That finally got the Hunter’s attention. She turned and stared into Sábria’s eyes. It was no secret among the Blades that, at times, Sábria and the High Priestesses brought their Blades into their beds if they thought that’s what they needed. Strangely enough, it was that which seemed to calm Xyda enough to nod her acceptance of the law Sábria was laying down. “I have your word as the Voice of Elyon that this is no trap?”

  “You have my word.”

  “Then where’s the blasted stables?”

  Xyda’s eyes widened when Sábria tugged the hood down off her head. “There, now I can see the Blade I’ve heard so much about but have only met one or two times.” With a smile lighting her eyes, Sábria further shocked Xyda by affectionately ruffling her short, thick, black hair. “This way.” She set off for the stable, fully expecting the Hunter to follow.

  Shocked at being treated like that by the Arch Priestess kept her rooted in place. The Hunter stared after her and then turned a perplexed look on Shirin, who raised her brows and shrugged. “Xyda, she’s like no one you’ve ever met before. It’s better if you don’t try to figure her out.” With a wave, she indicated the Hunter should follow Sábria through the archway into the stables.

  It had been several moons since Xyda had relaxed in a hot tub, even longer since she’d had scented candles burning around the bathing room and soothing oil in the water. It had been since forever she’d had Omune Chiaretto sitting in a glass on the side of the tub because that wasn’t a wine just anyone could pick up in a bar. She picked up the wine and finished what was left in the glass.

  Sábria, who was seated in a padded armchair she’d dragged into the room, poured her a third glass from the bottle she’d had sitting on the floor next to the chair. The Arch Priestess was still on her first glass, and Xyda idly wondered whether this enigmatic woman ever drank to excess. It didn’t seem likely but you never really knew what people got up to in their off time. For that matter, was Sábria ever really off-duty?

  After setting the bottle back on the floor, Sábria rose and collected a warming crucible she’d filled with oil and placed on a tripod suspended over three candles. She walked around behind Xyda and knelt on a pillow placed there for that one specific purpose. “You know, as dirty as you were when you arrived, combined with the tan you’ve gotten over turns of riding outside in the elements, I wouldn’t have guessed your body would be such a light color.”

  She held the crucible above Xyda’s shoulders. “May I touch you, Xyda? When I felt your shoulders, they were rock-hard with stress. One of my talents is relieving women of the build-up of stress we carry around in our bodies.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Xyda nodded. “Yes, please. There are times, especially after a failed hunt when my shoulders are so tight I can’t properly turn my head from side to side.”

  The oil’s temperature was perfect when Sábria poured a drop onto her wrist to make sure it wasn’t too hot. Holding the copper crucible by its wooden handle, she put her fingers on Xyda’s forehead, tilting her head back slightly. Holding the oil above the Hunter’s head, she poured a steady stream into the wet, black hair and let it flow down around her shoulders and into the bath water.

  She rose and once more placed the crucible on the tripod where she added more oil she intended to use later, after the bath. Returning to the pillow, which put her at just the right height to massage shoulders and scalp, Sábria began at the very top of the head, using her fingers to work the oil in with steady pressure and gentle circles.

  The moment she felt Xyda begin to relax, she stripped off her robe, set her fingers behind her Blade’s shoulders, and gently pushed. “Will you move forward so I can join you?”

  Communal bathing was nothing new to a woman who’d lived in a Temple for the first fifteen turns of her service to the Goddess. Xyda moved forward, and Sábria slid in behind, wrapping her legs around Xyda’s waist so her feet rested on the other woman’s lower legs.

  “You mentioned stress after a failed hunt. I haven’t yet had time to read your report. Will you tell me how my shiv died?” The muscles beneath her fingers tightened. “I’m sorry, Xyda. I know how stressed you are. Add to that the abuse…” She trailed off, not knowing what to say about her Blades attacking the Hunters. “Then we’ll talk about what’s going on with the Hunters.”

  “We don’t need to talk about my Hunters. We’ve got it handled. We stay away from the Temples except when we’re summoned for an assignment or when we’re returning a Blade.” There was such a finality to her words, as though what she was saying was all there was to it.

