Simon didn't answer immediately.
He had expected Zarven to ask and talk about the Sovereign, about the reward ring, or perhaps about Lilith again.
He had not expected this.
Marriage.
For a moment, he looked at the First Merchant in silence. Zarven's hands remained folded on the desk, and his amber eyes were steady, as though he had just named a price for a cargo of silk.
Simon set his cup down.
"You're serious."
"I don't joke about my daughters."
'Of course he doesn't.'
Simon thought of Seraya standing behind him at the western gap. Of her trembling hands gripping his robe in the cavern. "You… You keep saving me."
Then he thought of what waited for him beyond Vhal-Sar.
The One. The Gods. The Abyss Sovereign. Elders who wanted his secrets. And Caesar, who had planned for years and then waved at him through a mirror.
"No," Simon said.
Zarven didn't flinch. "May I ask why?"
