With delicate care the chain wove itself in and out of her gleaming auburn hair, carefully positioning the jewels until the large emerald had wriggled its way to the surface at her forehead. The smaller emeralds now circled her head like a crown. Once they were all in place,

they stilled. The queen reached up to touch them hesitantly – they felt like normal stones, normal gold, except for an almost imperceptible warmth.

She smiled at her husband, then curtsied deeply to Isak. 'You honour me,' she said. 'I do thank you, for me and for my daughters to come.'

For a moment Isak glimpsed the sadness in her eyes and recalled the couple were still childless, but then Queen Oterness smiled, and it lit up her eyes. Isak smiled back and inwardly sighed with relief. He hadn't been sure the snake jewels were right – they'd startled him when Tila had shown him how her grandmother's set of sapphires worked – but Tila had promised him that once over the initial discomfort, any woman would adore such a gift. The jewels had some property imbued in them that seemed almost to enhance beauty. Certainly Queen Oterness was almost glowing now.

Isak had decided not to offer the last gift, the book, publicly. A Murder of Cardinals was an account of the Malich affair, written by Cardinal Disten, the man who had exposed the plot in the first place. Isak suspected that King Emin would disappear with the book and pore over it for hours, probably with his curious friend Morghien, at the first opportunity.

. Now King Emin bowed again, and said, 'My Lord, your generosity overwhelms us. I fear I have nothing to offer a man so blessed with gifts as you, but the freedom of my city and realm are yours, as is my lasting friendship.'

Isak smiled: this was all going well. The host should offer nothing but friendship, and since that was what Isak had been sent to win, he was pleased. His first attempt at diplomacy was not going too badly, at least so far.

He indicated his retinue and said, 'We look forward to exploring the beauties of your city; thank you for your kindness.'

'And,' continued the king, 'if such a friendship results in sufficient trade to require an embassy here, I would be delighted to offer you the former duke's residence in perpetuity as your home away from home; a little piece of Tirah in Narkang.'

From the murmurs, Isak guessed the offer was both unexpected and generous. He bowed again, not sure if he should do or say anything else, but the bow seemed to suffice.

The king was speaking again. 'But I have been remiss in my introductions. Lord Isak, allow me to officially present to you Queen Oterness.'

The queen held out her hand and Isak took it gently, as Tila had taught him, and kissed the silk of her glove.

'My bodyguard and friend, Coran,' he continued, indicating the people as he spoke, 'my Prime Minister, Count Antern, and the Chief Councillor of the Public Assembly, Morten Deyl.'

Isak inclined his head briefly to each one. Coran looked like a thug with the brains to realise he was nothing without the king. Count Antem looked every inch the sly, ruthless politician that Lesarl had described: the man was utterly loyal to his king and had profited enormously by it. The only unknown quantity here was the Chief Councillor: Morten Deyl had recently been elected to head the Public Assembly. He'd come from almost complete obscurity, but his first year in office had resulted in a host of allegations and rumours. To Lesarl's fury, he had still not discovered who had engineered the vote.

Isak noticed the Chief Councillor's narrow eyes never left Eolis the entire time, even when he bowed. Whatever else he was, the man was a coward.

'Now, my Lord, I'm sure your companions are tired from the journey. Apartments have been prepared in the White Palace for you and your staff – and this afternoon I thought the public baths might be an excellent place to visit. Even if I do say so myself, I think you'll agree they really are quite magnificent.' His enthusiasm was infectious and Isak was not the only one who found himself smiling at the thought of such a luxury after their journey.

Isak stood on a balcony above the courtyard of the palace, surveying the neat beds of red, orange and white flowers that lined the white stone walls. There was a surprising absence of guards – the whole palace felt genteel, elegant; Isak thought it was overly relaxed, and definitely vulnerable. Huge, ornate golden cages standing on pillars all about the grounds housed a multitude of extravagantly coloured songbirds whose voices filled the palace. Isak recalled what the Seer of Ghorent had said: he could well imagine how beautiful the grounds would look when thousands of butterflies arrived. The network of gravel paths, ornate fountains and marble statues was a far cry from the hard-packed earth and tired, worn grass of Tirah Palace's training

ground. What few guards there were wore gold-plated armour and appeared to be as ornamental as the songbirds.

'He must be very sure in his power,' Isak commented to Vesna. 'This place is wide open to attack.'

The count had been very glad to get out of his armour now that the formal introductions were over; their overtly militaristic dress felt rather uncomfortable in these refined surroundings.

'He's designed the place carefully, that's for sure,' he replied. 'Look carefully: those walls, for example – the top piece is wooden. I'd wager that a unit of men with hammers could knock out the pins, drop them down inside the wall and be there to man the battlements underneath within minutes. Did you notice the ground outside the outer wall? It's not solid. That's just a layer of earth over boards, no doubt covering a deep ditch. And these apartments? They form a ring, accessible only from the inside. If the main wall is breached, Emin has the higher roof of this ring to turn that pretty courtyard into a killing ground.'

Isak looked around once more. In place of a defenceless fancy palace with a sculptured garden, he now saw a classical two-wall castle. He pictured the king himself, and his feathered hat: the absurd headgear hadn't detracted from the man's coldly brilliant eyes that looked as if they saw everything.

'That does seem to be the theme of this city,' he agreed. 'I wonder what else we'll find hirking under the finery?'

Til keep my eyes open in the public baths, watch out for the smiling and the harmless, as my father would have said.' Vesna took a bite from an apple and leaned against the balcony, looking up at his Lord.

'Yes, I'm sure you'll find something to look at there. All those married women bathing… Tila won't speak to you for a week,' Isak teased.

The designers who turned Narkang's half-dozen natural hot springs into one of the great wonders of the Land had created three smaller chambers alongside the main public bath. The first was reserved for soldiers; the king's habit of ennobling his supporters meant many of the city's rich elite were scarred veterans. The smaller chamber afforded them a degree of privacy, and allowed the younger generation to mingle with military heroes. King Emin hoped lessons learned by the older soldiers would be passed on not only through training, but by talking.

The second was for women only, so unmarried girls were not on public display, as they would be in the main bath.

The last, the smallest, was a private bath chamber reserved for the royal couple. Few had ever been invited into this sanctuary; it was a rare honour. Since Doranei had been the one to bring Isak's invitation to join King Emin there, it was clear that there was real business to discuss – business that needed to be kept private.

They were summoned to the courtyard an hour or so later, to find King Emin and a line of litters ready for them. His entourage was smaller; the only newcomer was a rather harassed-looking man, unevenly shaved and obviously uncomfortable in his dress uniform. The man couldn't have been more than thirty summers, but from the way he was shifting from foot to foot it looked like he could think of far more productive ways of spending his time than sitting in the public baths with some foreign dignitary.