The days when you were first a prisoner whom I helped rescue and then a rebel against the King of Kings ruling in Mashiz, he meant. From behind him came the faintest of murmurs: Sharbaraz' courtiers took the point. By the way the countenance of the King of Kings darkened, so did he. He tried to put the best face on it that he could: «We think only for their safety. Here in Mashiz all their needs will be met, and they will be in no danger from vicious marauding Videssians.»

Abivard looked Sharbaraz in the face. That was not quite a discourtesy, or did not have to be, but the way he held Sharbaraz' eyes certainly was. «If you rely on me to protect you and your capital, Majesty, surely you can rely on me to protect my kin.»

The murmur behind him got louder. He wondered how long it had been since someone had defied the King of Kings, no matter how politely, in his own throne room. Generations, probably. By the dazed expression on Sharbaraz' face, it had never happened to him before.

He tried to rally, saying, «Surely we know better than you the proper course in this affair, that which would be most expedient for all Makuran.»

Abivard shrugged. «I have enjoyed the company of my wife and children all through the winter. May it please you, Majesty, I would just as soon return to them in the chambers you so generously granted us.» If I don't take them with me, I won't go out.

«It does not please us,» Sharbaraz answered in a hard voice. «We place the good of the realm ahead of that of any one man.»

«The good of the realm will not be harmed if I take my family with me.» Abivard gave the King of Kings a sidelong look. «I will have one more reason to repel the Videssians if my wife and children are at my side.»

«That is not our view of the matter,» Sharbaraz said.

The murmurs behind Abivard were almost loud enough now for him to make out individual voices and words. People would speak of this scandal for years. «Perhaps, Majesty, you would be better served with a different general in command of these garrison troops,» he said.

«Had we wanted a different general, be sure we should have selected one,» the King of Kings replied. «We are aware we have a great many from among whom we may choose. Rest assured you were not picked at random.»

You're the one who's done best. That was what he meant. Abivard felt like laughing in his face. If he wanted Abivard and no one else, that limited his choices. He couldn't do anything dreadful to Roshnani or the children, not if he expected Abivard to serve him. What better way to get Abivard to do what he said he would not do and go over to Videssos?

How long had it been since the King of Kings had wanted someone to do something but had not gotten his way? By the frustrated glare on Sharbaraz' face, a long time. «Do you presume to disobey our will?» he demanded.

«No, Majesty,» Abivard said. Yes, Majesty—again. «Loose me against the Videssians and I will do everything I can to drive them from the realm. So the King of Kings has ordered; so shall it be. My family will watch as I oppose Maniakes with every fiber of my being.»

And if my family isn't there to watch—well, it doesn't matter then, anyhow, for I won't be there doing the fighting. Abivard smiled at his brother-in-law. No, Sharbaraz was not giving the orders here. How long would he need to realize as much?

He was not stupid. Arrogant, certainly, and stubborn, and long accustomed to having others leap to fulfill his every wish, but not stupid. «It shall be as you say,» he replied at length. «You and your family shall go forth against Maniakes. But as you have set the terms under which you deign to fight, so you have also set for yourself the terms of the fight. We shall look for victory from you, nothing less.»

«If you send forth a general expecting him to fail, you've sent forth the wrong general,» Abivard answered. A nasty chill of worry ran down his back. Again he wondered if Sharbaraz was setting him up to fail so he could justify eliminating him.

No. Abivard could not believe it. The King of Kings needed no such elaborate justifications. Once Abivard was away from his army and in Mashiz, Sharbaraz could have eliminated him whenever he chose.

The King of Kings gestured brusquely. «We dismiss you, Abivard son of Godarz.» It was as abrupt an end to an audience as could be imagined. The hum of talk behind Abivard made him think the courtiers never had imagined anything like it.

He prostrated himself once more, symbolizing the submission he'd subverted. Then he rose and backed away from Sharbaraz' throne until he could turn around without causing a scandal—a bigger scandal than I've caused already, he thought, amused by the contrast between ritual and substance.

The beautiful eunuch fell in beside him. They walked out of the throne room together, neither of them saying a word. Once they were in the hallway, though, the eunuch turned blazing eyes on Abivard. «How dare you defy the King of Kings?» he demanded, his voice beautiful no more but cracking with rage.

«How dare I?» Abivard echoed. «I didn't dare leave my family behind in his clutches, that's how.» No doubt every word he said would go straight back to Sharbaraz, but he got the idea that words would go back to Sharbaraz whether he said anything or not. If he didn't, the eunuch would invent something.

«He should have given you over to the torturers,» the eunuch hissed. «He should have given you over to the torturers when first you came here.»

«He needs me,» Abivard answered. The beautiful eunuch recoiled, almost physically sickened at the idea that the King of Kings could need anyone. Abivard went on, «He needs me in particular. You can't pick just anyone and order him to go out and win your battles for you. Oh, you could, but you wouldn't care for the results. If people can win battles for you, giving them to the torturers is wasteful.»

«Do not puff yourself up like a pig's bladder at me,» the eunuch snarled. «All your pretensions are empty and vain, foolish and insane. You shall pay for your presumption; if not now, then in due course.»

Abivard did not answer, on the off chance that keeping quiet would prevent the beautiful eunuch from growing more angry at him still. He was even gladder than he had been while facing down Sharbaraz that he'd managed to pry his family out of the palace. If the eunuch was any indication, the servitors to the King of Kings distrusted and feared him even more than Sharbaraz did.

And for what? The only thing he could think of was that he'd been too successful at doing Sharbaraz' bidding. If the King of Kings was lord over all the realm of Makuran, could he afford such successful servants? Evidently he didn't think so.

«I hope you lose,» the beautiful eunuch said. «No matter how you boast, Sharbaraz King of Kings, may his years be many and his realm increase, is rash in putting his faith in you. The God grant that the Videssians bewilder you, befuddle you, and beat you.»

«An interesting prayer,» Abivard answered. «Should the God grant it, I expect Maniakes would be here a few days later to burn Mashiz around your ears. Shall I tell Sharbaraz you wished for that?»

The eunuch glared again. They had come to hallways Abivard knew. In a moment they rounded a last corner and came up to the guarded door behind which Abivard had passed the winter. At the beautiful eunuch's brusque gesture, the guardsmen opened the door. Abivard went in. The door slammed shut.

Roshnani pounced on him. «Well?» she demanded.

«I was summoned before the King of Kings,» he told her.

«And?»

«There's more to the world than this suite of rooms,» Abivard told her. She hugged him. Their children squealed.