The Eyes of a Doll (The World of Shijuren Book 2) by Rob Howell Page A

desk. Periodically, I got distracted wondering why a woman with such calm eyes would work for such a man.
    I read through each scroll several times, looking and looking again as Bedarth would have insisted, but after a while both swarmed into collections of unfamiliar names and places.
    Unfortunately, Gabrijela’s style excluded many details about Lezh that I needed to properly evaluate the potential opportunities listed in the scrolls. I simply did not have the context to decide if I wanted to approach Behar or Besnik, which of the three Palis or two Pavlis might be more useful, or what other name I should note.
    I needed fresh eyes, preferably some that knew more than I did, and to my fortune a likely pair walked in just after the sun had set.
    “Good timing, Sebastijan.”
    “Yes?”
    “Gibroz asked me for help and thinks the information on these scrolls are the tools I need.”
    “Gibroz asked you for help?”
    I nodded
    Sebastijan shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it, Sevener.”
    “Do what?”
    “Get everyone to trust you so quickly. Gibroz doesn’t trust me, and he’s basically known me since I threw my first dagger into the front door.”
    “Are you trustworthy?”
    He laughed. “Maybe not, at least not for him. He knows I won’t do many things.”
    “He should know I won’t do many of the same.”
    “I’m sure he does, but he’s got people to do that and everything else I can do. Not as well, of course.”
    “Of course.”
    “I’m lying, actually. I know exactly how you do it. And you should too if you think about it.”
    I took his advice and thought it over for a while.
    “I’m not Dassaretae. I’m not Enchelei. I’m not anything. You all ignore us outsiders. I can do things and no one will take any great notice. If I’m killed involving myself in the business of zupans or kraljevics no one will care, but by the same token, if I kill someone I’m still not upsetting any of your city’s precious balance.”
    “Got it in one, Sevener. Mostly.”
    “Mostly?”
    “Ragnar and his family will care. Piri too. Even Svetislav.”
    “You?”
    He laughed.
    “Me too. Now let me look at these scrolls of Gibroz.”
    As he studied them, I sat back and listened to the scop. With a shock I realized she was singing a song about One Eye’s halls.
     
    “Valhalla is ever receiving
    As her sons are forever at war
    But her gates are not barred, as you may have been told,
    To the women and children worth fighting for.”
     
    The song made me remember my sister’s training. She never fought in the shieldwall while I lived in Middlemarch, but she could have had she not had other duties. I wondered what it would be like to be drinking at a mead bench with her in Valhalla. Piri I could easily imagine, but my little sister? And yet, had she not sworn her oaths to a lord and kept them?
    Suddenly homesick, I longed for mead, but Ragnar had told me almost at the very first moment I had met him he had no skill with mead.
    “Hmmm.”
    I shook my head and turned my attention back to Sebastijan.
    “We need to talk to my brother and Zvono.”
    I raised my eyebrows. “Kapric won’t like that.”
    “I know. But I’ve promised to help you, and I can’t let his feelings stop me from doing my work.”
    “Then we go down to their offices tomorrow?”
    He laughed. “No, I don’t think it’s particularly healthy for me to visit there. Too many people in that building misunderstand me.”
    I raised my eyebrows.
    He smiled. “Remember, I have an interesting profession.”
    “Of course. In that case, I’ll have to ask them to come here.”
    “That would be good. Better yet, send Ragnar’s boy. They’ll be more likely to come.”
    “If Ragnar and Zoe allow it and he’s willing.”
    “He’s willing. He’d do just about anything for you.”
    “I guess he might, at that.”
    I waved Ragnar over. Not surprisingly, he scowled when I mentioned Kapric and Zvono, but he allowed that sending Eirik might