But that was just a dream. In real life, she had not worn that shift. She had not made that offer. Sitting in her office after her encounter with Barad, she checked these facts several times to be sure of them. No, she had shown the Aushenian nothing but gracious hospitality. She had been more generous with her time than normal, perhaps had smiled too readily and spoke to him with unguarded familiarity. But nothing more than that. She was so grateful for this fact that she pressed the tips of her fingernails to her forehead and squeezed, thanking the Giver for her having had at least that much reserve.

When Rhrenna entered, her face as pale and distorted as beeswax grown soft in the sun, Corinn already knew what she would report. The secretary confirmed as much tersely. Grae had nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw Barad. Though Rhrenna spoke to him innocently about what was happening-betraying no suspicion of him-Grae had stammered and even trembled a bit. Sweat had appeared in instant droplets along his forehead, and his attempts at looking casual were clearly forced.

"I cannot believe it was all an act," Rhrenna said, "but there it is. He scorned you-"

"This is not about being scorned," Corinn cut in. The words came before she knew she was to say them, but they were true. Scorn was for lesser people than she. "It's about ruling an empire," she said, and then gave new orders.

C HAPTER

She can't climb these mountains," Naamen said. "There's no way."

"I can carry her," Kelis answered.

The younger man plucked the knuckle root he had been sucking on from the corner of his lips, indignant. "So can I! And I will! But still, when we drop from exhaustion she'll be no better off."

Kelis answered this with only a sharp grunt and walked on with his chin high. Inside he feared the same thing. They had trudged toward the peaks for several days, their scale growing as they approached, deceptive, massive in a way that surprised him each time he looked upon them. They seemed to swell when his eyes touched them, as if they inhaled breaths and puffed out their chests to seem larger. Nor did the play of the light as the sun progressed seem to follow the natural order. At times, the upper regions of the mountains were snow dusted. At others, they appeared to have thick vegetation right up to the peaks. On occasion, he stopped, convinced he faced geometries of sheer black rock, unclimbable.

Though he never showed it outwardly, he half hoped Benabe would plant her feet and declare she and Shen would go no farther. If she did, what could he do but acquiesce? In matters of a daughter's welfare a Talayan mother had the final say. Though Shen was a princess, she was also just a young girl. Even if Aliver had been alive Benabe would have been her foremost guardian.

But Benabe never did shout them to a halt. Her face, in its own way, was as changeable as the strange mountain range. She is strong, Kelis thought more than once. Stronger than she is frightened by the future.

On the evening before they were to enter the mountains, Benabe approached Kelis. She sat beside him and stared up at the range before them, just there, so close she could have thrown a stone and hit the first of the foothills. Her daughter had combed and braided her hair the evening before, and the rows were tight against her scalp, dusted by the dry soil and twinkling here and there with flecks of gold. "I hate these mountains," she said. "They are not right. They are not true."

Kelis prepared a response and then rejected it, thought of another but felt it poor. He cleared his throat but said nothing. Behind them, Naamen and Shen slapped palms together as they played a rhyming game. Occasionally, peals of Shen's laughter flew by them.

"When I was a girl I used to dream of mountains," Benabe said. "A strange thing, yes? I lived in a flat, hot place, but I dreamed of high, cold things. I wanted to see snow. Like the Snow King." She clicked her tongue. "Tell me you had some foolish notion like that yourself, Kelis. Tell me."

I loved a prince in ways different than he loved me, Kelis said, but only to himself. To her, he answered, "It's not foolish to want to see over the horizon. Don't the wise say, 'He who travels farthest best knows his home'?"

"The wise say many things, enough to confuse the rest of us. Ever since I saw these mountains I've felt like I created them. It's those old dreams come back to punish me. Shen says that's not it, though. She says the stones put them here to welcome us. To repel others, yes, but to welcome us. They will guide us through, she says, and on the other side welcome us to safety." She pulled her gaze in and fixed it on Kelis. "Do you believe that?"

"If your daughter believes it"-he paused, but then decided what he had begun to say was the truth-"then I am comforted. She is one of the wise."

"Yes, listen to her. She's wise enough to laugh." Benabe blew air through her nose. Smiled. And the moment of mirth faded as quickly as it had come. "The strange thing is that I'm taking my daughter to find sorcerers who scare me to death, and I'm doing it because the only thing that scares me more is not finding them. Do you know how Shen convinced me? It was after my first meeting with Sinper Ou. He calls Shen his cousin, but there is no kindness in him. He would make her his wife if he could, or marry her to one of his sons. And then he would declare to the world that she lived and as Aliver's daughter was rightful ruler of the Known World."

Kelis felt his pulse quicken. "You really believe he would challenge the queen?"

"If he thought her weakened, yes. But even if he did not, I think he would make a grab for all Talay. The Ous have long thought themselves better than the rest of us. Big lions. Why shouldn't they be kings and queens? I could see these thoughts surging every time Sinper's heart pumped. You see, he would challenge the queen if he could, but I think he would be just as happy breaking the world in two. Talay is rich enough, even for a man like him. All he needs is my daughter standing beside him. He has but to name her Aliver's heir and all Talay will bow to her. Sinper will accept on her behalf. I was sure of this, and sure that he already had a spiderweb around us. I had hidden her all these years because I wanted her safe, unknown. Better a living village girl than the target for wolves. That's what I believed. I still believe it, but secrets are hard to keep. Sangae knew about her long before he approached me. And then he had no choice but to tell the other elders. And what the elders know, the Ous soon learn."

"You could announce her as Aliver's daughter yourself. Take that from Sinper-"

"The minute the world knows of her, she'll have a million enemies, most of them disguised as friends."

"She will have true protectors, too. I would be one of them. I would die so she might live."

Benabe studied him, her large eyes softening with a kindness that made them look fatigued. "Thank you. Shen would not like that. Live for her; don't die. She thinks there is a better way. That's what she told me. She came to me, and she seemed to know all the doubts within me, even though I'd tried to hide them from her. She said that there were a few in the world who could truly protect her. The stones. They promised her that the love they had for Aliver they gave now to her. Only they were stronger than all others combined. Only they could guide her safely through what is to come. She believes them, and I believe they're powerful, but I fear they want more from her than they'll ever give to her. There are things they're not telling her. I know there are."

The woman leaned forward, got her weight over her feet, and pushed herself upright. She turned to walk back to their simple camp, the moment of confiding at an end. Kelis could not help but ask another question before she went. "You named Sinper Ou's ambitions," he said, "but what are yours? What do you want for your daughter?"