  They were quiet while Sábria worked the oil into Xyda’s scalp and shoulders, then rinsed her head with a mixture of herbs that would leave the benefits of the oil without leaving the hair a greasy mess. When she’d finished, she tried again. “Please tell me about my shiv.”

  Xyda stood and stepped from the tub. With bitterness filling her voice, she snarled, “She’s dead.” She grabbed a towel hanging from a wooden hook, scooped up her clothes and stalked from the bathing room.

  Sábria waited a while to give the Hunter a moment to dress, then she, too, got out, toweled off, and put on her tunic, stockings and trews and then pulled on her boots. She intended to be ready for anything. She walked through the empty guest bedroom to her sitting room and found Xyda fully dressed and hiking her pack over her shoulders. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Leaving. Everything you need is in my report.”

  When Xyda’s hand touched the door handle, Sábria put her hand out and held the door closed. “Don’t make me summon Hunters to drag you back, Xyda. And I will summon them, and I’ll join the hunt myself, with Ursuna Geller and Shirin Burchard by my side. Shirin is a skilled tracker, and I believe Ursuna is better than you in both weapons and hand-to-hand combat. I’ve never seen you fight, but I’m willing to bet Shirin and I are at least your equals in that, and Geller far surpasses everyone’s fighting abilities. If you walk out that door, I’ll strip you of your Hunter status, which I’m close to doing anyway, and you’ll never get it back.”

  Not sure whether she’d heard correctly. Xyda’s gaze locked onto Sábria. Disbelief warred with the anger now. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Oh, I would.” Sábria paused to let that sink in before continuing. “Now, I tried to relax you, to help you speak of a horrible tragedy by offering you my care and support. It’s my job to help my people in whatever way I can to allow them to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. I hoped that by helping you relax, you’d be better able to give me the information I need to lead my people. Maybe you thought it inappropriate to speak of Girta while receiving a massage, but the information you’ve given me thus far is limited at best and inept at worst. My Blades are like family to me. I’m very protective of my shivs. You rode into my Temple and practically threw a dead shiv at my feet with barely a by your leave. If you think that’s in any possible way appropriate, then you don’t deserve to wear the Hunter’s badge.” She removed her hand and stepped back, giving Xyda every opportunity to leave.

  The muscles in Xyda’s jaw jumped, and her fists clenched at her sides. She pulled in several long breaths and blew them out slowly. Growling, she lifted her pack over her shoulder to heave it across the room.

  Sábria caught it and jerked it out of her hands. “No tantrums, Xyda.”

  Xyda spun then, fury radiating from her eyes. “I’m not a child to throw tantrums, Sábria. I’m a Hunter who climbs down cliffs to retrieve bodies for you. Bodies of your people who choose to throw themselves off those cliffs. I hunt them and try to find them before they jump, slit their wrists, or tie a rock to their bodies and jump into lakes or rivers or streams. But I’m not perfect, and some of them die, but you’ll not treat me with contempt and disrespect.” Xyda poked a stiff finger into Sábria’s face. “And along those lines, you can’t tell me you didn’t know! My people are being beaten and humiliated by yours, and you didn’t know?”

  “Xyda, you don’t know me well. We’ve only met once and that was so many years ago that I didn’t recognize you when you rode in hiding your face beneath that hood, so I’m going to tell you this one more time, and if you can’t grasp the concept, you’re out of the Hunters, and believe me when I say, I don’t make idle threats. They are not your people. You are a Blade. I lead the Blades. Not you. Not ever unless the Goddess puts this on your finger.” She held up her index finger bearing the Goddess’s blue ring. “Any questions?”

  The room was silent while Xyda stared at the ring. She’d closed her mouth, but her heavy breathing was evidenced by her nostrils flaring in and out as she worked to control her temper. Slowly, she turned and walked to the personal bar at the side of the room. She grabbed a glass decanter of Feney, a potent alcoholic drink that should only be drunk in small doses. Xyda pulled the glass stopper and upended the decanter, driving back long, hard swallows until it was nearly empty.

