"Then go. This ikepra cannot prevent you. I give you your freedom. Go." I shook my head. "Can't do that." "Because of the woman?" "Yes." "There are other women." I laughed softly. "There is no other woman like this one," I said simply, "any more than there is anyone else like you." She studied me again. "Well," she said finally, with exquisite matter-of-factness, "of course that alters everything." A hand flicked in Nihko's direction. "Rise." He rose. "Do you know why I beat him?" she asked me. I shrugged. "You don't like him?" A spark of amusement leaped briefly in her eyes, was extinguished. "He insulted my house." "I assumed something of the sort." "He insulted you." "Me?" I blinked. "Why in hoolies would anything he said of a foreigner matter to you?" Enough that she would strike him blow after blow with her own hand. "Do you know what he is?" I thought of any number of explicitly vulgar things I could say Nihko was, but restrained the impulse. She probably knew anyway, judging by her contempt.
What do You think about Sword Born-Sword Dancer 5?
