their numbers are growing faster than they can manage. Nexus thinned those numbers and hardened the survivors.”

“But the Khanum was desperate to end it.”