"How say you, child? Hut!--"
Emperor Euphrates looked away and frowned impatiently at himself,
remembering that she was sworn to silence and evidently would prefer to
face the sword rather than to go back on her vow. A most remarkable
girl, really.
Anticipating some unforseen lack, Borla as Chief Advisor nonetheless
wisely waited for Emperor Euphrates to correct himself.
Emperor Euphrates opened his mouth to begin again.
Then he shut his mouth, a veritable study in consternation, and looked
up at the audience once more, automatically shifting his inscrutable
gaze to Sorpiala, whom he instinctively perceived, wielded some sort of
secret power of coercion over the other two witnesses.
"What is this child's name?" he asked Sorpiala.
"She is called, Si'Wren, Emperor," responded Sorpiala elegantly.
"Ah!" Emperor Euphrates returned his intelligent eyes to confront
Si'Wren face-to-face. "Stand closer, child," and then, with a
beckoning, drawing wave, "Come hither..."
Si'Wren approached the throne haltingly, until she stood so close as to
be almost nose-to-nose when he finally leaned forward and murmured to
her in an almost inaudible tone of voice that the other women could not
overhear.
"Si'Wren," said Emperor Euphrates gently, in a low, confiding tone, "do
not fear.
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