He was still the nephew of the emperor and the brother of the emperor’s chosen heir, the prince Naheelid. In my defense, it had not been unreasonable on my part to assume that my master would become governor. I rubbed my head and checked my hand to see if it was still bleeding. The bottle of remchik was smashed, the glasses were smashed, and, judging by the pain in my shoulder and my side, the small statuette of Kamia Shesmegah formerly resting on his writing desk was smashed as well-from which I gathered that the emperor had not, in fact, offered my master the governorship of Hemsha. I’d invited disaster already that day by offering my master an evidently entirely inappropriate glass of remchik. I was absolutely not going through that door until summoned. I wanted a place where I could withdraw until the pain had eased, but my usual retreat was an alcove off the main room of my master’s apartments-on the other side of the door in front of me. Sighing, I tried to think through the fire in my head and my shoulder. My knees shook and I would have leaned against the wall for support, but it had recently been whitewashed and the blood would stain-I did not want to be reminded of this moment every time I passed until the stones were whitened again. I was not prone to stupidity, but I’d made a foolish mistake and was paying the price. Midday, and the houseboy was gone on an errand, probably stealing a nap somewhere, so I was alone at the door to my master’s apartments, holding my head in my hand and cursing myself for an idiot. The stone walls kept out the heat while the openings near the high ceilings admitted some of the sun’s fierce light. It was midday and the passageway quiet and cool.

Thick as thieves lucy lennox