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His laugh rang out through the music. ‘Certainly. That is their purpose, you know. But not right this moment. For now, I shall do my best to correct this tragic situation by taking his place on the dance floor with you.’

He rose from his place on the dais. One of his Companions looked shocked; the other horrified.

Malta turned her eyes to Davad Restart, but there was no help there.

He was beaming at her fondly and proudly.

When her eyes met his, he nodded swift encouragement.

The faces of the Bingtown Council members were carefully blank. What was she to do?

The Satrap was leaving his seat, and now he was descending the steps to the dance floor.

He was taller than she and very lean, his skin so aristocratically white as to be almost pallid.

His clothing was unlike any she had ever seen on a man; it was soft and flowing, in pastel hues.

His pale blue trousers were cuffed tight to his ankles above his low soft shoes.

The loose folds of his saffron shirt shawled about his throat and shoulders.

As he came closer to her, she could smell him, foreign smells, a strange perfume, a clinging smokiness on his breath.

Then the most powerful man in the world bowed to her and held out his hand for hers.

She was frozen.

‘It’s all right, Malta, you may dance with him,’ Davad Restart announced benignly. He chuckled to the others on the dais, ‘Such a shy and sheltered little thing she is. She scarcely dares touch his hand.’

His words gave her the power to move. She felt cold and yet tingly as she set her hand in his.

The Satrap’s hand was very soft as it closed around hers.

To her shock, he set his other hand on the back of her hips and drew her body closer to his.

‘This is how we dance this measure in Jamaillia,’ he told her.

His breath was warm on her upturned face.

There was so little space left between them she feared he would feel her heart beating. He led her into the dance.

For five steps, she was awkward, off balance, moving behind the measure.

Then suddenly the music caught her, and it was as easy as if she were holding Rache’s hands and moving to her count around the morning room.

The other dancers, the brightly lit room, even the music faded around them.

There existed only this man and the motion as their bodies kept time together.

She had to look up to see him. He smiled down at her.

‘You are so tiny, like a child. Or a lovely little doll. The fragrance of your hair is like flowers.’

She could think of no reply to such compliments, not even to thank him. All her coquetry had been erased from her mind. She tried to speak, but could only ask, ‘Will you truly send your ships to rescue my father?’

He raised one thin eyebrow. ‘Certainly. Why shouldn’t I?’

She lowered her eyes, then closed them. The music and his body leading hers were all she needed. ‘It seems too easy.’ She shook her head, a tiny motion. ‘After all we have endured…’

He gave a small laugh, high as a woman’s. ‘Tell me, little bird. Have you lived all your life in Bingtown?’

‘Of course.’

‘Well, then. You tell me. What can you really know of how the world works?’ Suddenly he drew her even closer, so that her breasts almost brushed his chest. She gasped and stepped back from him, stumbling out of rhythm with the music. He caught the step easily and kept her moving.

‘Are you shy, little bird?’ he asked merrily, but his hand tightened on hers almost cruelly.

The music had ended. He let go of her hand.

When she glanced around, she heard the murmur of many-footed rumours running.

All eyes looked towards them, although none quite stared.

He bowed to her, deeply and graciously. As she sank into a curtsey, he breathed, ‘Perhaps we should speak later about rescuing your father. Perhaps you can better convey to me just how important it might be to you.’

She could not rise. Were his words a threat?

Because she had stepped away from his touch, he would not send the ships to rescue her father?

She wanted to cry out after him to wait, wait.

But he had already turned away from her.

A Bingtown matron with her own daughter beside her had claimed his attention.

Behind her, the music was starting again.

She managed finally to rise from her curtsey.

She felt as if all the air had been knocked out of her. She had to get off the dance floor.

She walked between the couples unseeingly.

She caught a glimpse of Cerwin Trell; he seemed to be coming towards her, but she could not bear that just now.

She hurried on, searching the crowd for her mother, her grandmother, even her little brother.

