It was giving him heart palpitations.
He heard the door behind him open, and the sounds of Ricard’s election party floated in. Adamat turned to see Privileged Borbador slip inside the room. It was the first time Adamat had seen him since he returned to Adopest. He walked confidently with a cane despite the prosthetic on his left leg, and he was dressed well enough to make a banker blush. He wore his Privileged’s gloves despite, or perhaps because of, the heavy crowds at the election party.
Their eyes met and the half-patronizing, half-predatory smile that Bo had plastered on his face for the party slid off to be replaced by a somber visage. “Our deal is complete.”
Adamat swallowed a lump in his throat. “You’re sure?”
“Nila killed a Black Warden in Brude’s Hideaway. It was missing its ring finger. Looked like it had been nothing more than a boy, around fifteen or so, when it was turned. I can’t be more certain than that.”
“You saw it yourself?”
“I was there when it happened.”
“Did–?”
“It was quick.”
“Thank you.”
Bo gave him a short nod and slipped out of the room. Adamat took a deep breath, steadying himself. Josep was at peace. Adamat could now be at peace as well. Or at least he could try.
He didn’t have time to think through his grief. He heard Bo exchange words with a familiar voice outside the door, then it opened again and Fell appeared in the doorway. She looked him up and down, then stepped back outside. “He’s in here!” he heard her shout.
Ricard entered the room a moment later, mopping his brow with his handkerchief. “Pit, that’s a lot of hands to shake. Adamat, what are you doing up here? Your wife is looking everywhere for you, and Astrit got away from her nanny and has been terrorizing the kitchen staff.”
Adamat shook himself out of his thoughts. “I’m terribly sorry, Ricard, I’m coming.”
“I joke, I joke! Your children are angels. All except that orphan kid, what was his name?”
“Jakob.”
“Jakob keeps going into the basement to play with what’s left of my wine collection.”
“He’s a good lad.”
“He might be. But keep him out of my wine.”
“I thought you hired more than one nanny?”
“I did. Not enough, apparently. You already have too many children. Why did you have to take on a stray?”
“Faye wants to adopt him,” Adamat mused aloud. He wondered whether this was Faye’s way of dealing with Josep’s death, or whether she genuinely cared for the Eldaminse child. It was something they’d agreed to talk about later. Only a handful of people even knew of his importance, but Adamat worried about the possible ramifications of adopting the closest living heir to the Adran throne.
“How is Faye holding up?” Adamat asked.
“She’s been yakking with the new head of the tailors’ union. What’s her name again? Maggie?”
“Margy. I’m glad you picked her.”
“I can’t really account for your taste. She hates my guts.”
“It’s good to have some opposition,” Adamat said. “I’m sure she’ll come around.”
“You’re too confident. Anyway, I’m glad you’re alone. I want to talk to you.”
“Oh?”
“How would you like a job?”
Adamat swayed on his feet. “Ricard, you know I’d do anything for you. But I’m exhausted. I’m getting too old to run all over the city. The money from you and Privileged Borbador will keep us alive for a while. If I told Faye I had another investigation job, she’d skin me alive.”
“Investigating? Pit, Adamat. I want you to be on my staff.”
Adamat sensed some kind of a trap. “Isn’t that conditional upon your winning the election?”
“Well. Yes.”
“I see.” Adamat hesitated. “I’d have to ask Faye.”
“Well, she’d be hypocritical to say no.”
“What do you mean?”
“I offered her a job on my staff already and she said yes. The position comes with full-time nannies for the children and a lot of foreign travel. If I hire you both, you can take those trips together.”
Adamat tried to blink away his exhaustion. “She did? I… well. I suppose I could do that.”
“You suppose?” Ricard thumped him on the back. “Have a little enthusiasm. I wouldn’t let you say no.”
“You seem awfully confident in a win.”
“Pit, no. I think I’m going to lose, Adamat. Pretty confident, actually. But I’m a little drunk right now, and I’ve done everything I can. No sense in worrying over it anymore. See you downstairs?”
Adamat gave his friend a crooked smile and watched him stumble out the door. Fell remained there a moment longer.
“Fell,” Adamat said as she followed Ricard out.
“Yes sir?”
“Thanks for taking care of him.”
“It’s my job, sir.”
“And sober him up a bit.”
“Next on the list. I have more confidence in his winning than he does.”
Adamat was alone for only a couple of minutes before he heard someone else enter the room. He turned, a smile on his lips, expecting that Faye had come looking for him finally. Instead he found Taniel Two-Shot standing with his back pressed up against the door, a look of terror in his eyes.
Adamat frowned and listened for some kind of commotion downstairs. The sound of the party continued on, and then he realized, “You’re not used to this kind of thing, are you?”
“I’m going to break the next person who asks me to shake their hand.”
“You look tired.”
“I am.” Taniel wore a new dress uniform, his colonel’s pins at his collar, his hat under one arm. “Haven’t slept in about six days.”
“That’s enough to kill a man,” Adamat said, stepping forward. Perhaps he should call for Fell. Taniel was potentially less than an hour away from being Adopest’s new Second Minister and he had a wide-eyed unsteadiness to him that said he’d either run off after his lover or pass out at any moment.
Taniel waved him off. “I can’t do it. I can’t keep shaking hands and smiling at sycophants while the pressure builds. We may have another war on our hands the moment the election ends, and no one seems to care. This time we won’t have a god on our side. And Claremonte still has Ka-poel.”
“No one knows about Brude,” Adamat said. “Except for us.”
“Ricard knows. How does he keep going on with the farce?”
“Habit?”
Taniel looked at him sharply. “Do you think this is over? This whole thing with Claremonte? Will he really just walk away?”
“I don’t know.”
There was a rap on the door. Taniel leapt away, then put a finger to his lips, shaking his head.
Adamat rolled his eyes. He opened the door a crack. It was Fell.
“It’s almost time,” Fell said. “Ricard needs Taniel Two-Shot.”
Adamat gave her a nod and closed the door. He stepped over, taking Taniel under the arm. “Let’s go.”
Taniel allowed himself to be dragged down to the hotel lobby by Inspector Adamat.
He thought about fighting the man off and finding a closet to hide in, but he knew that wouldn’t be what most people called “mature.” Instead, he tried to take Bo’s advice and put a smile on his face as they reached the main floor.
Behind the smile, his mind raced. Ka-poel was still with Claremonte. If he lost the election, would he kill her? Would he release her? Would he do either of those if he won? There was no way to know, and he was going mad. Something needed to happen.
Adamat slipped off to the dining room, where Ricard was holding court, leaving Taniel to greet the constantly flowing river of well-wishers. He didn’t know any of their names, but they all seemed satisfied with a handshake and a kind word muttered from behind gritted teeth.
“I’ve seen that look before. You look like a hare cornered by a pack of hounds,” a voice said from behind him.
“I’m glad to see you’re doing better,” he said.
Vlora stepped up beside him and returned a passing merchant’s smile. “Me too. For the record, I don’t think Tamas should have made the trade.” She hooked her arm into his and he stiffened, but he let her lead him into one of the hotel’s sitting rooms, where local officials spoke quietly over their drinks, out of the main hubbub of the crowd.