Chapter 14
ISANDOR WAS DEEP in financial reports when someone knocked on the door to his study.
“Come in,” Isandor said.
The door opened and a gate guard entered the room. Isandor frowned at the man. He might have expected the mail boy or the maid who had gone to get some tea—which he had almost forgotten about.
“There is a visitor for you,” the guard said.
Isandor wasn’t expecting anyone. Puzzled, he went with the guard through the breezy hallways. It had now become dark enough that the domestic staff kept the oil lights burning even during the day.
A slight figure waited in the relative darkness of the guard station, sitting on the bench where the guards would sit during quiet times.
It was Zaina, and she rose as soon as she saw him coming.
Her face was bruised, one of her eyes a
