“Self-defense. Those Metademe fucks. I tell you, if you teach a woman to feel good when she kills in self-defense, she’ll get real proactive about that defense. I don’t like having her up here.”

“She’s just a person,” Baru said, remembering Purity Cartone shot in the chest at Welthony. “Crossbows work on her like anyone else.”

“Just a person, eh? Isn’t that what they said about Shiqu Si?” Execarne sighed heavily. “Well, come on in. Storm’s on its way, so one road or the other you’re still going to spend the night here. Might as well meet my houseguests. Do you know my protocol?”

“No interrogation,” Baru said. “No guards, no restraints.”

“That’s right.” Execarne let the crossbow down with a grunt. “Never been any interrogator who could open people up as good as a true friend. You hear that, Xe? Friends! Come on, show me that holy smile.”

“Smiles come when they ought,” Xe said, peaceably.

“That’s my Xe.” Execarne squinted at Baru. “Now you, the noki woman, I’ve heard quite a bit about you. Fair warning, lass, they’ve been talking about whether to devote their lives to murdering you. And the arguments in favor seem strong.”

Baru didn’t want to be knifed like Prince V Asra the moment she walked in the door. She didn’t want to be the damn fool sucker coaxed by Ulyu Xe and Xate Yawa into a deadly net.

“I think,” she began, “that I ought to wait outside. Xe, why don’t you go in and warn them all I’m here, so Iscend has a chance to see how they respond—”

Xate Yawa took Baru by the hand. “Let’s not dither, dear,” she said, with no little relish. “Your Coyotes must have missed you.”

“How are they? What are they like?” Baru floundered desperately for information. “How did they react to you? What did you ask them?”

“I told them exactly what you should tell them,” Yawa said. “They are now prisoners of the Imperial Republic. Their best hope for a happy ending is to cooperate fully with us. And if they do, I will ask for their pardon from the lawful Governor of Aurdwynn, Her Grace the Stag Duchess, Haradel Heia, who is styled Heingyl Ri.”

*   *   *

WITH one hand already on the door latch, Baru discovered she could not possibly see this through.

She had never gone backward before: she had never gone back to anything. She’d left Taranoke and she didn’t know if she still had any hope of return. She’d abandoned her tower in Treatymont, forsaken Muire Lo to die of plague, and walked out of Tain Hu’s tent at Sieroch to meet her destiny. She’d even failed (after all these weeks!) to open the letters from Aminata and her parents.