Bevier’s eyes had a stunned look in them.

‘Maybe you should go help the princess look for that water, Bevier,’ Mirtai suggested to him almost gently. ‘This was a part of my childhood, so I have to talk about it at this time. You don’t have to listen if it bothers you, though. I’ll understand.’

His face grew troubled. ‘I’m your friend, Mirtai,’ he declared. ‘I’ll stay.’

She smiled. ‘He’s such a nice boy.’ She said it in almost the same tone of voice Sephrenia had always used when saying exactly the same thing. Sparhawk was a bit startled at how shrewdly perceptive the Atan girl really was.

Mirtai sighed. ‘Gelan and I loved each other, but not in the way that people usually think of when they’re talking about a man and a woman. There are as many different kinds of love as there are people, I think. He had enemies, though – many enemies. He was a very sharp trader, and he almost always got the best of every bargain. There are small people in the world who take that sort of thing personally. Once an Edomish merchant became so enraged that he tried to kill Gelan, and I had to use my spoon to protect him. As I said before, the blade’s not quite long enough to kill cleanly, so the incident was very messy. I ruined a very nice silk gown that evening. I told Gelan that he really ought to buy me some proper knives so that I could kill people without spoiling my clothes. The idea of having a twelve-year-old girl for a body-guard startled him at first, but then he saw the advantages of it. He bought me these.’ She touched one of the silver-hilted daggers at her waist. ‘I’ve always treasured them. I devised a way to conceal them under my clothes when we went out into the city. After I’d used them on a few people, the word got around, and his enemies quit trying to kill him.

‘There were other young men like Gelan in Verel, and they used to visit each other in their homes where they didn’t have to hide their feelings. They were all very kind to me. They used to give me advice and buy me pretty gifts. I was quite fond of them. They were all polite and intelligent, and they always smelled clean. I can’t abide smelly men.’ She gave Kring a meaningful look.

‘I bathe,’ he protested.

‘Now and then,’ she added a bit critically. ‘You ride horses a great deal, Kring, and horses have a peculiar odour. We’ll talk about regular bathing after I’ve put my brand on you.’ She laughed. ‘I wouldn’t want to frighten you until I’m sure of you.’ Her smile was genuinely affectionate. Sparhawk realised that what she was telling them was a part of the Rite of Passage, and that she would very likely never be this open again. Her typically Atan defences had all been lowered for this one night. He felt profoundly honoured to have been invited to be present.

She sighed then, and her face grew sad. ‘Gelan had one very special friend whom he loved very much – a pretty young fellow named Majen. I didn’t like Majen. He used to take advantage of Gelan, and he’d deliberately say and do things to hurt him. He was frivolous and selfish and very, very vain about his appearance. He was also unfaithful, and that’s contemptible. In time he grew tired of Gelan and fell in love with another meaningless pretty-boy. I probably should have killed them both as soon as I found out about it. I’ve always regretted the fact that I didn’t. Gelan had foolishly given Majen the use of a rather splendid house on the outskirts of Verel and had told him that he’d made provisions in his will so that Majen would own the house if anything ever happened to him. Majen and his new friend wanted that house, and they plotted against Gelan. They lured him to the house one night and insisted that he come to them alone. When he got there, they killed him and dropped his body in the river. I cried for days after it happened, because I was really very fond of Gelan. One of his other friends told me what had really happened, but I didn’t say anything or do anything right away. I wanted the two of them to feel safe and to think that they’d got away with the murder. Gelan’s sister inherited me – along with all his other property. She was a nice enough lady, but awfully religious. She didn’t really know how to deal with the fact that she owned me. She said she wanted to be my friend, but I advised her to sell me instead. I told her that I’d found out who had murdered Gelan and that I was going to kill them. I said that I thought it would probably be better if I belonged to somebody who was leaving Verel in order to avoid all the tedious business about unexplained bodies and the like. I thought she’d be tiresome about it, but she took it rather well. She was really quite fond of her brother, and she approved of what I was planning. She sold me to an Elenian merchant who was going to sail to Vardenais and told him that she’d deliver me to him on the morning of his departure. She’d made him a very good price, so he didn’t argue with her.

‘Anyway, on the night before my new owner was planning to sail, I dressed myself as a boy and went to the house where Majen and the other one were living. I waited until Majen left the house and went to the door and knocked. Majen’s new friend came to the door, and I told him that I loved him. I’d lived with Gelan for six years, so I knew exactly how to behave to make the pretty fool believe me. He grew excited when I told him that, and he kissed me several times.’ She sneered with the profoundest contempt. ‘Some people simply cannot be faithful. Anyway, after he began to get very, very excited with the kissing, he started exploring. He discovered some things that surprised him very much. He was even more surprised when I sliced him across the belly just above his hips.’

‘I like this part,’ Talen said, his eyes very bright.

‘You would,’ Mirtai told him. ‘You never like a story unless there’s a lot of blood in it. Anyway, after I sliced the pretty boy open, all sorts of things fell out. He stumbled back into a chair and tried to stuff them back in again. People’s insides are very slippery, though, and he was having a great deal of trouble.’

Ehlana made a choking sound.

‘Didn’t you know about insides?’ Mirtai asked her. ‘Get Sparhawk to tell you about it sometime. He’s probably seen lots of insides. I left the young man sitting there and hid behind a door. Majen came home a while later, and he was dreadfully upset about his friend’s condition.’

‘I can imagine,’ Talen laughed.

‘He was even more upset, though, when I reached around from behind him and opened him up in exactly the same way.’