All she wanted was some safe refuge for a few moments until she could gather herself.

Had she just destroyed her father’s chance of swift rescue?

Had she made a fool of herself before all of Bingtown?

A touch on her arm made her gasp. She recoiled from it as she turned to see who it was.

He was veiled, hooded, and gloved like any other Rain Wilder, but she knew it was Reyn.

No one but he could take the secretive garb of a Rain Wilder and turn it to such elegance.

His veil was black lace, but gilt and silver cat’s eyes outlined where his eyes would be.

The hood that covered his hair and the back of his neck was secured with an elaborately folded cravat of shimmering white silk.

His soft white shirt and black trousers revealed as much of his physique as his veil and hood concealed of his features.

The breadth of his shoulders and the depth of his chest were accentuated by his slim waist and narrow hips.

His light dancing boots were filigreed with silver and gilt to match his veil.

He held a glass of wine towards her. Softly he said, ‘You are pale as snow. Do you need this?’

‘I want my mother,’ she said stupidly. To make it worse, she repeated it more desperately. ‘I want my mother.’

Reyn’s whole stance stiffened. ‘What did he say to you? Did he hurt you?’

‘No. No. I just…I want my mother. Now.’

‘Of course.’ As if it were the most normal of behaviours, he tapped a passing Trader on the shoulder and handed him the glass of wine.

Reyn turned back to Malta. ‘This way.’ He did not offer her his arm or try to touch her in any way.

Did he sense that just now she could not have tolerated it?

Instead, he gestured gracefully with a gloved hand, and then walked slightly in front of her, parting the crowd for her. Folk stared after them curiously.

Keffria came swiftly through the crowd, as if she had been seeking her.

‘Oh, Malta,’ she cried out in a low voice, and Malta braced herself for the inevitable recrimination.

Instead her mother went on, ‘I was so worried, but you handled yourself beautifully. Whatever was Davad thinking? I was trying to get to you after you danced and he dared to catch hold of my arm and advise me to tell you to come to him, that he could see you got another dance with the Satrap.’

Malta was trembling all over. ‘Mother. He said he would send ships to rescue Papa. But then ‘ She faltered, and suddenly wished she had said nothing. Why tell her mother? It would have to be her own decision.

How important was it to her that her father be rescued? She knew exactly what he had insinuated to her. It was unmistakable. The choice was hers. If she was the one who would have to pay the price, did not the decision belong to her alone?

‘And you believed him?’ Reyn butted in incredulously. ‘Malta, he was toying with you. How could he toss out such an offer as if it were a bit of flattery? The man has no compunctions at all, no ethics. You are barely more than a girl, and he torments you like this…I should kill him.’

‘I am not a girl,’ Malta asserted coldly.

Girls did not have to face decisions such as this.

‘If you believe I am such a child, where are your ethics in courting me?’ She hardly knew what she was saying.

She needed to be alone somewhere, to think about what the Satrap had offered, and what he had implied the price was.

Her tongue flew on without her mind. ‘Or is this how you seek to make your claim exclusive, the first time another man shows an interest in me?’

Her mother caught her breath sharply. Her eyes flitted from Reyn to Malta. ‘Excuse me,’ she murmured, and fled their lovers’ quarrel. Malta scarcely noticed her going. A moment ago, she had longed for her. Now she knew her mother could not help her with this.

Reyn actually took a half-step backwards.

The silence quivered like a bowstring between them.

Abruptly he sketched a bow towards her. ‘I beg your pardon, Malta Vestrit.’ She actually heard him swallow.

‘You are a woman, not a child. But you are a woman newly admitted to society, with little experience in the ways of low men. I thought only to protect you.’ He turned his veiled face to watch the dancers as they moved through the formal steps of a multi-partnered dance.

His voice lowered as he added, ‘I know that rescuing your father is foremost in your thoughts. It is a vulnerability in you just now. It was cruel of him to offer to help you.’