She had to battle through it allplay her part. So now she marched up to a tight knot of masked nobles from the mysterious nation of Faddeste and bowed. Welcome to my house. Speaking as someone who has seen few human beings in her life, outside her immediate family, I know how much it must cost you to attend a crowded event such as this.
We find it hard. The speaker could be a man or a woman, it was impossible to tell. Its accent was so thick she had to puzzle out the words. Tall and thickly robed, this ambassador from a ten-acre nation flicked a finger at the sweeping dancers now beginning to fill up the center of the hall. Such frivolity should be banned. How are you so calm? Not raised to this, crowds should frighten.
Venera bowed. I lived in my imagination as a girl. That much was true. Lacking real people to talk to, I invented a whole courta whole nation!who followed me everywhere. I was never alone. So perhaps this isnt so strange for me.
Doubtful. We dont believe you are of Buridan.
Hmm. I could say the samehow do I know youre really from Faddeste?
Sacrilege! But the robed figure didnt turn away.
Whether either of us is who they say they are, said Venera with a smug smile, it remains a fact that Buridan owes Faddeste twenty thousand Spyre sovereigns. Imposter or not, I am willing to repay that debt.
Now she stepped in close, raising one black eyebrow and glancing around at the crowd. Do you trust the pretenders in the crowd to do the same, if they acquire the title to Buridan? Think hard on that.
The ambassador reared
back as though afraid Venera would touch it. You have money?
Go see Master Flance. She pointed at Garth who, despite being masked, had characteristically surrounded himself with women young and old. All were laughing at some story he was telling. Seeing this, for a moment Venera forgot her worries and felt a pulse of warmth for the aging dandy. She turned back to the Faddestes, but they were already maneuvering across the dance floor like a frightened but determined flock of crows.
She blew out a held breath. Seven or eight more minor nations to bribe, and only half an hour to do it in. All the members of the Spyre Council were here now. It would all be decided soon, one way or another.
Before she could reach her next target a majordomo in the livery of the Council approached and bowed. They are ready for you upstairs, madam, he said coolly.
She kept her gaze fixed on the top of his head as she bowed in return. All eyes were on her, she was certain. This was the moment when all would be decided.
As she clattered up the marble she tried to remember the lines and gambits she had crammed into her head over the past day or so. It hadnt been enough time, and the hangover of her migraine had interfered. She was not ready; she just had herself, the passing lanterns, the looming shadows above, and the single rectangle of light from a pair of doors in the upstairs hall. She told herself to slow down, control her breathing, count to tenbut finally just cursed and strode down the newly laid crimson carpet to pivot on one heel and step into the room.
Jacoby Sartos leonine features crinkled into something like a smirk as he saw her. He was placing the final chair behind the long conference table in the high-ceilinged minor reception hall. Damn him, hed moved everything!Where Venera had contrived a single long table with chairs along two sides, with her at the end, Sartoor somebody, but it sure looked like him from his posturehad turned the table sideways, crammed all the seats on one side of it (behind it, now) and left one solitary chair in the center of the carpet. What had been a conference room was now a court, with her as the defendant.
The rest of the council was standing around behind Sarto as the servants finished the new placement.
She had an overwhelming urge to pick a seat behind the table and put her feet up, then point to the solitary position and ask, who sits there? Only memory of how badly her recent outbursts had gone stopped her.
Well, he had won this round, but she wasnt going to let him revel in it. Venera stopped one of the servants and said, Bring me a side table, and a bottle of wine and a glass. Some cheese might be good too. She sat graciously in the exposed chair and draped her skirts as shed seen the other ladies do. Then she locked eyes with Sarto, and smiled.
The others began to take their places. There were twelve of them. Jacoby Sarto of Sacrus, who was rumored to be merely an errand boy to the true heads of the family, sat on the far left. The arch-conservative duke Ennersin, who had conspicuously arrived with Sarto, sat next to him, frowning in disapproval at Venera. She could count on those two to oppose her confirmation. Of the others
Pamela Anseratte was smiling at something, but wouldnt meet Veneras eye. Principe Guinevera was trying to meet her eye, and apparently attempting to wink; he took up two spaces at the table and his fleshy hands were planted on the tabletop as if he were, at any second, about to leap to his feet and proclaim something. Next to him sat August Virilio, who looked contented, half asleep evenand probably was, after the heroic drinking hed gotten up to after she forgave his nations debt. These three were on her sideor so she hoped.