The Shanni smiled thinly. "I give you my solemn vow that he will be permitted to leave when—and if—that time arrives."
Well, well, well, Newhouse thought to himself, the old dame suspects already that her daughter can never have children by di Vino. She's out after his hide. And it's getting more obvious by the minute.
"And how long do you estimate that to be, Your Splendor?"
The Shanni's eyes became veiled. "You know our law. But, even if the first egg is produced within the period, I'm afraid it would be another four years before the next is produced. It would be four years at the minimum before he could leave."
"Very well. So be it." The subject was dismissed as though it were a light thing, but Newhouse already had what he wanted. Every Oassi noble in the room had heard the Shanni make a solemn vow.
That night, Newhouse sat by his detector, waiting for it to give the telltale blink that would come when di Vino fired the sleep gun. When it did come, Newhouse already had his harness on, and he was out the window before the glow had died in the telltale. He scuttled crabwise across the great stone wall of the citadel, but this time he knew exactly where he was going, and he made it in less than ten minutes.
Di Vino was waiting in the darkened window. "Thank heaven!" he whispered. "I thought you'd never get here. Now what."
"Where is she?" Newhouse asked.
"Over on the bed."