  Sighing, Sábria closed her eyes and shook her head. The evening was going to be a very long one indeed. The decanter thunked down onto the small wooden bar top and she opened her eyes to see Xyda glaring at her while she dragged her sleeve across her mouth.

  “Where’s the bed?”

  Silently, Sábria pointed to the door leading to her bedroom. She watched as Xyda grabbed a bottle of Omune Chiaretto off the shelf and strode through the door without another word.

  Rubbing her eyes with both hands didn’t help alleviate her stress, so Sábria grabbed two wine glasses and followed her into the bedroom. Well, at least Xyda had taken off her boots and sword before plopping down on the bed.

  Sábria took the bottle from where it rested on Xyda’s stomach and poured the wine into the glasses. The Hunter had already had much more to drink than Sábria would have liked, so she set the bottle across the room on the small, round table she used for reading or writing when she couldn’t sleep at night.

  She set both glasses on the bedside table and pulled her grey and maroon wingchair up beside the bed. Deciding Xyda needed to get some food in her stomach to sop up some of the alcohol she’d ingested in the last few candlemarks, she retreated to the kitchen, grabbed a tray and piled it high with various offerings of crackers, pastry, and cheese Mistress Fullman had sent up from the dining hall.

  Returning, she set the tray on the bed between them, picked up her glass, and, with a tired sigh, lowered herself into her chair. She rested both feet on the comforter and crossed them at the ankles. Xyda’s glower was still firmly in place, so Sábria pointed to the tray. “It’s best if you eat something so you don’t throw up all over my bed, and if you do throw a tantrum, try not to upend the tray with the food, or we’ll be sleeping with crumbs all around us tonight.”

  Glad to see some of her favorite pastries included in the offerings, Sábria took one and bit off a large piece, savoring the taste of the rich dark chocolate hidden inside. When Xyda closed her eyes and rested her head against the headboard, Sábria softly chided, “Xyda. Please eat something, and before you’re too far gone, I’d like to know what happened to Shiv Girta.”

  With her eyes still closed, Xyda crossed her arms and sullenly repeated, “You can’t tell me you didn’t know how we’re being treated.”

  The fact that she hadn’t known was deeply disturbing to Sábria. How was it that not a single High Priestess had contacted her about the problems that were happening between Hunters and Blades? “I’m sorry to say I didn’t know. No, I’m actually ashamed to say I didn’t know. A Hunter’s life is difficult enough. I know that but add to that having to put up with what you say my Hunters are facing appalls me. Once we get through our talk today, tomorrow, or however long it takes, you and I have a couple of tasks ahead of us. First, a Blade was killed two sevendays ago, and her partner severely injured. We’ve been searching for the five men responsible, but with both you and Shirin working together, we may have a chance of finding them.”

  Xyda opened her eyes. “If I need to hunt, the sooner I get to it, the better. Keeping me here for whatever reason will only allow them to go further underground.”

  “I understand that, but while you have a single-minded mission to hunt, I have to look at the big picture. Right now, one of my Blades is hurting. Hurting to the point where I see hatred and anger roiling within her. Yes, I have a dead Blade, well, a dead Blade, and now a shiv’s been added to that number, and I have another lying injured in the Healer’s Hall, and I’m not sure she’ll ever recover. But you, Xyda, and your well-being are more important to me than finding those five men.”

  Appearing to disregard everything Sábria had just said, Xyda backtracked and asked, “You said there were a couple of tasks?”

  In all of the reports Sábria had read about this Hunter, the fact that she was intelligent and quick-witted always rose to the fore. Stubbornness and a lack of self-awareness had never been an issue in any of those reports, though. Not allowing people to care for them was a trait Sábria had found common among strong, independent Blades, though, and she was beginning to get a better feeling about how to help this seasoned warrior. “After we get you back on an even keel, and after we hunt down those five men, you and I are going to go out and find all of the Hunters. We’re going to gather them together, and I’m going to talk to them about how they are, indeed, still my Blades. Once I have them convinced of that, I intend to ride with you to every Temple within the Cibían Empire and punish every single person I find who has participated in beating or injuring one of my Hunters.”

