Rudy looked stupidly at him, like a man looking at his own spilled guts before it dawned on him that he was dead. Numbed, Rudy could only listen to that smooth, casual voice run on.

"I can countenance my sister's passion for you, since it harms no one. It does not affect the succession and will in any case soon be at an end. Indeed, I think it good for a woman to have something to occupy her. Though I cannot approve of her actions, of course, it is better than mourning and brooding. And you did, in fact, always intend to make your stay among us temporary, did you not?"

"Yeah," Rudy whispered helplessly. Before Quo , he thought. Before the desert. Before I knew what I was, and called fire from cold wood and darkness .

"Then it is well," the Chancellor said contentedly. "And when Minalde marries again..."

"Marries?"

"She is, after all, only nineteen," Alwir pointed out suavely. "I should hope, for the sake of your relationship, that you know her well enough to know that she cannot hold power by herself, particularly not in the sort of world which we are now entering. Even after the Dark are defeated, we will face a long war against them. It will be a time when the strong take what they can get. She cannot hold power under those circumstances-but a man could hold it through her."

"As you do," Rudy said bitterly.

Alwir shrugged. "I am her brother. Naturally, I would prefer that she remain single, but it is hardly fair to her. And I have no intention of letting her develop an affair with someone-wholly unsuitable."

Or strong enough to make trouble for you , Rudy thought through a daze of misery. Oh, Christ, Aide, what have I done to put you in his power like this ? In helpless rage, he cried, "Why can't you just let her alone?"