Delivegu had been about to drink. He paused, squinting one eye. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know?" When Delivegu did not answer immediately, Yanzen smiled. "You don't, do you? That amuses me. I know something that you don't. Came by it easily as well. Perhaps it's worth something? Some reduction of my debt?"

"Anything is possible, if the information proves sound," Delivegu said. Then he added, in clipped tones, "Tell me."

He had already waited an hour on the staircase balcony when Delivegu finally heard someone descending toward him. As the person rounded the rock wall, he saw that it was Rhrenna, the queen's assistant. Bit of a disappointment. She was not exactly pretty, a little thin lipped and pallid for his tastes. Still, he liked the lines of her neck and the delicate muscles etched there. Perhaps more than anything, he liked that she was such a close confidante of the queen. Sleeping with her might pale in comparison, but he would not turn her away in the right circumstances. He looked her up and down in a manner that conveyed this possibility to her. She showed no sign that she acknowledged it, but he knew better.

"Tell me, Rhrenna, do you ever miss your homeland? It's a shame, don't you think, that Mein Tahalian has been abandoned. Must be caved in and crushed beneath the snow and ice by now. And nearly all Meinish men massacred… That must trouble you. So few left to choose from. How is one to maintain racial purity in such circumstances? I trust you've learned by now that men of other races can fill in just-"

Rhrenna cut in, all cold business. "I will hear your message." She kept her chin tilted upward. It was a nice chin, Delivegu decided. He thought about nibbling it, but that must wait for another time.

"Oh, I thought you were just here to make small talk with me," Delivegu said. "I wrote to you saying to get the queen, and saying to make haste." He let his eyes drift down from her face and linger on her bosom and slim waist. "Unless my eyes deceive me, you are not the queen, and I've been kept waiting about as long as I will wait. Get the queen, or you'll be sorry you didn't."

"You don't order me, much less the queen. What is your business? If I deem it merits the queen's attention, I'll speak to her about it."

"Oh, come now. You know the queen meets with me! I'm in her trust."

"I am in her trust," Rhrenna corrected. "You handle certain business for her when she summons you. You do not, however, summon her. If you assumed otherwise, be now corrected."

Delivegu stepped nearer, close enough that he could smell the fragrant oils scenting her neck. "It's no whim, dear girl, that brings me here." Face turned to the side so that he had to study her askance, he whispered, "Likely, when you think of me at night it's as a rogue, a bandit who sneaks into your room, perhaps, and-" Rhrenna jerked her head to turn away. His hand shot up and stopped her at the shoulder. "I wouldn't disavow that. There'll be time later. But right now, I swear to you, my lady, your mistress will want to know what I have to tell her. It's about her family line."

"Tell it to me, then," Corinn said. She came around the corner and down the steps toward them. "And it had better be good. If not, I'll take your impertinence as a sign that business is concluded."

Delivegu stepped away from Rhrenna. He bowed low, holding the position, secure in the knowledge that the muscles of his shoulders and back strained against his thin shirt. He said, "Before you proclaim my doom, Your Majesty, consider my message. I could have shared it with your maid-"

"I am not a maid," Rhrenna snapped.

"But the moment you heard it you'd call for me. Nor would you want it committed to paper, and I'd wager you'd not want to wait until we'd arranged another of those clandestine meetings." He straightened, enjoying the word clandestine and drawing it out slightly. "I've only been anticipating your desires." The royal visage remained dangerously annoyed. She was a viper, this one. He got to the point. "The lady your brother shares a bed with, Wren-she's with child."

The queen's face went blank. She looked for a moment as if she were completely devoid of thought: her lovely head empty and his to fill. Delivegu kept his smile from showing.

"I see," he said, "that you're wondering how I come to know so much about the ways of a courtly lady. I can detail that for you."

And he did. He left out any mention of Yanzen, and instead told a tale largely fabricated. His information originated with sources far too low and disreputable for Corinn even to know their names. Through these shifty agents he claimed to have learned of a prostitute-or whore, really, for this one was on the lower end of that profession-who had bragged about having certain knowledge about the prince's consort. Apparently, her cousin worked in the house of a surgeon whose wife served as midwife to some of the wretched in the lower town. "It's a bit complicated-the whole web-but bear with me." How Wren came in contact with such a woman the whore could not say. Sought her out to keep the whole thing secret, he figured, far away from the palace. The whore swore that her cousin was in the very room when the midwife confirmed the girl's pregnancy. In her opinion, the woman looked healthy, and there was no reason to think the child was in any danger at present. But there it was: the prince had a child on the way.

"The girl is thrilled. Wants the pup. Couldn't get enough of rubbing her hands over her belly, even though she doesn't show yet." This last detail he had made up on the spot, but he imagined it wasn't far from true.

Rhrenna was the first to speak. "This is not possible."

"Why not? What makes it impossible?"

The queen turned and placed her hands atop the stone railing. The sun was low on the horizon and orange highlights touched her features. Her face was not blank anymore, but it was as unreadable as it was beautiful. When she spoke, she might have been addressing her assistant more than Delivegu. "Wren is not supposed to be able to get pregnant. A tincture mixed into her tea years ago took the capacity from her. Or so I was told."

"That may yet be true," the secretary said. "Wren has said nothing about this. How can we be sure this whore told the truth?"

Delivegu crossed one arm over his chest and stroked his beard with the fingers of his other hand. "Could be," he said, pitching his voice as thoughtful, as if he were just now thinking it through with her encouragement, "that Wren doesn't want you to know. I don't know why that would be, but women have their reasons. As for the whore, well… I interrogated her."

"How?" Rhrenna asked.

"You wouldn't like to hear all of it." He almost insisted that be his final answer, but he found himself speaking anyway. Something about shocking them-especially Rhrenna-excited him. "The end was this: I took her hand and spread it on the table and said that I'd take her fingers off one at a time until she told me the truth, until I believed her."

Corinn asked coolly, "Was it necessary to take her fingers?"

"The threat didn't carry much weight unless I cut her to prove I meant it. I took one, just a wee one, though."

"And did she change her story when you raised the knife again?"

"Well, yeah, she did," he admitted, "but I'd just cut off her finger. She must've figured I didn't want to hear what she was saying, so she changed her story. You can't fault her for that, though. Like I said, she's clever. Anyway, I believed her. I let her keep the other nine digits and we were both happy."

"Barbaric," Corinn said, still looking out at the setting sun, "and flawed. Cutting off fingers is no way to get at truth."

Delivegu could not have disagreed with her more. He did not like the word barbaric, either, or that he was doubted. "I saw the girl myself," he said. It just came out. The lie leaped off his tongue before he had weighed its usage completely.