Read The Stumpwork Robe (The Chronicles of Eirie 1) for Free Online

things with you? Have you had a good Fair?’ She leaned back and tipped her face up to the sun, teasing her companion with the angle of her neck.
    ‘I’ve sold everything,’ the Raji’s eyes lit up at his good fortune. ‘Every rug and mat in an hour and for good gelt too. And you?’
    ‘Excellent. I have sold almost all the apparel and you know how expensive it is. All my mirrors have gone and the trinkets were dribbling off the stall. Some fabrics too, so I could not ask for more. But it’s time for some serious re-stocking of silks and threads.’
    Kholi grinned his approval. His blue-black hair, having been relieved of the squashing effect of the travel caplet, curled in smooth waves around the strongly boned face. His hands were strong and broad, deeply tanned with wide, clean fingernails and something about them appealed to her, as she envisaged them holding, stroking...
    ‘So where shall you journey?’ Kholi asked.
    As he spoke, she detected a deeper interest than just mild curiosity and the discovery quite thrilled her. Life had been drab of late… ‘To the Raj I expect. Unless I can find a market to the north of here and before I get to the Celestine Stairway. My Ajax is quite scared of heights and therefore scares me as well.’
    ‘We could travel together.’ Kholi fiddled with his goblet. ‘My Mogu is not at all affeared and she may keep your horse calm.’
    ‘Indeed. If we can get over the fact that Mogu is a camel then Ajax may cope.’ When she smiled and leaned forward, her shirt gaping to reveal a smooth décolletage, she was aware of Kholi shifting on the steps and she stroked his arm with her fingers. ‘Tell me, it is so long since I have seen you and there must be much I have missed. Have you a betrothed back in Ahmadabad?’
    The desert man’s expression, lit bright with her touch, became solemn. ‘No. Who would want a man who travels nine tenths of the year?’ He sighed as if the thought had weighed heavy for too long.
    ‘Why, another traveller of course.’ Adelina opened her eyes wide, a pretence at ingenuousness.
    ‘But where to find such?’ He was quite serious. ‘I tell you my dear friend because we’ve known each other these many years, I do get lonely. I love my Mogu but a camel can’t really take the place of a wife.’
    ‘ Poor Kholi,’ Adelina giggled.
    ‘You jest, but I am serious.’
    ‘Oh Kholi, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to tease. Look... I have known you since our parents carried us to all these markets and fairs. Let’s travel together for a time. I would welcome your company for solitude can occasionally be overrated. When do you leave?’
    ‘Tomorrow at dawn.’
    ‘Then I shall be ready. Collect my Ajax and me as you leave.’ She stood, her skirts falling around her calves with a whisper of silks and promises. ‘If you would like, that is.’ She glanced at him with something of the coquette in her stance. ‘Now let’s see how Ana is. The sun’s dipping and I fear it’s more than time for her to go home, poor sweeting.’
    ***
    Remember when Ana entered my story I mentioned she was like a piece of damaged thread that broke at every stitch? My Kholi was like floss also. There is a Raji thread, glossy and bright and it gives dimension when one uses it to pinpoint light. I find it a reliable thread, always the same but with the ability to lift my work beyond the mundane. So it was with Kholi Khatoun. He had always been deferential and friendly, his manners placing me exactly where any woman would like to be placed. He had an easygoing nature I remembered, was never fussed about the things that irked the average person, as if he took everything in his stride. And he was so pleasant to gaze upon. My heart skipped like a young girl’s at the thought we should travel together.
    But do you wonder about Liam? Just what he might be in my thready analogies ? Huh, I tell you, he is Faeran and Faeran silk is the most magnificent of all. Lustrous and