"I don't like the fact that I don't care about what he's done as much as I should. Anyway, you'd better go. I've got a mountain of work to get through." "Of course." Ziani was at the tent door when he turned back. "You weren't telling the truth," he said. "Wasn't I?" "No. You didn't know Duke Orsea was innocent when you ordered his execution." Valens sat very still. "I knew later," he said, "when I asked Veatriz to marry me." "That's different," Ziani said. "Yes." Valens frowned. "It's the difference between shooting a doe in the close season and eating it once you've gone home and checked the calendar. The latter is better in some ways and worse in others, but it all balances out, more or less." When Vaatzes had gone, Valens opened the letter. He read it three times, as he'd always done when she wrote to him. After the third reading, he held it for a moment over the lamp, so close that a smudge of soot formed on the bottom edge. He could think of no more appropriate way of punishing himself than to burn her letter and not reply to it.
