Master of Plagues: A Nicolas Lenoir Novel (35 page)

“You can enter any public building, or order any gate opened.”

“Do your public buildings truly have such enormous locks?”

Lenoir smiled. “It is not really meant to be functional. It is a symbol.”

Merden’s expression cleared. The Adali put great store in symbols, their spiritual leaders most of all. “A mark of respect, then.”

“Indeed. Now you are twice
mekhleth
. To your people, and to mine.”

“In your eyes, maybe.”

Lenoir slumped low again, resting his head against the backrest of his chair. “Is that not enough?”

The soothsayer’s smile came through in his voice. “Perhaps it is.”

E. L. Tettensor
likes her stories the way she likes her chocolate: dark, exotic, and with a hint of bitterness. She has visited fifty countries on five continents, and brought a little something back from each of them to press inside the pages of her books. She lives with her husband in Bujumbura,
Burundi.

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