James nodded.
‘She’s had a look on her face I’ve not seen before, ever, and I’ve seen her go through most everything I can imagine.’ He met his father’s gaze with an unwavering one in return and said, ‘Being a member of your family provides ample opportunity to test one’s temperament.’
James grinned, and for a moment he looked like the young father who had told stories of Jimmy the Hand when Arutha was a child. ‘But it’s never been dull, has it?’
Arutha shook his head. ‘Never that.’ Then he studied his father. ‘You’re staying to the end, aren’t you?’
James said, ‘This is my home. I was born here.’ If there was any regret in his statement, he hid it well.
‘You plan on dying here?’
James said, ‘I don’t plan on dying, but if I must, I wouldn’t be anywhere else.’ He slapped the desk with the palm of his hand. ‘Look, there are a lot of things we can’t plan on, and staying alive until tomorrow is one of them. Life has shown me all too often it’s a fragile gift. Remember, no one gets out of life alive.’ He stood up. ‘Go get refreshed and come have dinner with me. Your mother will be pleased to see you again. If I can get word to your sons we’ll have a family dinner.’
‘That would be nice,’ said Arutha.
He left, and after the door was closed, James crossed the room to another door, slipping through. He moved down a corridor to a small door where he had to duck his head to pass through. Down a flight of twisting stairs and through another long corridor. He reached a door and tested the handle, finding it locked. He knocked twice, then when a single knock came from the other side, he knocked again. The latch clicked and the door swung open.
Behind the door he found Dash and Jimmy, and a pair of men wearing unmarked uniforms and black hoods with eye slits. Inside the room, instruments of torture were waiting, and along the wall empty shackles hung. A man sat tied to a heavy wooden chair, his head slumped forward on his chest.
‘Anything?’ asked James.
‘Nothing,’ said Dash.
‘Get back to your employer. I’ve just told him you’re going to Queg again. He’s not very happy and will be even less so when he discovers you’re not at the office doing whatever it is he pays you to do.’
Dash said, ‘Queg? Again?’
James nodded. ‘I’ll explain later.’
As Dash reached the door, James said, ‘Oh, by the way, your father’s back, so join us for dinner tonight.’
Dash nodded and the door closed. His grandfather said to Jimmy, ‘Revive him.’
Jimmy threw a cup of water into the man’s face and he roused. James grabbed the man by the hair and looked him in the eyes. ‘Your masters would have been kinder had they not put those blocks around your mind. My wife lies abed with a nasty headache and that puts me in a foul temper. So we must do this the old-fashioned way.’
He nodded to the two torturers. They knew their craft and quickly and efficiently set about applying the tools of their trade. The prisoner, an agent of the Emerald Queen picked up the day before, began to scream.
Roo attempted to look alert as Vasarius told a remarkably boring story of a deal negotiated with a trading combine from the Free Cities. The story itself didn’t hold Roo’s attention. He was more curious about matters of business than anyone he knew, and the particulars of the trade were unusual, but Vasarius managed to tell the story in the most convoluted, tedious way, denuding it of anything remotely like personality, color, or humor. What held Roo’s interest was the very ineptitude of his storytelling. Roo at this point no longer had any idea who the principals were, why they were enmeshed in this contract, or even what the transaction was about, or why this story was supposed to be funny, but he was certain that with a little urging on his part, Vasarius could make it even more pointless and rambling before he finished.
‘And then?’ Roo supplied, causing Vasarius to launch into another parenthetical exposition on some topic that was, to him and him alone in the world, somehow relevant. Roo let his gaze wander to livia, who seemed to be involved in some sort of silent communication with Jimmy. Roo wasn’t sure, but the girl seemed somehow put out with Roo’s personal secretary, and Roo wondered what had passed between them on their last visit. To hear Jimmy tell it, he had been the complete gentleman, even to the point of ignoring hints that might have led to a sexual encounter.
Aware suddenly that Vasarius had become silent, Roo said, ‘My, my. How fascinating,’ without missing a beat.
‘Very,’ said the Quegan noble. ‘You don’t play fast and loose with Lord Venchenzo’s cargo and then go brag on it.’