Empire of Bones by Liz Williams Page B

as an honor; Sirru did not want to talk about Anarres, and he certainly did not want to mention the possibility that he was being dispatched to Tekhei to get him out of the way.
    Once more, his thoughts returned to the tragedy of the Arakrahali colony. What had really happened? He leaned his head against the warm, pulsing wall of the temenos and closed his eyes. The irony was tüat he had.learned very little about Arakrahali, despite all his investigations. On the face of it, EsRavesh had been entirely right: IrEthiverris had fouled things up. The denizens of Arakrahali had succumbed to a virulent and fatal disease, apparently spread through the new communications network. Most of IrEthiverris' own records had been lost, but his Itfiaith administrator's dis-patches had survived. Sirru had read them through a dozen times, and he still couldn't decide why they felt so wrong. The kfiaith had written clear, succinct accounts, and her increasing frustration with IrEthiverris' mismanagement was palpable. Yet there was something tliat just didn't ring true about those reports…
    It occurred to him then that perhaps the khaith had lied outright—but that thought hurt Sirru so much that he gasped. His head rang like a bell, and his neural distress trig-gered a surge of implanted suppressants.
    Then his serotonin levels balanced out, and he relaxed. It was nearly time for his next implant, but he wouldn't have time to see to that before he left. There would be facilities on the Tekhei depth ship; he'd just have to do it when he got there.
    Patiently, Sirru sorted out the logistics of his absence and delegated tasks to various members of the clade. After some thought, he left the encoded documents relating to his Arakrahali investigation with his clade-sister Issari, with in-structions that they were only to be opened if anything went wrong.
    "You must have more confidence, Sirru," Issari admon-ished him. "What could possibly go wrong?"
    "That's what IrEthiverris said—and look what happened to him. Keep the encoding in a safe place, and don't let anyone else near it." He patted Issari on the shoulder. "I'm relying on you."
    "I'll keep it safe," she promised.
    By the time Sirru had finished his preparations, the after-noon was already well advanced. He hurried up through the city, heading for the heights and Anarres.
    It seemed that the apsara's house had been reinstructed for his presence, for it admitted him with only a ripple of protest. Anarres was once more sitting out on the balcony, overlooking the expanse of Khaikurriye. Reinforced by the previous night's activities, her effect on Sirru was immediate and dis-tracting.
    "Anarres…" he whispered, trying to retain control of him-self. "Please… Not now." The apsara's arms were already around his neck; he nuzzled her throat. "Listen to me: I'm leaving. I—"
    But she murmured in his ear, "I know. Word travels fast from the Core. Sirru'ei. I don't want you to go.
    Or I want to go with you."
    "I couldn't afford to take you, even if they let me," Sirru said, mentally cursing the 'thaithoi . "It's EsRavesh, isn't it?" He could smell the sour odor of her sudden distaste.
    "EsRavesh has peculiar desires. And I told you—he wants exclusivity, to prove how powerful he is. I'm not going to give him that." She undulated against Sirru until he was close to losing control.
    " Anarres . Listen to me for a minute," he managed to say. "The posting will allow me to enhance my locative. I'll buy up my status once I get back from Tekhei. I'll help you dissolve your affiliations." If EsRavesh didn't manage to sabotage his life first, he thought. He couldn't help adding, on every level: " I really like you" —and could have bitten his tongue. It sounded so juvenile.
    "I like you too," Anarres whispered. Then her hand slid beneath his robe, down to the ridges at the base of his stomach, and Sirru abandoned all attempts at rational analysis.
    When he left her, Rasasatra's crimson sun was already