Nan Ho shook his head, a genuine distress at Karr's predicament in his eyes. "No. It must have been hard just now. Hard to say nothing when so much was being said, neh?"
Karr merely sniffed.
"Look, I understand. But before you do anything rash, let me tell you how things stand, Gregor Karr. Minister Chang has fled to the southern City. I have word that his paymaster, the White T'ang, was none too pleased to see him. And no wonder. Here he was an asset, there he's merely another mouth to feed."
"And Rheinhardt? What's his role in all this? Is he counseling Li Yuan against me?"
Nan Ho looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. "You . . . you must trust me, Gregor. I shall do what I can. Just now the T'ang is set against you, but his mood will change. Ride out this temporary storm. Do nothing rash."
"Rash?" Karr laughed. "Do you not know me, Master Nan?"
"I think I do. And find no better a servant to the T'ang ... bar myself, of course."
"But yet Li Yuan does not trust me? Our Master, it seems, prefers the prattlings of a bitter man."
Nan Ho sighed. "This is ... difficult. Rheinhardt is here, at the T'ang's elbow, while you . . . well, you are about your business. You must be patient, Gregor. There are many here at the palace who wish you well. I would not have come to you were it otherwise."
Karr looked at him, then gave a small nod.
"Then trust me." Nan Ho put out a hand, holding Karr's forearm a moment. "To serve an ungrateful Master . . . that is true service, neh?"
NAN HO RETURNED INSIDE, troubled by what had happened. Then, hearing that his Master had retired to his rooms to rest, he went directly to Pei K'ung's apartments.
"Master Nan," she said, greeting him. "What can I do for you?"
He closed the doors and went across.
"That was a bad business just now," he said, deciding to come straight to the point.
"It depends from whose viewpoint you look at it," she answered, taking a seat on the high-backed sofa by the window and indicating that he should sit in one of the officials' chairs close by.
"Karr is a good man. An excellent servant."
"But a political liability," she said, looking past him and snapping her fingers. At once an aide slipped from the shadows and brought across a file.
"You've seen this, I assume."
He nodded. "The business with the young girl and the pamphlets . . . but that was years ago. Over a decade ago, so I understand."
"Maybe so, but Rheinhardt has been busy unearthing such things. It seems he's out to get our man Karr."
Nan Ho shook his head. "I don't understand it. Karr has done nothing to him."
"He took his job. No matter that he didn't angle for it, Rheinhardt sees it otherwise. Now he's out to destroy Karr, and the loss of Odessa handed him the ideal opportunity."
"But surely Yuan knows this?"
Pei K'ung sat back slightly. "My husband is beyond reason just now. I was there when he read that file. He feels . . . betrayed. And rightly so, perhaps."
"But Karr's behavior since—"
"Has been exemplary, I agree. But that file creates a doubt, and where there's a doubt . . ."
Nan Ho raised a hand. "I take your point. But what are we to do?"
"We?" Pei K'ung laughed, then, unfolding her fan, began to flutter it before her face. "What would you have me do? Speak to my husband? Why, he would tell me to mind my own business? Speak to Rheinhardt? Why, the man would simply say that he was acting in the best interests of his Master."
"Then we are to do nothing, I suppose, and let a good man go to waste!"
The fan stopped fluttering. Pei K'ung looked at him directly and raised an eyebrow. "Now, did I say that, Master Nan?" She smiled. "No. But there are other means."
"Other means?"
Pei K'ung stood abruptly, setting the file down next to her, then held out her hand for him to kiss the ring. He bowed and kissed it, then stepped back, unsure for once of her meaning. But he could see that she was not about to elucidate.
"You will forgive me, Master Nan, but I must rest now. I slept badly last night and—"
"I understand."
"Until tonight."
He bowed low. "Mistress ..."
"Gregor? Is that you?"
Karr set down his knapsack and turned, smiling as Marie came out from the kitchen. They embraced, their four-year-old daughter, Hannah, watching from the doorway shyly.
"So what's this?" she said, breaking from a kiss and beaming at him. "Unexpected leave?"
He shook his head, the look in his face making her smile fade.
"What is it?" she asked quietly.
"I've come from Astrakhan," he answered, wondering how much he could tell her. "I ... I had a personal audience with Li Yuan."
"So?"
"So he blames me for losing Odessa."
She closed her eyes briefly, pained by his pain, then looked at him again. "So you're demoted. Is that it?"
"No. But the whole Court was there. He"—Karr swallowed, finding it hard to say—"he humiliated me before them."
"Ah . . ." The tension in her face—around her mouth—told him she understood. Of course she did. No one understood him better. She was his other half—his other self. If she did not understand, no one could. He let her hold him a moment, then moved back slightly.
"So what are you going to do?" she asked, studying his face.
He looked past her, then smiled. "First I'm going to cuddle my little beauty."
Crouching, he put out his arms. Hannah ran across to him, letting him pick her up and hold her tight. He laughed, kissing her neck and cheek.
"And then?"
"Then I'm going to spend a little time considering my future."
She put a hand out, smoothing his shoulder. "Was it that bad?"
He nodded, then, kissing Hannah again, put her down.
"Master Nan says I must be patient. He says Li Yuan will come around, but . . . achh! I wonder if I can put up with it anymore. I try my best, yet my best is never good enough."
She bristled at that, indignant on his behalf. "Your best is as good as any man's, Gregor Karr, and you know it! Why, it's certainly a lot better than that buffoon Rheinhardt's!"
The look in his eyes told her she had hit the gold. "Ah, so that's it! This is Rheinhardt's work."
He nodded.
"And you'll let him beat you?"
"No, but I'll not let him force me into making wrong decisions either." He sighed. "Why is it never easy? Why does whatever I do feel wrong? It wasn't always like this, was it?"
She smiled sadly then reached out to hold him again, Hannah pressed between them, holding them both. "You can answer that yourself, Gregor. It's always been the same. You feel you owe a duty. It was the way you were raised. But sometimes duty isn't enough. Sometimes you have to believe in what you're doing, and for a long time now you haven't, have you?"
He stared back at her, reluctant to answer, then nodded.
"So what are you going to do?"
He laughed. "I'm going to think about it. As I said."
"And when you've thought?"
"Then I'll make my decision."
She kissed his ear, then spoke quietly to it. "Would you like me to get a sitter for young Hannah, Gregor?"
He turned his head and, seeing that look in her eyes, smiled. "I think that might be a good idea, my love. A very good idea."
A HAMMERING at the door disturbed them.
"It'll be for me," Karr said, getting up.
Marie lay there, watching him dress, conscious of how magnificent a man he was. Nor was it just his form that was impressive. If a man was to be judged by the tenor of his actions, then her husband was a giant in more than one regard. She shivered, thinking of how gently he had touched her, of how his eyes had burned, adoring her, as he made love to her. That in itself was heaven. And whatever he decided—wherever lay their future path—she would go with him. For that was her fate now—to be with this man until her death. Or his.