Blade was mildly annoyed with Tressana for not moving him closer to her as soon as she'd made up her mind, instead of leaving him in the same building with Curim. It seemed thoughtless, although he couldn't see that it put him in any great danger. By missing a few meals Blade managed to avoid eating food that Curim might have been able to get at with poison. This also gave him a lean and hungry look, which Tressana said she liked. As for any open moves, Blade intended to meet any challenge by chopping Curim to bits with the other man's own steel sword.

He was more worried for Jollya. It was even more likely now that she was in danger, if Curim thought he could hurt Blade by striking at her. He might even strike at her to hurt the queen, if he hated Tressana enough not to care anymore what happened to him. Blade was careful to be distant and even mildly hostile toward Jollya whenever they met, giving the general impression that they'd quarreled while he was Sikkurad's guest. She seemed to understand and began to behave as if she in turn had a grudge against Blade for taking Lorma.

Blade also took the precaution of warning the queen one night about what Curim might do to Jollya. He was as casual as possible about it, since his refusal to ask her favors still interested Tressana. He also didn't want to arouse her suspicions.

He wasn't sure he was casual enough. Tressana rolled over in bed and ran her fingers down Blade's torso to his groin. «Did Jollya spread her legs for you in her father's house, Blade?» She held his penis gently but firmly.

Blade shook his head. «I never asked, and neither did she. I don't know why, and now it certainly doesn't matter. What does matter is that if Curim does anything against Jollya, you may have to find new captains for both the Men's and Women's Guards. That might leave you unprotected, and the people around you in danger.» He could have added that it would also risk chaos in her army on the verge of a major war, but he wasn't going to show that he knew anything about the war until the queen told him herself.

Tressana laughed. «I love it when you pretend to be as cautious as Sikkurad of the Animals. It's one of your best jokes.» She squeezed his penis, then started stroking it in a friendlier way.

Three days later Tressana sent Blade a steel sword of his own and an escort to bring him to her. Again the escort was commanded by Efroin of the Red Band. Along with the sword he brought a gilded helmet and a suit of armor with a chain-mail loin guard for Blade. Efroin laughed when he saw Blade pulling on the loin guard. «Is yours a royal treasure now?»

«Ask Tressana.»

«Thank you, I'd rather die in battle. It's quicker and cleaner. I suspect yours is a royal treasure now, and Tressana always takes good care of the royal treasures.»

«I'm not going to complain.»

«Not if you're wise.» Efroin slapped Blade on one leather-armored shoulder. «Blade, don't throw yourself away on Tressana. You're a fighting man, and I'd like to have you beside me sometime. Don't lose your temper when Tressana loses interest.»

«Like Curim?»

«I wasn't going to put it that way, but-yes. He's put himself out of the running for anything except a weighted sack into the Adrim some night. Not that he'll be much of a loss. You would be.»

«Thank you.»

Blade was glad to have Efroin's praise. The Red Band commander seemed like a levelheaded, honest soldier. He'd be a good friend.

Tressana surprised Blade that night by saying very much the same thing, after she'd summoned him to her bedchamber. She'd greeted him sweaty and smelling of rolghas after a visit to the stables, but eager as ever. They made love twice before Blade was able to suggest a bath. They bathed together in a sunken marble tub almost large enough to be called a swimming pool.

«I'd better not ask too much of you,» she said once they were clean. She lay back on the edge of the tub and reached out to Blade, who was still in the water.

«All I can give is yours,» he said politely.

«I know, I know,» she said. «I don't mean that.» She tugged at his hair vigorously enough to hurt. «I mean, I've seen you use other weapons besides the one you use on me. You're good. You're too good a fighting man not to be put to work.»

«I could fight against the barbarians,» he said cautiously. He knew he might be on the edge of a big step forward, getting the information he wanted and gaining more freedom of movement. Eagerness could still spoil everything.

«Hardly that, Blade. They are not really a problem anymore. Certainly they're not worthy opponents for you. They have no notions of honor, for one thing, and you do. Besides, I'm not going to let you get that far from my bed yet, and I can't go west myself.»

Before Blade could think of a tactful way of asking why, she slid back into the water. «Pick me up and let's try it here,» she commanded. «That way you won't have to use up strength just holding me.»

For that sort of thing Blade always had plenty of strength, even though he was no longer fresh out of Oxford. He sometimes wondered what he would have been able to do then with all the opportunities he had now.

Tressana was no weakling, either, and she used her strength and endurance in other places than the bedchamber. She sometimes spent eight hours holding audiences and reading petitions, then inspected soldiers, visited the stables, attended a state banquet that went on until after midnight, and came home to make love. Tressana was a working monarch, one of the most demanding jobs in any Dimension, and Blade respected her for it.

Blade usually went with the queen when she inspected the soldiers. There seemed to be more of them around every day, with rolghas, draft animals, wagons, and all the other gear for an army. The harnessmakers, armorers, and the fietchers-arrowmakers-seemed to be working all day and half the night. Both the Men's and the Women's Guards had many new recruits, and both Jollya and Curim were too busy training them to have much time for Blade.

This was just as well. The busier Curim was, the safer everyone else was, and Blade had no information yet for Jollya. The war was coming soon and Tressana planned to use him in it, but until she raised the subject anything he said would look too much like prying. In a way he was almost back in the same situation he thought he'd left, waiting for someone else to make the first move. He did have to admit that Tressana's bed was a more comfortable place to wait than the places where he'd waited before.

It was nearly midnight, and one of Jaghd's rare summer rains was falling outside as Blade and Tressana dismounted at the door of a building Blade had never seen before. That didn't prove much, of course. He doubted if he'd seen more than half of the seventy-odd buildings on the palace grounds. But he found himself exceptionally alert as Tressana led him past guards almost too sleepy to present arms to their queen.

He called her attention to this, wanting to break the silence and try to judge her mood from her reply. She smiled. «Oh, it won't matter much longer. They'll learn to stay awake, from harder teachers than I could ever be.»

Blade doubted that the Elstani could come up with anything worse than the tortures Tressana could order when the mood was on her, and he was sure that she would see to it that the sleepy guards were brutally awakened. But he nodded politely and followed her into the building. She seemed to be excited herself, as if she were anticipating something more than enthusiastic lovemaking.

Blade followed the queen to the other side of the building, through a narrow door, and down a winding flight of stairs. After a few yards the stairs were cut out of the living rock, not even whitewashed. Tressana looked exotic and out of place here. She wore flared silk trousers, jeweled boots, a snug blue bodice that left her slim waist bare, a purple turban with an ornament of diamonds, and the Queen's Jewels of Jaghd.