«I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall when he did.» Maniakes wondered if Bagdasares could make magic stretch that far. After a moment, he realized it didn't matter: he would have no way of knowing exactly when Abivard returned to his old domain. Too bad, he thought. Too bad.
Fat and sweating with nervousness as well as heat, Vetranios prostrated himself before Maniakes. «I pray that you hear me out,» he said to the Avtokrator after he had risen. «It is true, your Majesty, isn't it, that you've been trying to find out what sort of games Broios has been playing with his daughter?»
«Yes, that is true,» Maniakes said, «and what's also true is that I'll land on you like an avalanche if you're lying to score points off your rival. If you know something I should hear, why didn't I hear it two weeks ago?»
«I got back into Serrhes only day before yesterday,» Vetranios answered with some dignity. «I went over to Amorion to see if I could collect on a debt owed me since before the Makuraners took the town.»
«Any luck?» Maniakes asked, genuinely curious.
«Alas, no. The merchant who owed me the payment walked the narrow bridge of the separator during the years of the Makuraner occupation, and is now settling up accounts with either Phos or Skotos.» Vetranios sounded sad, not so much because his debtor had died but because he'd died without paying him back. As if to prove that, the merchant went on, «I was unable to locate any of his heirs or assigns, either. Most distressing, and a most slipshod way of doing business, too.»
«War does have a habit of making people's lives difficult,» Maniakes said. Vetranios nodded; the Avtokrator's irony sailed right past him. Reflecting that he should have known better, Maniakes returned to the matter at hand: «Very well. You haven't been in Serrhes for a bit. I thought the town seemed quieter than usual. What do you know about Broios and Phosia that I haven't already heard?»
«Since I don't know what you've already heard, your Majesty, how can I tell you that?» Vetranios asked. Given his past record, the question struck Maniakes as altogether too reasonable to have come from his lips. Vetranios went on, «I can tell you, though, that Broios betrothed Phosia to Kaykaus, Tegin's second-in-command, while the Makuraners were occupying Serrhes.»
«What?» Maniakes stared. «By the good god, sir, you'd better give me a good answer as to how you know that when no one else in this city has breathed a word of it to me. If you're lying, the Halogai may be kicking your head through the city square, not your arse.»
«I am not lying.» Vetranios sketched the sun-circle above his heart. Of course, he'd done the same thing during his earlier dispute with Broios. He'd been lying then. So had Broios, who had sworn just as hard he was telling the truth. «As for how I know… Your Majesty, I have a daughter, too. Her name is Sisinnia. Kaykaus and I were dickering over an engagement when all at once he broke off the talks, saying he preferred Phosia—by which I take it he meant her dowry. So news of this will not have got round the town.»
«I—see,» Maniakes said slowly. «Don't leave Serrhes again without getting my consent first, Vetranios. I may have to use magic to find out whether you're telling the truth.»
«Your Majesty!» The merchant assumed an expression of injured innocence. «How could you possibly doubt me?»
«Somehow or other, I manage,» Maniakes said, another shot that sailed over Vetranios' head. «Never mind. Go home. Stay there. If I need you again, I'll summon you.»
After the merchant left the city governor's residence, Maniakes hunted up Rhegorios and gave him the news. «That doesn't sound good, does it?» Rhegorios said with a scowl. «Not that he wanted to make the marriage—that would be easy enough to forgive. But trying to make it and then not telling us about it… Master Broios has some explaining to do, I fear.»
«So he does. And unless he's got a bloody good explanation…» Maniakes strode over and set his hand on Rhegorios' shoulder. «I know you're sweet on this girl, cousin of mine, but unless her father has a bloody good explanation, I don't want to be connected with him.»
«I'm not arguing with you,» Rhegorios said. «I wish I could argue, but I can't.» He laughed in self-mockery. «If I were fifteen years younger, I'd be sure as sure I couldn't possibly live without her, and my life would be ruined forever. And I'd probably yank out my sword and try and make you change your mind—either that or I'd run off with her the way I was thinking of doing anyhow, get a priest to say the words over us, and leave you to make the best of it. But do you know what, cousin your Majesty brother-in-law of mine? If what Vetranios says is true, I'm not dead keen on having an old reprobate like Broios in the family.»
«Don't despair,» Maniakes said. «There may be a perfectly innocent explanation for this.»
«So there may,» Rhegorios said. «To the ice with me if I can think of one, though.» Maniakes thumped him on the shoulder again. He couldn't think of an innocent explanation, either.
Broios' proskynesis was so smooth, he must have been practicing back at his own home. The robes he wore were of a cut, and of a quality of silk, above those to which even a prosperous merchant might normally aspire. Maniakes didn't know where he'd gotten them, but he looked to be ready for his role as father-in-law to the Sevastos of the Empire of Videssos.
«Good evening, your Majesty,» he wheezed to Maniakes as he rose. «A pleasure to be in your company, as always.»
Maniakes raised an eyebrow. «As always. As I recall, you weren't so glad to see me the second time we met.»
«Only a misunderstanding,» Broios said easily. The impression he gave was that Maniakes had done the misunderstanding, but that he was generously willing to overlook the Avtokrator's error. He let a little petulance creep into his voice as he went on, «I had hoped, your Majesty, that you might have chosen to honor my wife and daughter with an invitation to this supper tonight. After all—» He gave Maniakes a coy, sidelong glance. «—you'll be seeing a lot of them in times to come.»
«No need to hurry, then, wouldn't you say?» Maniakes replied.
Broios looked to Rhegorios for support. Finding none, he said, «Well, however you like, of course.» Again, he managed to make it sound as if the Avtokrator was obviously in the wrong, but he, out of his splendid magnanimity, was willing to overlook the breach in decorum.
One of the servants at the city governor's residence came in and announced that supper was ready. Maniakes found himself unenthusiastic about breaking bread with Broios, but he knew he would have to endure it. «Do try the wine,» the servant urged.
Everyone did. Broios' eyes widened. «That's potent stuff,» he said, and tossed back his cup. «Good, mind you, but potent. Are you planning on serving supper under the table tonight, eh, your Majesty?» He laughed loudly at his own joke.
«I hope not,» Maniakes answered, although he would not have minded seeing Broios drunk so his tongue would wag freer. To further that end, he'd ordered the cooks to do up a salty casserole of mutton and cabbage, the better to encourage thirst.
Broios was not shy about drinking wine. Broios, as well as Maniakes could tell, was not shy about anything, whether that meant making deals or telling lies. But the merchant, while refilling his cup several times, gave no sign the wine was doing anything to him water would not have done.
«It is a pity, your Majesty, that Phosia couldn't taste this vintage,» he said. «I don't know where in town you found it, but it's very fine.»
«I'm glad you like it,» Maniakes said, and then, given an opening of sorts, went on, «You must be very proud of your daughter.»