The Two of Swords, Part 4 Read online

  Daxen looked straight at him. “Yes.”

  “Good. Right now, the best way you can help her is to go quietly. If you kick up a fuss, it makes it harder for us to continue with her on the throne. Replacing her would be a serious headache, something we really don’t need right now. We’d much rather she stayed where she is and you go away somewhere. But if we have to, we’ll get rid of both of you. If it comes to that.”

  “You’re the lodge, aren’t you?” Daxen said. “But that’s stupid. I met a lodge soldier in the desert, and he said you weren’t taking sides. He said you and the savages—”

  Carrhasian scowled at him. “I don’t know what you mean by lodge,” he said. “But I’ve got to tell you, you aren’t even close. Our only concern is the wellbeing of Blemya. Anyway,” he said, standing up, “here’s what you do. You retire to your country estates, you kill animals and chase little peasant girls and do whatever it is people do in the country, and you take no further part in public life. You make no attempt to contact the queen. Or, if you prefer, we kill you. Take a few hours to think it over. Someone will be along eventually to let you out.”

  He was by the door. “Just one thing,” Daxen said.

  “What?”

  “Let me have a pen and some ink.”

  “What for?”

  “I think better when I write things down.”

  Carrhasian raised his eyebrows. “If you like,” he said. “I really don’t see what there is to think about, though.”

  He left, and about an hour later a footman arrived with a silver inkstand, a new goose quill, exquisitely sharpened (but no penknife, of course) and twelve sheets of best rag paper. After he’d gone, Daxen sat quite still for a while. Then, slowly and carefully, he inked in moustaches on all the angels in the Translation. He had to stand on the chair to reach Our Lady of the Penitent Spirit; in the circumstances, however, he felt he owed it to himself to make the extra effort.

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  Having worked in journalism and the law, K. J. Parker now writes and makes things out of wood and metal.

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  BY K. J. PARKER

  The Fencer trilogy

  Colours in the Steel

  The Belly of the Bow

  The Proof House

  The Scavenger trilogy

  Shadow

  Pattern

  Memory

  The Engineer trilogy

  Devices and Desires

  Evil for Evil

  The Escapement

  The Company

  The Folding Knife

  The Hammer

  Sharps

  The Two of Swords (e-novellas)

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  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Dedication

  4: Virtue

  About the Author

  By K. J. Parker

  About Orbit Short Fiction

  Orbit Newsletter

  Copyright

  Copyright

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2015 by K. J. Parker

  Cover design by Kirk Benshoff

  Cover copyright © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  First ebook edition: May 2015

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  ISBN 978-0-316-26568-3

  E3