“And what’ll it take to make you happy?”
Jarnaff frowned. “I’m not done.”
I looked at him.
“Here’s how this is going to work,” Jarnaff said. “You’re going to be helpful. And polite. Because if you don’t, then I put a word in Sarque’s ear, and you’ll have the same thing happen to you as Morden’s last two servants.” Jarnaff leant towards me. “We understanding each other?”
I briefly considered how to answer. It didn’t take me very long. “Get lost.”
“Excuse me?”
“Is there something wrong with your ears?” I asked. “Because I’m noticing that whenever I say something you don’t like, you don’t seem to hear very well.”
“I think maybe you don’t understand—”
“I heard. You want to blackmail me.”
Jarnaff narrowed his eyes. “You don’t want to piss me off.”
“Or you’ll do what?” I leant forward suddenly and had the satisfaction of seeing Jarnaff flinch. It was a small movement, but I’d been watching for it, and as I looked into Jarnaff’s eyes I knew he wasn’t as confident as he was acting. “Go running to Sal Sarque? Tell him that the big bad Verus is being mean to you? Here’s a little detail that he apparently didn’t think you needed to know, Jarnaff. Your boss and his friends tried to kill me less than a week ago. Little hint for you: if you’re trying to threaten someone, make sure it’s not with something you’ve already failed at. And just so you know, this last month? While you were strutting around the War Rooms in your expensive shoes, I was being chased by assassins. So unless you think you can be more intimidating than they were, I think it’s time you left.”
“You don’t—” Jarnaff began.
I cut him off. “You can go now.”
Jarnaff stared at me with an expression like thunder, but I simply took out my phone, crossed one leg over the other, and started checking my e-mail. I didn’t look up, and after a moment Jarnaff abruptly stood and left. I watched him through the futures just to make sure he wouldn’t try anything.
The Council meeting ended half an hour later. There was a growing swell of voices, then the doors opened and people began to filter through. I recognised one member of the Junior Council, and then Morden was there, creating a bubble of empty space with his passing as Light mages tried to edge away. He beckoned and reluctantly I fell in by his side. I could feel the eyes on us as we walked away.
“Well, then,” Morden said once we were out of earshot. He kept his pace slow and I had to shorten my stride not to pull ahead of him. “Did you have an educational day?”
“From a certain point of view.”
“Let’s hear the details.”
“Okay,” I said. “Your first would-be caller was some guy called Ictis. He wants to know who you’re picking for Shanghai.”
“He already knows,” Morden said. “The more important question is what he offered.”
“For what?”
“The undersecretary Ao Qin will be visiting Britain next month as an envoy from the Light Council of China,” Morden said. “They’ll be choosing the next ambassador. Who did Ictis want? Mala, or Suminai?”
“The only name he used was Suminai.”
“Did he try to promise amnesty for the raid in Scotland?”
“He said he’d consider it.”
“I hope you turned him down.”
“And then he said something about the Downs stones.”
“Ah.” Morden looked pleased. “Who was next?”
“A woman. Fortyish, braided blonde hair, brown eyes. She wanted to know which way you were going to go on the ID.”
“And when you didn’t give her an answer?”
“She marched out.”
Morden questioned me about each visitor in turn. Some he dismissed, while for others he probed for details. I told him what I could remember, trying to hold back my annoyance. “Look,” I said at last. “It’d be a lot easier for me to pick out the relevant information if I knew what was going on here.”
“What would you like to know?” Morden asked agreeably.
I was surprised but didn’t show it. “Well, what was the deal with Ictis?”
“One of the matters that will be decided during Ao Qin’s visit is the identity of the next mage the Light Council will send to China as their ambassadorial representative,” Morden said. “It’s a five-year term and offers enormous opportunities for corruption, so naturally all of the Light factions want their man for the job. Ictis works for the Isolationists, and apparently they’ve decided on Suminai for their candidate. The real question was what they were willing to give for my support. They’ve been trying to pressure me over that raid in Scotland for a while—you’re familiar with that? No? In any case, it seems that they’ve realised that I know it’s a bluff, and instead they’re willing to cede the rights of the Downs stones, which is a much more serious offer. When he comes back, you can tell him I’ll accept.”
“What about the ID thing?”
“Identification Database. The Directors have been trying to put together a centralised registry of all the magic-users in Britain. Alma wants my cooperation in bringing the Dark mages around. When you didn’t give that woman an answer—her name is Julia, incidentally—she interpreted that as a refusal.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Of course I am,” Morden said. “It’s a ridiculous idea. The Directors have been trying to push it through for thirty years, and it’s failed every time. Now they’ll take it to the Guardians, and the Guardians will turn them down, and that’ll kill it once again, though I expect it’ll take another month or two for that to sink in.”
I was silent. We turned a corner and started down the hall that would take us back to the Belfry. “Is something bothering you?” Morden asked.
“Maybe I’m missing something here,” I said. “But these decisions they’re asking me for don’t feel like small ones.”
“What were you expecting to be doing?”
“Scheduling your appointments?”
“Honestly, Verus,” Morden said. “Did you think I went to all this trouble simply for a secretary?”
“Actually, yes.”
Morden looked amused. “Are you aware that somewhere between eighty and ninety percent of the agreements between Council members are concluded by their aides?”
I looked at Morden, and my scepticism must have shown on my face. “Let us say that Alma wishes to make an arrangement with me,” Morden said. “Clearly she can’t have it in an open Council meeting, and equally clearly she can’t be seen going to me. Instead she gives the message to her aide, Julia. Julia relays the message to you, you discuss it with me, and balance is maintained in the universe.”
“All of the important business gets funnelled through aides?”
“Essentially.”
“Then what the hell do you talk about in Council?”
Morden shrugged. “Mostly we listen to reports. It’s rather tedious, really.”
We’d come out onto the Belfry floor and I stopped, turning to face Morden. “Okay. Assuming I’m understanding all this right, one thing I’d like to know. I can’t talk to you while you’re in Council. So what happens if I make a decision for you, and then when you come out I find out that it wasn’t the one you wanted me to make?”
“Then I expect I’ll be looking for a new aide,” Morden said. “Though I’d be remiss not to remind you that should you lose your position, you’ll also lose your status as a Light mage, meaning that your previous death sentence will become immediately applicable.”