Chapter eighteen
A case for casuistryA vision of Delia sprang into my head. Clear, distinct, infinitely appealing. My course was set.
The guards would come boiling in in the next mur. I leaped for Zenkiren and clapped a hand around his mouth and with the other pinned his right arm to his side. And I laughed. I roared with laughter, shouting my glee!
“Aye!” I roared. “Aye, Jernu, well may you laugh!”
Duhrra said, “Uh?”
I said, “Laugh, Duhrra, just a little.” Then, in a heartbeat: “Thank you, Duhrra. Your laugh clinches all.”
Zenkiren writhed. But his strength was wasted away. I held him. I bent and whispered in his ear.
“You will listen to me. We were friends once. We remain friends for my part. I know that if I said I would kill you if you cried out again for the guards, you would c
