I bent my head, and said nothing. But I put my hand in my pocket and drew out my woman-stone. It lay heavy on my palm, and I felt the firestone power humming in my skin, murmuring along my arm and running warm into my heart. And guilt, too, ran warm. Too warm.

He knew, and he asked quietly, “What did you do in this place, handmaid, while I was gone?”

I put away the woman-stone, looked into the fire, and swallowed nervously. “I stayed with the Quelled, Lord.”

“And their tents were more honourable than this house?”

“Yes, lord.”

“I am sorry I did not choose more wisely for you. I commanded them to treat you well here. I believed they would. The world is more stubborn than I had thought.”

“It does not matter, lord. I was happy where I was.”

We were silent for a while, and I tried to gather up courage. I glanced at his face again. The firelight leapt across his high forehead, his aquiline nose, and glowed in his black pointed heard. His eyes were shut, though there was a tension about him, as if he waited. He was so fine, so like a king, so worthy of loyalty, of all my honesty.

“Lord,” I said, “there is something I must tell you.”

“Speak on,” he said.

I hesitated. My mouth was dry, and I could feel a pulse throbbing in my throat. “Lord,” I said, terrified, “I have divined. I divined for firestone. And I found.”

His eyes flew open, held mine, and his face seemed carved of stone. I stared at him, then tore my eyes away and looked into the fire. I felt his eyes on me, tearing, cleaving me open. For a long time he said nothing, and I wished with all my heart I had kept silent.

“You lie, handmaid,” he said after a while, with deadly quiet. “You lie to me. No other soul on earth has this power, unless I teach it to him. No woman has the power. No harsha.”

I twisted my hands in front of me, and saw that my knuckles were white. “Lord, I divined for my woman-stone when it was lost. And I found it. In that valley behind this town, I found it.”

He let out a long breath, and then, to my amazement, he laughed. “Your woman-stone!”

“Yes, lord. My woman-stone. I divined for it. What is funny, lord?’