Isin tendered his resignation, and Samsu was glad to accept. A date was set for him to leave the city in a fortnight's time, with a full escort all the way to Umma and an emissary to introduce him to their Ensi.

Mari went between Eliana and Isin with messages as they laid their plan – she was the only one who had freedom of the palace, and could even venture out into the city market occasionally.

It was a freedom that Eliana had never realised she would miss. The heat that shimmered off every stall; the close press of bodies that jostled her at every step and exuded every human smell imaginable; the merchants shouting their wares over the constant thrum of chatter – a steady vibration, like putting an ear to a beehive.

When her father had sent her to the marketplace, she'd hated every moment. Now, she would give anything she owned to go again. On a still day, she could hear the noise of the city over the palace walls and see the dust dancing in the air, stirred up by impatient feet. She felt more a prisoner than ever, and glad that Sarri wouldn't have to suffer confinement as she grew up.

Isin showed no signs of second thoughts – his messages were upbeat and positive, and he seemed to relish the idea of being a father to Kisha's child. They arranged that he should come to Eliana's garden at sunset the night before he was due to depart – Kisha was usually with Samsu at that hour, and Eliana would be able to hand Sarri over without causing any suspicion. By the time Kisha returned to the room, Isin would have left the palace.

Eliana considered hiding somewhere until the morning, perhaps up one of the trees – she had no idea how she would explain Sarri's absence. But her own disappearance along with her niece's would suggest that she too had escaped, and a city-wide hunt would be launched. If Isin was discovered, it would be the end of Sarri's chance at life.

Her only thought was that she could claim the physician had taken the baby for examination and would return her tomorrow – that would provide enough of a delay for Isin to get out of the city.

The more Eliana thought on the plan and the closer the day came, the more she tried to picture her sister's reaction and foresee the consequences of what she was planning.

It was not the thought of Samsu's punishment that scared her, though it would inevitably come out that it was she who had planned Sarri's escape, it was the thought that she might not be able to conceal the baby's whereabouts if he began to torture her. She would not put it past him – although he probably cared little about his daughter, it would be the principle of the thing. He would see it as defiance, and would punish her accordingly until he brought Sarri back.

And Kisha... her sweet, gentle sister had been replaced by someone unpleasant since the birth, but only because she was in constant fear for her child. If Sarri were taken away, would that fear be assuaged, or grow worse?

The more she looked ahead, the less she thought her sister would ever forgive her.

She knew that what they planned would be in Sarri's best interests, but she also had Kisha to worry about. And herself. Once Kisha understood what had happened, things could get very unpleasant in the apartments...

Eliana was torn. She had been resolved on her course of action, but it seemed that no matter what she did, misery would be caused somewhere.

It was as she watched her sister feed the baby on the night of the planned handover that she made her decision. Kisha gazed on her daughter with soft brown eyes brimming with love and wonder, as if she couldn't quite believe that this child had grown from her own body. As the baby suckled, Kisha gave a contented sigh.

'This is all I ever wanted from life,' she smiled.

Eliana was astonished. 'Confinement, restriction and an abusive husband?'

'No, a child. To be the sort of mother to her that our mother never had the chance to be to us.'

There was no reply that Eliana could make to that. She knew there and then that she couldn't take the child away without asking Kisha.

Time was against her. Kisha would be summoned to Samsu's chamber at any moment and Isin would be making his way to the garden. It was too late to turn back, but if she could just talk to Kisha first, make her understand...

There was a knock at the door. Kisha put Sarri back in the cradle with a sigh as Mari answered it.

Ashan entered and gave his usual bow, 'are you ready, my lady?'

'As I'll ever be.' Kisha adjusted her hair, took his arm and let him lead her out.

Too late.

Eliana approached the elaborately carved and brightly painted cradle. Sarri sucked on her fingers, peering up at her with inquisitive eyes. The little face was already becoming more expressive, and the tuft of fine black hair she had been born with nearly covered her ears.

Bending, Eliana reached into the cradle. She couldn't bring herself to pick Sarri up, to take this sweet, trusting child away from her mother. She had been ripped from her own mother when she was an infant too, and this one had no older sister to take care of her.

She pulled the baby's blanket up and tucked her in, kicking herself for letting things go this far as she set off for her garden at a run. She had to let Isin know – he at least had to wait until she could talk to Kisha, it would not be more than a couple of hours.

Flitting light and barefoot over the grass, crossing the bridge and making her way through the twisting path between the trees, her heart was beating out of her chest as she thought of Isin's disappointment.

Ducking under a branch, she came out in her garden, 'Isin!'

She stopped dead, her eyes trying to process what she was seeing, her brain refusing to believe them. A high-pitched scream echoed around the garden. It took her a moment to realise that it was her own.

Eliana's knees gave out and she dropped to the ground.

