Ice crept up Shih-ka’i’s spine. Enough! “Pardon me, Empress. My peasant side waxed a little strong for a moment.”

“That’s worth considering sometime when we’re not distracted.”

“What?”

“You’ve been around a long time. You were among the last students taken from outside the senior castes. But in my grandfather’s time only talent and merit counted.”

“Dedication helped, as did a capacity to remain placid in the face of provocation. But you are correct. The ideals that boosted the early empire have been subverted. The get of Tervola grow up with a sense of entitlement.”

“I mean to give that some thought once I’m no longer obsessing about my children.”

“Make a big sign.”

“What?”

“A joke. The underlying assumption being that Varthlokkur keeps an eye on you. To let him know you’re thinking about him and your children. I meant it as silliness but a sign might actually be a way to let him know you’d like to have a conversation.”

“That’s insanity on the hoof—and might work. It would for sure let me know if the old bastard is looking over my shoulder.”

“Yes.” Lord Ssu-ma thought this might be a good time to go away. He could niggle around Wen-chin again later.

The Empress said, “Go back to work. I’ll do some thinking when there aren’t any distractions.”

Shih-ka’i bowed himself out, thoughts chaotic. No lifeguards had been present just now. Did that speak to Mist’s confidence or to her paranoia?

He stutter-stepped. He had no bodyguards of his own these days. He had not had a friend or close companion since Pan ku died at Lioantung. He had acquaintances. People with whom he worked.

His one shadow of a friend was hiding on an island outside the Empire, his very existence a death sentence for Ssu-ma Shih-ka’i.

Varthlokkur spent too much time being Haroun’s guardian angel, really. Bin Yousif seldom needed help. When the wizard was not a ghost behind that man’s shoulder he tried to keep watch on key players in the Lesser Kingdoms. Sometimes he checked on Bragi Ragnarson or went sneaking around some major personality in today’s Dread Empire.

Too often he wasted time trying to scry the future.

Once he had been a master of divination. The future was able to elude him only through ambiguity. He could look ahead for generations. Now he had trouble with days. Weeks were impossible.

He was sure he knew why.

He devoted an hour a day considering how to gain an advantage on the Star Rider.

That had been accomplished a few times but never for long and never with a net positive result.

He let Nepanthe help with some of his less dangerous applications, especially through the Winterstorm. That was simplicity itself. She needed only manipulate a few symbols.

“Varth. You need to see this.”

Her tone brought the wizard quickly. “Well. Damn! Isn’t that interesting?”

“And clever.”

They looked at a blackboard centered inside a transparent globe. Chalked on that board in big block characters, in Kaveliner Wesson, was: Varthlokkur, where are my babies?