‘Let him go,’ she said dully.
The soldiers obeyed without question. Arakasi lowered his arms, twitching his sleeves back into place out of habit. He stood with bowed head, and a seemingly endless patience that was painful to observe.
If he was acting, his extraordinary talent had her beaten.
The air seemed sluggish and heavy as Mara dragged in her breath. ‘Arakasi,’ she said slowly. Almost, she waited for a carping voice to raise protest; then she remembered. Nacoya was dead. She pushed on with the matter at hand. ‘You served as you saw fit. You and your network provided intelligence; you never guaranteed facts. You have not made decisions. I, as your ruler, decide. If there has been failure, or misjudgment, the blame must be mine alone. Therefore, you shall not be permitted to take your life with your dagger. Instead, I ask pardon for my shame, for demanding more than a loyal man should ever be expected to deliver. Will you still serve me? Will you continue to maintain your network, and bring ruin to the Lord of the Minwanabi?’
Arakasi slowly straightened. His eyes grew penetrating, disquietingly, uncomfortably direct. Through the sun’s glare, and the dusty scent of the flowers, he appeared to see through flesh and read her invisible spirit. ‘You are not like the other rulers in this Empire,’ he said, the velvet restored to his voice. ‘If I could dare to venture an opinion, I’d say you were quite dangerously different.’
Mara lowered her eyes first. ‘You may be right.’ She twisted the jade rings on her hands. ‘Will you still serve?’
‘Always,’ Arakasi said at once. He released a long, audible sigh. ‘I have news, if you would hear it.’
‘Later. You may go now, and refresh yourself.’ When Mara looked up, she watched her Spy Master off, the spring in his step rejuvenated as he hurried away down the path.
‘How did you determine he was innocent?’ asked a patrol leader, just past his youth.
Mara shrugged slightly. ‘I didn’t. But I looked at him, and remembered his formidable competence at his job.’ She arose before her puzzled warriors, her eyes almost distant with thought. ‘Do you think, if such a man wanted me dead, that he would have bungled the task? If he were Tasaio’s agent, or someone else’s, the Acoma natami would be no more. This I believe. So I trust him.’
Twilight threw a mantle of silver-green light over the garden when Arakasi reappeared to make his report. He had eaten and bathed, and now wore a house servant’s robe, tied with a crested green sash. His sandals were laced with meticulous perfection, and his hair had been freshly trimmed. Mara noticed these details as he bowed, and other servants walked softly around her, lighting the first lamps of the evening.
He straightened, slightly hesitant. ‘My Lady, your faith in me is not misplaced. I say again, as I did once before, that I would see your enemies dead and their names obliterated. Since the moment I swore by your natami, I have been wholly Acoma.’
Mara received this reaffirmation in considerate silence. At length she clapped for a servant and asked for a tray of fresh sliced fruit. When she and her Spy Master were alone once more, she said, ‘I have not questioned your loyalty.’
Arakasi frowned and struck to the heart of the matter, it is as important to me as my life that you do not.’ He looked at her, his dark eyes for once unshadowed. ‘Lady, you are one of the few rulers in this Empire who thinks past ancient traditions, and the only one willing to challenge them. I might have come to serve you once out of shared hatred for the Minwanabi. But now that has changed. I serve for you alone.’
‘Why?’ Mara’s own gaze flashed up, also free of any posturing.
The shadows of the lamps darkened as the sky deepened overhead. Arakasi made a gesture of impatience. ‘You are not afraid of change,’ he observed. ‘That one bold trait is going to take you far, perhaps even make your house lastingly great.’ He paused, and a startlingly genuine smile lit his face, ‘I want to be there, be part of that rise to power.