19
WHEN I TURNED away from Nicha, Thayu had returned with my clothes. She stood to the side, just behind the end of the privacy screen. I wondered how much of the conversation she had heard. Raanu was with her so I couldn’t ask.
I met her eyes and I wondered if she saw any of the pain I felt.
Damn it, these associations would ruin everything I’d built up with Nicha and Thayu. The closer I came to Ezhya, the further I ventured from them. Yet I should have known. When I first met Thayu, she had shown a subservient reaction to me. Nicha had shown a latent reaction to me.
Who was I? What was I? What right did I have to do these things and mess up these people’s lives? What did it mean for me to support a leader whom everyone already seemed to have considered having lost his position?
I cl