  Xyda closed her eyes and gave a quick shake of her head, a sure indication the alcohol was beginning to take effect. Sábria wanted to hear from Xyda’s own mouth what had happened to her shiv. She didn’t want to read about it in a report because then it was impossible to ask pertinent questions that might occur to her while she read. “Xyda, I have no idea why you drank so much in the other room or why you’re trying to drown yourself in my alcohol, but I need to know now what happened during your hunt before you completely lose consciousness.”

  The side of Xyda’s mouth rose slightly. “I can handle my alcohol. Don’t worry about that.”

  “Oh really? Do you even know what it was that you drank like it was water out there?” When Xyda remained silent, Sábria provided the answer, “Feney.”

  The eyes slowly opened again, and Sábria was glad to see a definite spark of amusement as they focused on her. Xyda held out her hands. A definite tremor had them shaking, enough to prove Sábria’s point, since Feney also caused the shakes. “Oops. Yeah, you’re right, I didn’t know. I’d better talk fast, then, because Feney puts me to sleep. It never occurred to me you’d have Feney in your personal bar, especially in those amounts.”

  With a shrug, Sábria returned her half smile. “There are times when one of my Blades needs a stronger drink to help calm them. I don’t offer it often and wouldn’t have offered it to you.” She raised her brows to let the Hunter know the way she’d acted wasn’t appreciated.

  Xyda nodded slightly, closed her eyes, and leaned against the headboard. “When I heard it was a shiv I’d be hunting, I immediately set out to find her. There’s nothing worse than having a young woman’s life dependent on my ability to track her and bring her home. I had to circle the city three times before finding her tracks heading into the forest.” She ran her hand into her bangs and rested it on her forehead. “I can’t help thinking that if I had found the tracks on the first circle, I might’ve gotten to her in time. Anyway, it was a fairly easy track, but my problem was that Girta was a Togo tribesman from the Esclian Mountains.”

  Sábria closed her eyes and groaned at the sudden stab of emotions racing through her. The mention of a Togo tribeswoman reminded her of the report she’d received almost a full turn earlier of a young Togo coming down out of the mountains and petitioning High Priestess Medelé to become a Blade. Medelé had written about how excited she was to see this young woman’s potential. “So, like all her fellow tribespeople, she could run like the wind seemingly forever?”

  “Exactly. If I’d been able to gallop and still see the tracks, I would have, but she was a clever one. She hopped onto rocks and hopped off further down her trail. She must’ve known I was on her tail because she ran in the shallows, knowing the running waters would obliterate her tracks.”

  Tears came to Xyda’s eyes then, and she swiped them away before pushing a thumb and forefinger onto her eyelids to keep more from falling. “I tried. I tracked her for days without catching up, constantly calling out her name, shouting that she didn’t need to do this. That everything would be okay. But it wasn’t okay. It would have been if I’d been just a little bit faster. Her tracks ended at the edge of a cliff.” Xyda’s throat closed, and she had to wait a moment before she could continue speaking.

  Sábria quietly shifted to the bed and put her arm around the Hunter’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry you had to find her like that, Xyda. I know that’s the hardest, most gut-wrenching part of your job.” She privately thought that perhaps she should make it mandatory for Hunters to rotate out of the assignment every few turns. The only reason it hadn’t been done was because it was such a specialized position. Hunters were a cut above most Blades. They were intelligent, strong, excellent trackers, and had to be able to fight better than most Blades because Blades rarely give up without a fight. Hunters needed the skills to disarm their opponent without doing permanent damage.

  With her arms crossed tightly over her chest, Xyda managed the next part of her story. “It was a very high cliff, and at first, I didn’t see her and thought maybe she’d circled back around. Hoped, really. But then I saw a small boot sticking out from behind the edge of a boulder. She wasn’t very big. I rappelled down to her and almost lost it when I saw such a young, fresh face with beautiful bright blue eyes staring blankly up at the sky.”