Samsu sat with his back against the sun-warmed wall, in Eliana's own favourite spot. His face was a picture of tranquillity. His hands and tunic were heavily bloodstained, and the knife in his hand dripped with gore.

The grass at his feet was red and sodden. Isin lay scattered in six pieces around the garden.

Her stomach heaved at the stench of the blood, so strong that she could taste a metallic tang.

'You're late,' Samsu said.

Eliana had no reply.

'I told you once that not a single word you speak within the walls of this palace escapes me. You were a fool to forget it.'

She stared at him mutely.

 'And now that I'm here, you have no words for me.' He pushed himself to his feet and came to stand over her. 'I thought that you'd learned your lesson about obedience. How could you imagine that you'd be able to get my daughter out from under my nose without being noticed? You think that just because I don't see her, I don't have eyes on her? She is my blood, my first legitimate child. She will grow up like her mother – a beauty, meek and mild – and be an asset to me. You thought I'd let you and this petty scribe whisk her out from under me?'

Opening her mouth, no sounds came out. She could only shake her head.

'And where is my daughter?'

'In her cradle,' whispered Eliana. 'I wasn't going to go through with it.'

'So, common sense won through.' Samsu's knife dripped. Droplets of Isin's blood spattered her hand and gown. The head had been severed from his slender body, and the blank eyes stared at her from a face that still wore an expression of surprise.

She retched, trying desperately to hold her stomach strong.

'Karkittu, if you ever wish to be more in this palace than a pretty pound of flesh, you must develop a brain. My daughter is my property. My wives are my property. You are my property. I do what I will with what belongs to me – the sooner you learn it, the more pleasant your life will be.'

She shook her head again. 'You can have my body, but you'll never own my spirit.' The words were supposed to come out with strength and conviction, but they were scarcely loud than a sigh.

He laughed, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet. 'Still so stubborn!' Keeping hold of her hair and bringing his other hand to her back, he thrust his lips onto hers. His kiss was not tender, like Ashan's, but a crushing possession of her mouth. He bruised her lips and nipped sharply at her tongue, drawing the breath from her lungs.

Eliana was dizzy from lack of air before he released her, leaving a bloody handprint on the back of her gown. She staggered sideways a little, toward's Isin's dismembered leg. Giving a shriek, she reeled away again.

Samsu laughed at her. 'It can't hurt you, karkittu. That leg will never kick again.' He stepped over it and made for the path between the trees. 'Don't think that you've escaped punishment for tonight. I'll have you obedient the next time we meet, or your body will be in more pieces than this one by the time I'm finished with you. You will go to the underworld in fragments if I have to be the one to send you there. But for now,' he ducked under the low branch, 'your sister awaits me.'

He disappeared into the foliage.

Eliana dropped back to her hands and knees, eyes riveted on what remained of Isin. White balls of bone gleamed at the ends of each of his scattered limbs, protruding from the ragged and glistening flesh. An intestine snaked its way out of the hole in his torso where a leg had been. Her stomach contracted again, and this time she let it go, vomiting onto the grass.

There was the faintest breath of chill wind on the back of her neck – she stifled another cry, imagining that Isin's wretched shade stood behind her. Forcing herself up onto trembling legs, she made her way back to the apartments.

Ashan was waiting for her when she returned. She was pale as the moon.

As soon as she saw him, the tears began to fall. He moved to her, wrapping her in his arms and making soothing noises.

'What's happened? Come, now – it can't be as bad as all that?'

Between sobs, she gasped out the story.

Ashan tensed. 'Idiots, the pair of you. You are lucky that it was only he who died.'

She thrust him away, 'lucky! I wish it had been me! I will live forever with that poor boy's shade at my shoulder, and his last grimace burned into my mind!'

'Eliana, Samsu has spies everywhere. People you don't see, people you'd never suspect. How you could ever think that this insanity would work is completely beyond me.'

'You're not helping!' she screamed. 'You think I don't know how badly this went wrong without you lecturing me as well?'

His voice softened as he placed a hand on her shoulder, 'what would help?'

'Get it out of my garden! Make it so that this never happened.'

'I cannot reverse time, sweet one, but I can put your garden right.'

She turned back into his arms, 'would you? You'd really clean Isin up and lay him to rest? It's so gruesome – I don't think I could ask you to do it.'

'Be pragmatic,' he said. 'How else do you expect the body to get out of the garden?  Samsu certainly won't clean it up.'

'You don't mind?'

He shrugged, 'I'm sure it's no worse than the sights I've seen on the battlefield.'

Eliana shuddered.

Planting a kiss on her forehead, Ashan made for the terrace. 'I don't have time to do it before I have to fetch Kisha back, but I promise it will all be done by morning – I'll go now to see what needs to be done. Get yourself down to the bathhouse, wash off the blood and change your gown. Kisha need never know.'

'Thank you,' she whispered, almost faint with relief.

She was grateful that Mari was nowhere to be found – perhaps she could put off explaining their failure again until tomorrow.