“Do you expect me to believe that anything will change?”
“I have no expectations for your beliefs at all. What will be, will be. Some Councilors opposed building new ships when Suyrien the Elder was Councilor because they thought he would take advantage. Others thought Councilor Glendyl might…”
“Terrible thing, there, with Glendyl…but that’s what happens when one gets too ambitious…or too greedy.”
“…And too overextended,” added another voice, that of another man I didn’t know.
“Oh, this is Petryn D’Lhoryn, my friend.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I said pleasantly.
“The same.” Petryn offered a minimal nod. “There are those who believe that the Collegium supports the factors, discreetly, notwithstanding the fact that the current Maitre comes from a High Holder background. Your background is from factoring, as I recall.”
“My family is in factoring; I was a portraiturist.”
“My condolences,” offered Alhyral.
“And mine,” added Petryn.
“That portraiture training has enabled me to read beyond words and faces, and to realize that ability often has little relation to the grace with which words are uttered, or the indirectness of the insult couched as flattery or condolence. But then, not having had training in verbal hypocrisy, I am afraid that my comments are hopelessly direct. I do hope you enjoy the ball, both of you. Good evening.” I offered the barest hint of an inclined head, as taught by Maitre Dyana years before, and turned, still holding shields on the off chance that one of them might stoop to physical violence. They had enough sense not to.
After departing Petryn and Alhyral, I returned to Seliora and Juniae D’Shendael.
“Greetings,” offered Madame D’Shendael. “Your wife is most charming, as well as perceptive.”
“Far more so than I.”
“You are both observant, I think.” Juniae smiled. “What do you think of those here?”
I waited to let Seliora speak, but she glanced to me. So I replied, “It would seem an odd grouping. Among others, I’ve noted the Chief Councilor, a high justicer, the Commander of the Civic Patrol, several heirs of impeccable breeding and with courtesy less than that…”
“Not to mention the second-highest-ranking imager in Solidar, and the youngest ever to hold that position,” added Juniae. “There are also no Sea-Marshals present, although several were invited, but not, of course, Caellynd.”
“He seemed quite pleasant the other night,” Seliora offered innocently.
“He is intelligent and exceedingly perceptive. The former is forgivable; the latter is not.”
“I only thought that being concerned about the state of the fleet and those serving in it was unforgivable,” I countered.
“All Sea-Marshals are concerned about the state of the fleet. Did you not know that, Maitre Rhennthyl?”
“I must have misunderstood. I was under the impression that concern went beyond mouthing words.”
The faintest smile crossed Juniae D’Shendael’s lips as she looked to Seliora. “You are most courageous, Madame, to appear in public with him.”
Seliora laughed softly. “But he is so much better behaved in public, especially when others are watching.”
“You two are so well matched,” said Junaie to Seliora. “His other name could well be Erion…to match yours.”
“My family has noted that,” replied Seliora, “as has Rhenn’s sister-in-marriage.”
I didn’t wince at the Pharsi references that linked the daughter of the greater moon to the red moon, the one that symbolized conquest and unrest-or truth and power-although my mother wouldn’t have been able to avoid such a reaction, and Remaya had made that very same observation the first time she’d seen Seliora and me together.
“Truth and power are a dangerous combination,” observed Juniae.
“For whom?” asked Seliora lightly.
Madame D’Shendael laughed gently. “I will not take more of your time, as I see my husband fretting, but it was very good to spend a few moments with you.”
After that conversation, I immediately eased Seliora onto the dance floor where I took refuge in her charms.
“When you were talking to Alhyral,” she said, “you had that slight stiffness that suggests you’d like to be done with the matter.”
“I couldn’t escape immediately without being excessively and unpardonably rude, and then they were so obnoxious that I was anyway, in the politest manner of which I was capable. I can see why you detest him. From what I can tell, he’s worse than his father, although Madame D’Shendael told me that Haestyr wasn’t as difficult as he now is before Geuffryt’s father seduced his first wife.”
“If the father was a fraction as bad as the son, I doubt much seduction was required.” Seliora’s voice was syrupy sweet.
“Are you suggesting that I need pay more attention to you?”
She laughed. “No, and today has been wonderful.”
As we continued to dance, this time to a pavane, I just hoped life would remain that way…even as I knew that was most unlikely.
63
By Lundi morning, I still didn’t have any better ideas than to actually visit Vyktor D’Banque D’Ouestan. I would have liked to have known exactly who had visited Glendyl after Frydryk, but short of driving out to his estate, there wasn’t any way to determine that. Then I laughed. Why not try? All that could happen would be that I’d be turned away at the gates.
Less than a glass later, I was walking toward the front of Glendyl’s mansion. I hadn’t even had to argue with the gate guard.
As I neared the main entrance, a footman stepped forward. “The family won’t be seeing anyone, Maitre. If you’d care to leave a card…”
“I can understand.” I paused. “Were you here, the day it happened?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did the banque representative come right after Suyrien the Younger left?”
“Don’t know as he was a banque man, sir. He wasn’t right after, maybe a quint or two.”
“And when did it happen?”
“I couldn’t say, sir. No one could. The Councilor had the study proofed when he was selected to be on the Council. Said he didn’t like eavesdropping. The staff heard the study door open and the visitor say good-day and the Councilor tell him to be on his way. Then the door slammed, and the fellow left angry-like. Maybe a glass later, when the Councilor didn’t answer the bell, Carlysa opened the study door and found him. Must have happened after the fellow left. They both sounded angry, Carlysa said, when they parted. She could scarce tell their voices apart.”
It wouldn’t do for evidence, but learning more details wouldn’t change anything. So very convenient. Glendyl’s estate was outside L’Excelsis, and that meant he was responsible for his own security, and that the Civic Patrol had no jurisdiction. Who would petition the Justiciary when there was no real way to prove anything? I extended a card. “If you would leave this…”
“I can do that, sir.”
“Thank you.” I walked back to the waiting Collegium coach.
As I was riding back to Imagisle, I realized something else. The security laws were another pressure that the High Holders and the factors used to keep people either on the estates or in the towns and cities. I hadn’t thought of it in that way because I’d grown up in L’Excelsis.
Once I got back to the Collegium, I just had the coach wait outside the administration building while I hurried inside and found Schorzat.
He looked up from his desk. “You’re obviously going somewhere.”
“I’m going to pay a call, I hope, on one Vyktor D’Banque D’Ouestan. His place of business is at 880 Avenue D’Theatre.”
“What do you hope to learn from him?”
“Something that I can use to prove that he’s a Ferran agent who’s been behind more than a few things. On Vendrei, Glendyl told Frydryk-Suyrien the Younger-he’d never let go of anything, even if Suyrien called in the notes he held. I found out that right after that, Vyktor visited Glendyl, and then Glendyl supposedly killed himself. The only problem is that Glendyl used a heavy pistol at his right temple, and his right arm was too weak to hold it or aim it. I doubt anyone besides Draffyd and I-and now you-knew that. We may have to get a medical opinion from Draffyd before this is all over.”