“You may pretend whatever you wish,” Tuon said, looking over her shoulder as the Deathwatch Guards beat at the shrubbery. “But you must not stay away. You are important to the Empire, and I have use for you.”
“Sounds delightful,” Mat grumbled.
“What was it?” Tuon asked softly. “I did not see the man until you drew attention. These guards are the best of the Empire. I have seen Daruo there catch an arrow in flight with his bare hand, and Barrin once stopped a man from breathing on me because he suspected an assassin whose mouth was filled with poisons. He was right.”
“It’s called a Gray Man,” Mat said, shivering. “There’s something freakishly ordinary about them— they’re hard to notice, hard to fixate upon.”
“Gray Man,” Tuon said idly. “More myths come to life. Like your Trollocs.”
“Trollocs are real, Tuon. Bloody—”
“Of course Trollocs are real,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I believe that they are?” She looked at him defiantly, as if daring him to mention the times she had called them myths. “This Gray Man appears to be real as well. There is no other explanation for why my guards let him pass.”
“I trust the Deathwatch Guards well enough,” Mat said, rubbing his shoulder where one of them had placed his knee. “But I don’t know, Tuon. General Galgan is trying to have you killed; he could be working with the enemy.”
“He’s not serious about having me killed,” Tuon said indifferently.
“Are you bloody insane?” Mat asked.
“Are you bloody stupid?” she asked. “He hired assassins from this land only, not true killers.”
“That Gray Man is from this land,” Mat pointed out.
That quieted her. “With whom did you gamble away that eye?”
Light! Was everyone going to ask him about it that way? “I went through a rough patch,” he said. “I made it through alive, which is all that matters.”
“Hmm. And did you save her? The one you went to rescue?”
“How did you know about that?”
She did not reply. “I have decided not to be jealous. You are fortunate. The missing eye suits you. Before, you were too pretty.”
Too pretty? Light. What did that mean?
“Good to see you, by the way,” Mat said. He waited a few moments. “Usually, when a fellow says something like that, it’s customary to tell them that you’re happy to see them as well.”
“I am the Empress now,” Tuon said. “I do not wait upon others, and do not find it ‘good’ that someone has returned. Their return is expected, as they serve me.”
“You know how to make a fellow feel loved. Well, I know how you feel about me.”
“And how is that?”
“You looked over your shoulder.”
She shook her head. “I had forgotten that you are supremely good at saying that which has no meaning, Matrim.”
“When you saw me,” Mat explained, “with a dagger in hand—as if to throw at you—you didn’t call for your guards. You didn’t fear I was here to kill you. You looked over your shoulder to see what I was aiming at. That’s the most loving gesture I think a man could receive from a woman. Unless you’d like to sit on my knee for a little while…”
She did not reply. Light, but she seemed cold. Was it all going to be different, now that she was the Empress? He could not have lost her already, could he?
Furyk Karede, the captain of the Deathwatch Guard, soon arrived with Musenge walking behind him. Karede looked like he had just found his house on fire. The other Deathwatch Guards saluted him and seemed to wither before him.
“Empress, my eyes are lowered,” Karede said, going down on his belly before her. “I will join those who failed you in spilling our lives before you as soon as a new squad has arrived to see to your protection.”
“Your lives are mine,” Tuon said, “and you do not end them unless I give you leave. This assassin was not of natural birth, but a creation of the Shadow. Your eyes are not lowered. The Prince of the Ravens will teach you how to spot this kind of creature, so you will not be so surprised again.”
Mat was fairly certain that Gray Men were of natural birth, but then, so were Trollocs and Fades. It did not seem appropriate to point this out to Tuon. Besides, something else in her orders drew his attention.