It was a question that Zarka found it inconvenient to answer by more than a shrug.
“How could he tell that I was here?” she went on. “Why should he watch me? How connect me with Prince Roel’s death?”
“I fancy,” he replied, noting her rising fear, “that he is not certain of your responsibility or——” He paused, still watching cat-like.
“Or what?”
“He would not need to watch. He would strike.”
“A woman?” she exclaimed, betwixt fear and indignation.
“You who know the man can tell better than I,” he replied significantly. “I should say his notions of chivalry are not exactly occidental.”
“Then,” she said, “the sooner we escape from this place and go back to civilization and protection the better.”
He had expected her to suggest that expedient, and laughed.
“Civilization and protection are scarcely synonymous terms,” he said. “Are crime and lawlessness confined to the mountains and forests? To return to such a city as ours, nay, to seek refuge in any capital in Europe would be to court, to facilitate the blow. Wait one moment,” he continued, with an abrupt change of tone. “I have a suspicion.”