| "Nothing yet," he said, his smile fading"I want a few more messages from each of them before I move
Alessan looked down and seemed to notice his clenched fingers for the first timeHe unlaced them and ran a hand, predictably, through his hair
"You will have to move, though," he said with some difficulty"You will obviously need tradeIn your position you have to begin showing Quileia some of the benefits you can offerTraffic north will be the quickest way, won't it?" There was an awkward kind of challenge in his tone
"Of course," Marius said simplyWhy else am I King? It is only a question of timing, and with what happened this morning I think my timing has just been moved up
Alessan nodded, as if he'd known all this already
"What will you do, then?" he asked
"Open the passes for both of themNo preferences, no tariffs for eitherI will let Alberico and Brandin send me all the gifts and goods and envoys they wantI'll let their trade make me truly a King, a King who brings new prosperity to his peopleAnd I need to start doing it soonImmediately, I now suspectI have to put Quileia so firmly on a new path that the louis vuitton bags in uk old one recedes as fast as I can make itOtherwise I'll die having done nothing but live somewhat longer than most Year Kings, and the priestesses will be in power again before my bones are picked clean underground
Alessan closed his eyesDevin became aware of the rustling of leaves all around them and the sporadic calling of birdsThen Alessan looked up at Marius again, the grey eyes wide and calm, and he said, bluntly:
"My request: that you give me six months before deciding on tradeAnd something else, in that interval
"The time alone is a great deal," Marius said very softly"But tell me the rest, Pigeon
"Three letters, BearI need three letters sent northFirst letter: you say yes to Brandin, conditionallyYou ask for time to consolidate your own position before exposing Quileia to outside influencesYou make it clear that your inclination toward him is based on his appearing stronger than Alberico, more likely to endureSecond letter: you reject, sorrowfully, all overtures from AstibarYou write Alberico that you are intimidated by Brandin's threatsThat you would dearly love to trade with the Empire of fake louis vuitton handbags Barbadior, need to trade with them, but the Ygrathen seems too strong in the Palm for you to risk offending himYou wish Alberico all good fortuneYou ask him to keep in contact with you, discreetlyYou say you will be watching events in the north with close interestYou have not yet given Brandin a final decision, and will delay as long as you canYou send your warmest regards to the EmperorHe reverted to his trick of the winter: listen, remember, think about it laterMarius's eyes were bright though, and the cold, unsettling smile was back
"And my third letter?" he asked
"Is to the Governor of the Province of SenzioOffering immediate trade, no tariffs, first choice of prime goods, secure anchorage in your harbors for their shipsExpressing deep admiration for Senzio's brave independence and enterprise in the face of adversity"And this third letter, naturally
"Will be intercepted by Alberico of BarbadiorPigeon, do you know what you would be setting in motion? How incredibly dangerous a game this is?"
"Wait a minute!" Erlein di Senzio suddenly interjected, starting to rise
"You be silent!" Alessan literally snarled the rolex day date command in a voice Devin had never heard him use
Erlein's mouth snapped shutHe subsided, breathing harshly, his eyes coals of anger and burgeoning understandingAlessan didn't even look at himThe two of them sat on a golden carpet high in the mountains, seemingly oblivious to the existence of anything in the world but each other
"You do know, don't you?" Marius said finally There was a certain wonder in his voice"I've had enough time to think about it, Triad knowsOnce the trade routes open I think my province and its name are lostWith what you can offer him, Brandin will be a hero in the west, not a TyrantHe will be so secure that there will be nothing I can do, BearYour Kingship may be my undoing
"Are you sorry you helped me to it?"
Devin watched Alessan wrestle with thatThere were currents of emotion running here, far beneath the surface of what he could see and understandHe listened, and remembered
"I should be sorry," Alessan murmured at length"In a way it is a kind of treachery that I am notBut no, how can I possibly regret what we worked so hard to achieve?" His smile was wistful
Marius said, "You know I pasha de cartier love you, Pigeon
"You know what I am facing back homeI have reason to remember
In the silence that followed Devin felt a sadness come over him, an echo of his mood at the end of the nightA sense of the terrible spaces that always seemed to lie between peopleThe gulfs that had to be crossed for even a simple touching
And how much wider those gulfs must be for men such as these two, with their long dreams and the burdens of being who they were, and whatHow hard it seemed, how brutally hard, for hands to reach out across so much history and such a weight of responsibility and loss
"Oh, Pigeon," said Marius of Quileia, his voice little more than a whisper, "you may have been an arrow shot from the white moon into my heart eighteen years agoI love you as my son, Alessan bar ValentinI will give you six months and your three lettersBuild a bonfire to my memory if you hear that I have died
Even with what little he understood, on the uttermost edges of this, Devin felt a lump gather in his throat, making it difficult to swallowHe looked at the two of them and he couldn't have said which man he admired more in that dior saddle mome |
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