‘Well done,’ Chloe said. ‘Could you arrange the cheese, bread, and olives on the big plate over there?’
Chloe herself was grinding wheat with a mortar and pestle. The dish wasn’t big enough, and she tipped the coarse grain from the mortar into a larger bowl before starting to grind more.
Her father poked his head into the kitchen and scanned the room. He nodded with satisfaction when he saw Sophia arranging the cold foods and noted hot coals in the cooking hearth, with smoke departing through the hood above.
‘You look worried,’ Chloe said. ‘You should rest. Everything here’s under control.’
Aristocles came forward and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head and smiling down at her fondly. ‘My beloved child . . . Where would I be without you?’
She looked up at him and saw moisture at the corners of his eyes. She never knew when his thoughts would turn to her mother. People often said that with every passing year Chloe was growing to look more and more like her.
Leaving a hand on her shoulder, Aristocles turned to Sophia. ‘I just need to mention, Sophia, this man is foreign and unused to our ways.’
‘I will be your dutiful, doting daughter,’ Sophia piped from the other side of the room.
Aristocles smiled, but it didn’t touch his eyes. He truly was concerned.
‘Father . . . Who are these people?’ Chloe asked.
Aristocles paused before speaking. ‘Ilea is across the Maltherean Sea.’
‘Further than the isle of Athos, where the Oracle lives?’
Aristocles nodded. ‘Further than Athos. Ilea is on the Salesian continent. I know little of their king, Solon, but word is that in the past years he has swallowed his neighbors into his empire. He is a powerful ruler.’
‘This man, Kargan,’ Chloe said. ‘Is he powerful also?’
‘That remains to be seen,’ Aristocles said. ‘We must ask many questions and answer few.’
Hermon, one of the servants, a stooped old man who had tutored Chloe in childhood, came and bowed to Aristocles. ‘Consul Nilus is here, Lord.’
‘Show him in,’ Aristocles said.
Moments later Chloe heard her father in the reception as he spoke with his plump colleague. ‘Nilus, how good of you to come.’
‘Is he here?’
‘No, not yet.’
‘Any idea how many companions he will bring?’
‘My message specified no more than two.’
‘Tell me, Aristocles, what is our strategy?’
Sophia called out from the kitchen. ‘Ask many questions and answer few.’
Chloe frowned at her younger sister, but Nilus laughed. ‘An excellent idea,’ he said, coming to the door of the kitchen. A plump man with curly black hair and a round face that was often red when he spoke, he was one of her father’s rivals, but also a colleague and confidant who occasionally came to the villa to work with Aristocles late into the night.
Seeing Chloe, Nilus scratched at his cheek before speaking. ‘Ah . . . Aristocles. Your daughter—’
‘I will be a gracious host,’ Chloe said. Her lips thinned. ‘It was only when they started blaming the eldren that I had to say something.’
‘You can’t let them hurt Zachary,’ Sophia said.
‘Yes, well, it is a delicate issue,’ Nilus said.
‘I’m making one of mother’s dishes,’ said Chloe, changing the subject. ‘Spiced meal cakes with pork sausages.’
‘Excellent,’ Nilus said. ‘I do miss her cooking. The gods only know why fever strikes some and not others. She was a good woman, of that there could never be doubt.’
Chloe smiled sadly. ‘Why don’t you have father pour you some wine?’
‘Excellent . . . Excellent.’ Nilus looked around. ‘Where is your father?’
‘Nilus, come, our guest is here,’ Aristocles called out from the reception.
Chloe and Sophia exchanged glances while they worked. Busy with the preparation of the food, Chloe listened to the conversation in the next room as she mixed the coarse flour she’d been grinding with salt and dried oregano.
‘Lord Kargan, you have brought no companions?’ Nilus was asking.
‘There are none on the Nexotardis with my status,’ Kargan’s gravelly voice replied.
‘Please, take a seat,’ Chloe’s father said. ‘Let me pour you wine.’
‘Where are your servants?’
‘I have sent them away for the night. My daughters will be preparing the food and serving.’
‘It is a great honor,’ Nilus said.
‘Your women are allowed to share the same quarters as your men? You have them serve your food?’
‘I am sure many of our customs are different from yours,’ Aristocles said smoothly. ‘If you wish, I can recall the servants, if that would make you more comfortable.’
‘Bah,’ Kargan grunted. ‘Your house, your rules.’ There was a pause. ‘Tell me, is this the palace you provide for your king?’
Chloe added water to the flour mixture and proceeded to make flat cakes. After using up all the mixture, she went to the fire and checked the coals were low enough, and that there was space in the stone bed for all the cakes to fit.