"You write backwards?" she said, seating herself beside him on the floor to look at his work. "No, Christians do," he said with a faint smile. He covered what he was writing with his hand, but she caught a glimpse of lines that wavered and curled like tiny black snakes. "Why bother to cover it? Do you really imagine that I could read that?" Lightly she touched the hand that covered the writing, noticing the fine yellow hairs on its back. "I have to keep up the habit of secrecy." He gave her one of his rare full smiles, and she wanted to reach out and hold his face between her hands. They were so close, she thought, sitting side by side here on the floor. And alone. They had but to stretch out on this thick Arabian carpet and wrap their arms around each other. But, of course, Ugolini or one of his servants might come in at any moment. Her longing for David was a constant ache. She had not thought of Manfred, save as a figure in the background of their lives, in weeks. And as long as she did not have to meet with Simon, she was fully Sophia Karaiannides, and not troubled by the yearning of Sophia Orfali for the young French count. If only David did not insist on keeping her at a distance. "Do you still want me to let Simon de Gobignon visit me secretly?" she asked. There was a momentary silence between them. Then, "Have I told you of any change in plans?" he said gruffly. He looked down at his scrap of parchment with the tiny crawling lines. "What shall I let him do when we are together?" she asked quietly. _I know David is jealous, and I am goading him. I want to hear his jealousy._ He stood up abruptly and put his writing board on a table. He walked to an open window and stood looking out, rolling his thin parchment tightly between his fingers. She hated this conversation. It turned him into a panderer and her into a whore. And she sensed that he hated it as much as she did. "Do what you think is necessary," he said coldly. "_Necessary to what?_" she demanded through gritted teeth. He turned toward her and held up a finger. "To win his trust." He held up a second finger. "To hear and remember anything he may let slip." He held up a third finger. "Most important, to tell him things." "Tell him what?" "Tell him that Cardinal Ugolini has persuaded Fra Tomasso d'Aquino to oppose the alliance of Christians and Tartars." "And if Simon believes you have won over Fra Tomasso, what will that accomplish?" "The unbelievers are already desperate to repair the damage I have done to the reputation of the Tartars," David said. "If they think they have lost Fra Tomasso, they may be provoked to do exactly the wrong thing." "What would that be?" Sophia had heard that Muslims were devious. She certainly could not follow Daoud's mind in this.