Master of None Read Free Page A

Yaenida mused thoughtfully, speaking more to herself. “Although on reflection, not that absurd. You wouldn’t be any liability to business alliances. Kallah already has two kharvah from favorably positioned Families as well as a houseful of excellent sahakharae.”
    “But I’m not a kharvah or a sahakharae.”
    “Ah, but you are the irresistible combination of both!” she said, her eyes lighting up. “What is more tempting and seductive than the unique, especially when it’s safe? If she couldn’t acquire you as sahakharae, her only other option is marriage. There’s certainly nothing wrong with your seed, wonderfully exotic as it is, Nathan, but you are still naekulam, without Family. It is not unheard-of, but rare, for such an offer to be made to someone with so little to bring into a union. You should be delighted.”
    “What if,” he said carefully, “it was explained to Kallah that I am only a stupid foreigner, that not only had I misunderstood but that I was already committed to marrying someone else?”
    Her eyes were bird bright, sparkling in the sunlight. “I had forgotten about your sort, Nathan,” she said softly. “So very . . . passionate. A flair for the dramatic. Well, well, you have fallen in love with yet another of our fair young maidens, and are now trapped in the timeless predicament of love and rivalry? How entertaining.”
    He held himself as rigorously erect as possible. “It is not a question of love, l’amae Yaenida. But if I am to ‘unite,’ if that’s the word for it, I would prefer doing so with a different House.”
    “Tell me, dear boy,” she said, smiling broadly. Her teeth were smoke stained, the gums atrophied away from the roots. “Just to satisfy an old woman’s curiosity, who is this charming maiden who has warmed your blood and stolen your heart? Who is it you wish to wed?”
    He sat back on his heels and hoped his face was unreadable. “You.” It took her a moment to react, then her eyes widened. She started to cough violently, strangling on the smoke and laughter competing for control of her lungs. The younger women stood, distrustful and alarmed, to be waved back by Yaenida’s impatient arm, bone-thin wrist snapping in the air, the bracelets jingling. She continued to laugh for a long minute, her eyes streaming, until Nathan flushed and looked down. The three slowly retook their seats, glaring suspiciously at him.
    “Oh, Sweet Lady Mother!” Yaenida gasped, setting off another round of laughter, then wiped away the tears from her wizened cheeks. “Thank you, Nathan, I haven’t had such a thrill in years.”
    He kept silent, his jaw clenched. She coughed lengthily, a deep, wet, chronic congestion, still chuckling.
    She spoke in rapid Vanar, and one of the younger women left long enough to return with a glass of green-tinted water as another two knelt by her side. One fanned her face anxiously as the other tucked the fingers of one hand around Yaenida’s wrist while she studied the medical scanner in her other. Yaenida submitted impassively without even acknowledging her presence as the women loaded a medgun and pressed the muzzle against her upper arm. It hissed as Yaenida gulped the water noisily to ease her cough. He could smell the delicate scent of mint and medicinal bitters. Within a few minutes, her cough had eased and the color returned to her face.
    “Come now, my love,” she finally rasped out, handing the empty glass back without looking at the women and waving them away imperiously. Her attendants withdrew to the window reluctantly, hovering like flies around a corpse. “Am I supposed to believe you prefer these ancient bones to Kallah’s supple young flesh?”
    She drew the edge of her embroidered tasmai away from her body, holding the elegant folds of cloth open just far enough to reveal the shadows of her slack breasts, the dry skin hanging in folds from brittle ribs, the glint of gray hair in the bony recess of her groin. The women