"I don't want that."

"It takes great skill and great courage, to bring to a pharaoh's attention an error of his. It is unjust, I think, to demand that skill and courage every night of your wife, who does not understand what it is to be the wife of a pharaoh except that she must never leave you wondering if she is disobedient."

"Korva's very brave."

"Yes, she is. But she can only be very brave every so often. Women aren't like men, our strength does not all come back with a night's rest. You could see her less often, your majesty, or not demand bravery every time you do."

 - he looks, bewildered, back at Korva.

She is still silently crying, but she looks up at him. She doesn't understand what his question is, though, so she doesn't know how to answer it.

"Is that...what the problem is?"

"Some of it," she says, quietly.

"I want you to be strong. For the baby, and for you. If that means sometimes you - argue with me, or something - then - I can't say I approve but I won't punish you. I don't know how to do this, Korva. I need you. I didn't mean to make you - feel that it was dangerous to -" Helpless look at Zakiya -

"Dangerous to send you away; dangerous to complain; dangerous to let you notice pain; dangerous to let you notice other moods, dangerous to expect anything. To be the property of a god is dangerous; no one is perfectly worthy, but it is more dangerous to be imperfect from some directions than from others, so women end up ill-shaped, if there will be no forgiveness for unworthiness."

"I love her. Everything is awful here but she's Korva, I'll always love her, even if it's twenty years before we can leave. I - the only thing I can definitely do here is keep her and the children safe."

"In the presence of a god who is sometimes angry, the only safety is the conviction that death, should it come, would be welcome."

"I am not going to kill my wife or children in a fit of anger. She asked me - not to get angry around her - I've been trying -"

"You were an adventurer, your majesty, before -"

"Yes."

"I think among men, with great talents, in faraway lands, much aggression exists without anger, without threat, without fear; men know each other to be durable, and worthy, and similarly dangerous. But in a bedroom, even the slightest change in voice can be frightening, for you are not among your equals. We are weak, and we know it, and we are easily frightened, if we have anything to fear."

"Korva wasn't scared of me before I - became the pharaoh. After I proved I wouldn't hurt her, at least."

"Then you already know how to do it; you've done it before. Did you raise your voice in anger, when you were trying to win her over, the first time?"

"I threw her book of Asmodeus into a chasm in a temple. - it was an awful thing to do. I apologized eventually."

"And she knew, the instant you did it, that you could do that with her, too, if you wished it."

"I would die for her."

"That is how men impress men with their courage. Women want to safely raise their family, and dying for them does not help with that."

"What does?"

" - I think in this case, were I a man, I would swear by my aspect in Axis not to touch my wife in anger, or her children, or her niece, or her servants, even should they deserve it wholly, and not to have my guards do it."

"That's sort of - handing you a free pass to commit treason -"