Lila said, “I wish Pella were here. I miss that obnoxious little peckerwood.”
Everyone stopped moving. Anna snapped, “Lila! Where did?…” She turned on Cloven Februaren, whose radiant innocence could have redeemed nations.
“As noted, the girls can go where they want, when they want. She may have been hanging out with low characters.”
“There’s no doubt about that.”
Delari’s woman Felske announced dinner, which would be served buffet style despite the status of the guests. The Principaté did not have the staff to serve a formal dinner and refused to bring temporary staff into his home.
Hecht sighed as he began choosing foods. Posted near the long sideboard, Turking seated each guest. Though not consigned to a separate table or room, the Consent dependents ended up as remote from their host as could be managed.
It took everyone a quarter hour to settle, Titus last because he helped Noë. Vali and Lila were down at the foot with Noë so they could help wrangle the little people. Muniero Delari sat at the head of the table, the end, with Hourli to his immediate right and Hecht to his left, next to an empty chair. Anna sat beyond that. Heris ended up next to Hourli with an empty seat beyond her. Titus and Ferris Renfrow each had a seat beside one of the girls. Titus was content but Renfrow seemed a little put out. A third open place lay opposite Cloven Februaren. It featured a place setting but no chair.
Even the little ones looked to the head of the table.
Delari was amused. “Considering this eclectic gathering, the traditional prayer would seem misplaced. Take a moment to commune privately with your own concept of the divine. I’ll use my moment to heap curses on those who didn’t have the courtesy to show up on time. Well. Here is one of them now. Him I’ll only consign to Purgatory.”
Asgrimmur Grimmsson came in from the same side room Februaren, Heris, and the girls used when they transitioned into the townhouse. He had a feather in his hair and was straightening clothing that looked like it had been dragged from a sack. Turking intercepted him, spoke softly, led him past the buffet, seated him next to Heris.
No one said much during the process. Renfrow’s scowl deepened because he had been seated below the ascendant. Hecht watched suspiciously. Grimmsson muttered something to Heris about bad weather over the Jagos.
By then Turking had gone to greet the next tardy guest.
There was almost no talk at the table and little eating, except amongst Titus’s brood.
Hecht focused on his sister and the ascendant. Something was going on there. He would have a hard time minding his own business.
Belatedly, he realized that the evening would betray his real relationship with Delari, Februaren, and Grade Drocker-if those not in the know paid the least attention.
Hecht met Hourli’s gaze. She arched her right eyebrow. She needed do nothing more to communicate an admonition regarding Heris and Asgrimmur. Just a little reminder about hypocrisy and double standards.
He winced.
Hourli knew things he would rather she did not. That gave her a minor lever.
The Ninth Unknown watched from down the table. That old fox probably knew …
Turking returned accompanied by Master of the Commandery Addam Hauf and the head of the Bruglioni family, Paludan Bruglioni. Paludan was in a wheelchair, still.
Hecht had had little contact with the Bruglioni the past few years-though he had made Paludan’s lifelong best friend Gervase Saluda Patriarch by fiat.
Paludan must be here on Charity’s behalf.
Hecht left his seat, met Paludan at the sideboard. “Let me help.” Turking was behind the man’s wheelchair.
“All right.” Bruglioni told Hauf, “You first, Master.”
Hecht said, “I didn’t expect to see you.”
“Nor I you. I expected a quiet chat with a powerful member of the Collegium who hasn’t been especially supportive of Charity. Imagine my consternation when Hauf arrived as I was getting down from my coach. Now I’m entirely at sea.”
“You’re not unique.”
Bruglioni betrayed a ghost of a frown when looking at the girls and the Consent brood. He then concentrated on choosing foods, mainly rich dishes in heavy sauces. “They won’t let me enjoy myself at home. If I eat nothing but what they let me, instead of what I want, will I live forever? I don’t think so. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
“No. Though I thought I did before I got here. Same as you.”
“Blindsided, eh?”
“Exactly. Isn’t that enough food?”
“More than. But Delari is paying for it. So. I am here because of my connection with Charity?”
“I imagine.”
“Why are you here? How can you be here? You should be hundreds of miles away, on the road to the Holy Lands. Gervase produced a clever bull proclaiming your Enterprise of Peace and Faith.”
“For which the Empress is grateful. She thinks it appropriate to respond by backing off of some of her father’s more outrageous territorial claims.”
“Really? A little of that would do a lot to solidify Gervase’s seat.”
“I suggested she wait till I get back from the Holy Lands.”
“Too bad. Gervase hasn’t made many friends. Principaté Delari’s threatened displeasure is the main force keeping the Collegium from trying to remove him.”
“Really?”
“I’m sure there are several plots afoot.”
Hecht looked past Bruglioni to Hourli, who met his eye. She nodded slightly. She would do what needed to be done.
She nodded again seconds later. What needed doing had begun.
Hecht said, “Gervase is in a less precarious place than you fear.”
Bruglioni looked up with troubled eyes. “I worry about you. There’s always something askew.”
“If you say so. I’ve always done my best for the people I represent.” Bruglioni grunted.
Muniero Delari asked, “Will you boys stop gossiping and join us? I’m hungry.”
Hecht had been heads-together with the master of the Bruglioni family longer than could possibly be considered casual. “Of course.” He carried Paludan’s food choices while the man rolled his chair.
Hecht slid back into his own seat. Only Bruglioni was not eying him.
Muniero Delari said, “Everyone. Eat.”
* * *
Addam Hauf did not press during the meal, nor even during coffee and brandy afterward. The lower half of the table cleared away. Hecht used that time to state his appreciation for Hauf having sheltered Anna and the children during the troubles.
Delari, though, was intrigued. He asked Hauf, “Will you need my quiet room?”
“No. My news isn’t confidential.”
“But forewarned is forearmed?”
“Yes. Commander, most of this is from Madouc of Hoeles, who used to work for you. He’s in the Holy Lands, now. I think he expected his reports to reach you via Cloven Februaren, whom he seems to think is a sort of supernatural entity.”
“He’s a super something,” Heris interjected. “The common variety of which is found on the road behind a cattle drive.”
Whereupon Februaren suggested, “Asgrimmur, you need to put a smile on that woman’s face.”
“Please!” Hecht snapped. “No vulgarity. Master Hauf, if you will?”
“Madouc is now Master of the Commandery at a fortress called Gherig. You know it?”
“The name came up during planning. A stout fortress, from all reports.”
“It is. But less so in the age of the falcon and firepowder. A renegade Sha-lug named Nassim Alizarin wrecked part of it by igniting smuggled firepowder that set off Gherig’s own secret store.”
Nassim Alizarin. There was a name out of yesteryear.
“The point is, the Dreangerean sorcerer er-Rashal al-Dhulquarnen fled north through the Holy Lands after Indala defeated Gordimer. He’s hiding in the Idiam, in the haunted city Andesqueluz, and is trying to resurrect an Instrumentality known as Asher.”