Wei Dao was jealous of her position and would do what- ever was necessary to keep her husband from taking a consort.

Prince Tang stirred his concoction with a long glass rod, then poured it into a pewter chalice. He motioned to

Wei Dao and started toward Ruha.

"Do not frighten wu-jen," he said. "For bessst effect, she mussst drink potion of her own accord."

The witch tested her bonds, found they still held, and lowered the knot into the lamp flame. Even she could not smell the hemp being scorched, so thickly did the cloying reek of ylang oil hang in the chamber. She continued to strain at the rope until her captors were almost upon her.

Then, fearing they would notice a wisp of smoke or a flickering reflection behind her, she beckoned the fire into her hands and smothered it between her palms.

Tang and Wei Dao arrived with the love potion. The prince kneeled on the floor before Ruha and pulled her gag over her chin. His wife stood behind him, with one hand close to the wasp knives hanging from her black waist sash.

"If you still have no wish to become my concubine, drink this," Tang said in Common. He held his chalice to

Ruha's mouth. "It makes you forget what you see in Gin- ger Palace, so we can release you without fear."

Gently working her wrists back and forth against her seared bindings, Ruha stared down her nose at the oily pink concoction. It looked about as appetizing as camel's blood, and its syrupy sweetness was twice as nauseating.

The witch could hardly bear to sniff the stuff, much less drink it.

"I have no wish to forget what I have seen in the Gin- ger Palace."

"Then you do not leave."

"Be that as it may, I still will not become your concu- bine." Ruha raised her chin. "Such a thing would not be fitting. I am a sheikh's daughter."

Tang's eyes shined with a hopeful gleam and, merci- fully, he lowered the chalice. "What do you mean?"

"In Anauroch, a man may take as many wives as his camels can feed." A muffled grinding sounded between

Wei Dao's clenched teeth, but Ruha ignored the noise and looked deeply into Tang's eyes. "I suppose a Shou prince can feed as many wives as he wishes."

"Her insolence is beyond forbearance!" Wei Dao pulled a knife from her sash. "I slay this savage!"

With a movement so swift that Ruha saw only a blur,

Tang's hand lashed out and caught his wife's wrist. In

Shou, he said, "It isss for me to decide what is inssso- lence."

"You cannot take barbarian for wife." Wei Dao protested. "Emperor never invite usss to return."

The prince shrugged, then pushed Wei Dao's hand toward her sash. "We need wu-jen if we are ever to be sssafe from Cypress." He turned back to Ruha. "Please to pardon princess. She is only wife for many years and can- not help being spoiled."

Ruha continued to work at her bonds and graced the princess with a benevolent smile. "After she grows accus- tomed to the new arrangement, I am certain we will become great friends."

Wei Dao's only response was to thrust her dagger into its sheath, but Tang accepted Ruha's reply with an equally gracious nod. "Of course that is possible, but what of obligations you speak of earlier? If they interfere with being concubine, how do they not interfere with becoming wife?"

"If you are willing to marry me, then you must also be willing to make one accommodation," Ruha replied.

"I tell you thisss no good!" Wei Dao scoffed. "If you value mother's life and honor of Ginger Palace, you let me kill her now."

Ruha cast an impatient glance at Wei Dao. "I suspect our discussion would proceed more smoothly if we were alone. Prince Tang." She felt something slip in the knot behind her, but her hands did not come free. "Perhaps you could ask the princess to excuse us?"

"Do not be fool. Witch cassst spell on you."

Prince Tang looked at his wife out of the corner of his eye. "It is better to have princess here-as long as she behaves courteously. Otherwise, perhaps I do as you sug- gest, wu-jen." He returned his gaze to Ruha. "Now, tell me of this accommodation you desire."

"I have every desire to see Lady Feng released, but not at Yanseldara's expense," Ruha replied. "If you will stand with Vaerana Hawklyn against the Cult of the Dragon, becoming your wife would not interfere with my obliga- tions."

"What do I tell you, wise husband? Witch never be good wife." Then, in Shou, the princess added, "Ssshe baits you like witless bear."

Tang scowled, but again raised the silver chalice to

Ruha's lips. "Perhaps you should drink, wu-jen. What you ask is impossible."

Ruha gagged and pulled away from the potion's mawk- ish smell. "Why? If it is Cypress you fear, there is no need. He is dead. I destroyed him myself."

Wei Dao snorted, and the prince raised his brow-but he did not lower the goblet. "Perhaps you do destroy

Cypress, but if you think that means there is no reason to fear him, you know nothing."

"Then tell me." At last, the rope came apart. Ruha sti- fled a gasp of surprise and barely kept her wrists from drifting apart to betray her escape. "If I understand, maybe I can help."

"You are not that powerful, Witch," said Wei Dao.

Tang was not so quick to denounce Ruha's abilities. He regarded the witch thoughtfully, then said, "You cannot help, but perhaps you think differently about defying the

Cult of the Dragon."

"I could." The thought was not entirely outside the realm of possibility.

The prince glanced down at his pink concoction. "But if you still do not change mind, you drink potion?"

"So I will forget what you tell me?" Ruha asked, pre- tending she did not know the potion's true purpose. Her ankles were still bound together, and she needed more time to break the scorched rope. "Are you trying to keep the cult's secrets?"

From the way Wei Dao's eyes flashed and Tang's com- plexion darkened, the witch knew she had hit on a sub- ject worth probing.

"Why should you protect the cult?" Even as Ruha asked the question, the answer came to her. "Are you in it?"

Again, Wei Dao pulled a dagger, but Tang shook his head to stop her from attacking. He looked away from

Ruha and fixed his gaze on the chamber door, his expres- sion equal parts shame and relief.

"I join when we come here." The prince's voice was hardly a whisper. "In Shou Lung, dragons are magnani- mous and most honorable. How do I know they are differ- ent in Elversult?"

"Then what happened?" Ruha found herself feeling almost sorry for the hapless prince. "Did you try to quit?"

Tang slowly brought his gaze back to Ruha. "If I