Sheepishly, then, Selima stepped out of the closet into the light of the bedroom. “How did you know I was in there?” she asked.
“Your feet showed beneath the clothes. I don’t own niaal like those.”
“Your servants didn’t spot them.”
“I see a great many things other people miss. It’s a curse or a blessing, depending on how you view it.”
Selima took a deep breath, afraid to ask the next question. “Are you going to turn me in?”
“That all depends,” Leila said, “on the story you tell me. I certainly won’t do anything rash; life in Punjar is entirely too boring to pass up an opportunity when it presents itself, no matter what that lump of a king says.”
The tall blond woman crossed the room and sat down crosslegged on the bed. She leaned forward with her elbow against her knee, her head rest
