that'll do for now."

Tashi felt the huge weight of despair settle on her. What he was asking was impossible for so

many reasons. It was like being at the bottom of a pit, able to glimpse freedom above but with

no hope of escape. "But I can't, Ram. I'm a devotee now, not a princess."

"I don't want a princess--I want you." He put his arm around her and pulled her to him. "And what's all this devotee nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense. I've been sentenced for my failings. I have to make up for my broken vows

with a lifetime of maiden service to the Goddess."

Ramil wrinkled his nose. "I don't like the sound of that--and I'm sure your Goddess doesn't

either. You are not destined to be a maiden, Tashi." He kissed her brow but she drew away.

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"I have no choice."

"Of course you have a choice. Your vow to me came first, remember? I'm not letting you break

that." He stood up. "What do you have to do round here to get married?"

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Tashi gave a weary laugh. He did not understand how impossible it was to break the Blue

Crescent laws as if they were no more than cobwebs. "You find a priest, then the woman

declares she wants the man as her husband, and he says if he agrees."

"Excellent!" Ramil rubbed his hands. "I was afraid there was some terrible ritual thing that would take hours."

Tashi shook her head. "No, marriage is regarded as a private matter and nothing to do with the

state. But I'm in even less favor since I tussled with the First Wife." Ramil raised a curious

eyebrow. "I'll explain later. What I'm trying to say is that you won't find anyone who'll dare

marry us, if that's what you had in mind."

"I don't know much about your country, but the one thing I do know is that its priests are

corruptible. I'll go and catch us one. You stay here."

His footsteps faded as he ran off back the way they had come. Tashi sat watching the dragonflies

skimming over the pond in the garden, not daring to think, not daring to hope. Her life for the

past weeks had been a desert. The only time she had felt even slightly alive was when she'd had

to fight off Fergox's vengeful

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wives and that had only been temporary. Now Ramil had burst in upon her like a sudden storm.

He was mad to think they could marry. He needed a political alliance to consolidate his new

position; she was under a lifelong sentence.

But I prefer his madness to the sanity of my people, she admitted. What did the Goddess think?

The dragonflies twisted over the pool in a blur of flashing wings. The Mother would prefer their

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offering of love to each other than the desert of dry duty, Tashi realized.

"Here she is!" said Ramil, bringing a woman in a green robe into the garden.

Tashi fell to her knees in consternation. "Second Princess!" she gasped.

"Get up, child," Safilen said, making a beckoning gesture with her ringed fingers. "I've told this young man that I will hear your vows. Not a usual part of my duties, I know, but I understand

from Korbin it is quite legal."

"Does she know too?" Tashi asked, aghast.

"Of course not. But I thought I'd better check before annoying her like this.

We don't have long, so if you don't mind?" Safilen took Tashi's hand, smiling at the bewildered

girl. "Do you, Taoshira of Kai, take Ramil ac Burinholt as your husband?"

"Yes, I take him," Tashi replied faintly, wondering what on earth she was doing.

"And you, Ramil ac Burinholt, agree?" The Second Princess grasped his wrist.

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"Yes, I do," Ramil said firmly.

She placed his hand in Tashi's. "As the Goddess wills," Safilen proclaimed.

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"Well, that covers it, I think, though I apologize for not doing the full speech: I don't know it and it's rather boring."

"That's it?" asked Ramil, holding on to Tashi's fingers as if he feared she would slip away from him.

"Yes," said the Second Princess as she departed, "that's it."

Ramil ac Burinholt, King of Holt and heir to the throne of Gerfal, strode back into the throne

room, bringing with him his dazed new wife. He bowed to the Crown Princesses.

"I apologize for leaving you so abruptly an hour ago," he said.

"It is forgiven," said the First Princess. "Now that you have spoken with the devotee, she will return to the Enclosure and we will return to our discussion of our alliance."

Ramil held on to Tashi tightly. Coming to her senses, she returned the pressure, gripping his

fingers.

"Actually, your devotee is no longer suited to maiden service in the Goddess's temple as we

have just been married," Ramil announced.

The courtiers rustled and whispered to each other.

"Is this true, Taoshira?" asked Marisa.

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"It is, Your Highness," Tashi replied, tempted to make a run for it before she was arrested. Only Ramil's hand

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anchored her here. "I fear you will want to cast me out of the Enclosure."

"Who dared marry you?" asked the Third Princess, turning her eyes to her co-ruler as realization dawned.

"I did, sister," said Safilen, raising her hand. "Marriage under our law is a private matter and not something we put to the vote. I was quite within my rights."

Tashi began to laugh, realizing that she might, just might, be able to escape.

"And as Prince Ramil has insulted you by choosing another wife than the one you proposed for

him, you'll want to cast him out too," she suggested slyly.

"Oh, undoubtedly," murmured Ramil. "Do cast me out."

Safilen hid her smile with her fan. "Yes, begone, uncouth Prince," she said, waving him away.

"I obey," said Ramil, turning Tashi round and marching her from the room.

"Excuse me while I abduct myself a princess."

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"Uncouth!" snapped Korbin, glaring at Safilen. "They are both a disgrace."

Safilen rose and spread her fan, then leant down to her sister on the Throne of Justice.

"But uncouth is fun," Safilen whispered in Korbin's ear. "The Goddess laughs with us when we are happy, remember that. Come, sister." Safilen beckoned to the terrified new Fourth Princess.

"I want to have a private word with you about love."

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Ramil escorted Tashi aboard the flagship of his fleet of captured pirate vessels.

"I can't believe you just did that," Tashi said, reliving the moment in the Hall of the Floating Lily when Ramil had claimed her as his wife.

"What we did," Ramil said, squeezing her hand. "You Blue Crescent women can't pretend to be mere chattels of your husbands. I seem to remember you took me. A very novel way of marrying

for us Easterners." He stroked her cheek. "I'm looking forward to finding out more about my

rights later." He was pleased to see he had made her very embarrassed at the thought.

"I apologize it's not up to Crescent standards," he continued, leading her to his cabin through the ranks of grinning sailors. They whistled and cheered their new queen. "It's now manned by

volunteers, but we've not had time to change the decorations."

The walls of the captain's room were covered with carvings of gruesome faces, buxom wenches,

and graffiti. It was vile, but at least the sheets on the bed looked clean and the place smelt of