“It may be bold of me to say, Odo Sedoh, but perhaps you will enjoy her company. I know this marriage may be only a duty in your mind, but pleasure can be found in obligation, too.” For all his terrible scheming, he could not hold back. “Are her eyes like rainbows?” “Pardon?” “Is her hair the color of plums? Does she smell of ocean magic? Then there is no pleasure for me in this. I will see it done”—for you, Xiala, to spare you—“but do not ask me to enjoy it.” “Yes, Odo Sedoh,” she murmured, and he dismissed her to go about her new assignment.
