here with Tess, don’t you? Merde, Charles, don’t do anything rash.”
Charles laughed, short and sharp. “When was the last time you’ve known me to do anything rash?”
“A damned long time ago, as you well know. Let me say it this way. You’re getting used to things going your way. This may not be your choice to make.”
“Tess has a duty—”
“Yes, I know all about her duty, and I’m sure she does as well. In any case, it’s not Tess I’m thinking of now. In the words of that ancient song, I think an irresistible force is about to meet an immovable object, and I’m sure as hell going to get out of the flash zone.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Charles Soerensen. David was shocked to hear such coldness in his voice; this was Charles, who always listened, who could always be counted upon to be open-minded. Diana clutched a fistful of cloak in one hand. Footfalls sounded again, but moving away from them, and they were left in silence but for the sea surging below and the distant sound of carriages leaving the palace.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” said a woman’s voice beside them.
David gasped, starting round. Diana sagged back against the wall.
“I beg your pardon. I didn’t mean to startle you.” The woman smiled.
“Cara!”
“Oh, not you,” said Cara Hierakis dismissively. “I meant Diana.”
“Dr. Hierakis,” said Diana in a small voice. She glanced guiltily toward the right and then back. “Oh. I…”
“Yes, we were all eavesdropping, weren’t we?”
“Speak for yourself,” said David, affronted. “We came here by accident.”
“Oh, not on purpose, I know,” said the doctor mildly. “Or at least, not on your part, Diana.”
“Thank you,” said David, but he laughed.
“Is she really alive?” Diana asked. “Terese Soerensen, that is? We heard rumors, but I didn’t know if they were true.”
“Yes, she’s alive.”
Whenever he heard Tess mentioned, just that simple fact set against the official announcements proclaimed by the Chapalii Protocol Office, David felt a warm glow start up inside him. Tess was alive, and he would be seeing her soon.
“But why did she come to Rhui? Diana asked. “Oh, I know I shouldn’t ask, but…” She trailed off, and David turned to look at Cara Hierakis because it was a question he had never gotten a satisfactory answer to.
Cara laughed. The breeze off the bay stirred her black hair and she squinted out at the distant islands that rimmed the western horizon like glass beads shot through with the last red fires of the sun. The barest trace of crows-feet showed at her eyes. Her face looked not young, yet not old, that mature mask that most humans between the age of forty and ninety now wore: ageless, smooth, and healthy. That David himself wore, although it was by now an ancient joke that folks with the darkest skin stayed the youngest looking for the longest time; there was not four months in chronological age between Charles and David and Marco, but people often mistook David for younger.
“But,” echoed Cara, smiling at Diana. “You’ll ask anyway. I must say you’re looking pert, David, after that impossibly boring audience and ceremony.”
“I left.”
“Of course. You could. Tess is doing linguistics research, Diana.”
“Linguistics research? That seems so mundane, somehow. I thought maybe she was kidnapped by a dark warrior and swept off into a life filled with hardship and passionate lovemaking. Oh, well.”
There was a pause. David chuckled.
Cara regarded Diana with an expression of amused indulgence. “And a bastard every year? Or do you suppose she was married in some primitive ceremony?”
“Oh, certainly,” said Diana with conviction, pushing herself away from the wall. “Barbarians are prudes, aren’t they? Of course there was a ceremony. She’s probably scarred for life.”
David laughed.
“How long have you been an actor?” Cara asked.
Diana smiled in a way that showed her dimples
Charles laughed, short and sharp. “When was the last time you’ve known me to do anything rash?”
“A damned long time ago, as you well know. Let me say it this way. You’re getting used to things going your way. This may not be your choice to make.”
“Tess has a duty—”
“Yes, I know all about her duty, and I’m sure she does as well. In any case, it’s not Tess I’m thinking of now. In the words of that ancient song, I think an irresistible force is about to meet an immovable object, and I’m sure as hell going to get out of the flash zone.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Charles Soerensen. David was shocked to hear such coldness in his voice; this was Charles, who always listened, who could always be counted upon to be open-minded. Diana clutched a fistful of cloak in one hand. Footfalls sounded again, but moving away from them, and they were left in silence but for the sea surging below and the distant sound of carriages leaving the palace.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” said a woman’s voice beside them.
David gasped, starting round. Diana sagged back against the wall.
“I beg your pardon. I didn’t mean to startle you.” The woman smiled.
“Cara!”
“Oh, not you,” said Cara Hierakis dismissively. “I meant Diana.”
“Dr. Hierakis,” said Diana in a small voice. She glanced guiltily toward the right and then back. “Oh. I…”
“Yes, we were all eavesdropping, weren’t we?”
“Speak for yourself,” said David, affronted. “We came here by accident.”
“Oh, not on purpose, I know,” said the doctor mildly. “Or at least, not on your part, Diana.”
“Thank you,” said David, but he laughed.
“Is she really alive?” Diana asked. “Terese Soerensen, that is? We heard rumors, but I didn’t know if they were true.”
“Yes, she’s alive.”
Whenever he heard Tess mentioned, just that simple fact set against the official announcements proclaimed by the Chapalii Protocol Office, David felt a warm glow start up inside him. Tess was alive, and he would be seeing her soon.
“But why did she come to Rhui? Diana asked. “Oh, I know I shouldn’t ask, but…” She trailed off, and David turned to look at Cara Hierakis because it was a question he had never gotten a satisfactory answer to.
Cara laughed. The breeze off the bay stirred her black hair and she squinted out at the distant islands that rimmed the western horizon like glass beads shot through with the last red fires of the sun. The barest trace of crows-feet showed at her eyes. Her face looked not young, yet not old, that mature mask that most humans between the age of forty and ninety now wore: ageless, smooth, and healthy. That David himself wore, although it was by now an ancient joke that folks with the darkest skin stayed the youngest looking for the longest time; there was not four months in chronological age between Charles and David and Marco, but people often mistook David for younger.
“But,” echoed Cara, smiling at Diana. “You’ll ask anyway. I must say you’re looking pert, David, after that impossibly boring audience and ceremony.”
“I left.”
“Of course. You could. Tess is doing linguistics research, Diana.”
“Linguistics research? That seems so mundane, somehow. I thought maybe she was kidnapped by a dark warrior and swept off into a life filled with hardship and passionate lovemaking. Oh, well.”
There was a pause. David chuckled.
Cara regarded Diana with an expression of amused indulgence. “And a bastard every year? Or do you suppose she was married in some primitive ceremony?”
“Oh, certainly,” said Diana with conviction, pushing herself away from the wall. “Barbarians are prudes, aren’t they? Of course there was a ceremony. She’s probably scarred for life.”
David laughed.
“How long have you been an actor?” Cara asked.
Diana smiled in a way that showed her dimples
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