Silver in Eillen 4: Lean and Hungry Look
“Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look, he thinks too much; such men are dangerous.”
- Julius Ceasar, Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar
<- 3) Lady Disdain ~0~ 5) Thinking Makes It So ->
Adria’s unusual silence lasted until the doors to the ducal study closed behind them and Vespasian made a move to take the enormous pile of books that Adria was returning to the library.
“I don’t need you to carry my books for me, Vespasian,” she snapped, setting off down the corridor. Like her brother, Adria had a seeming aversion to showing any weakness. Most days it didn’t bother Vespasian, but most days nothing so important was hanging in the balance.
“Maybe it’s an excuse to talk to you,” he replied, keeping pace with her easily, “you very nearly ruined the best business opportunity that Renua’s had in over a generation.”
“Maybe I don’t want to listen,” she returned, “And I, unlike you, am trying to make sure that this business with the mines doesn’t explode in our faces. I’ve set my sights on keeping Varin in one piece and avoiding beginning a war with Eillen - you’re just here to annoy him.”
“No, I’m here to prevent him from losing an opportunity.”
“You mean, to trick him.” They arrived at the spiral staircase within the tower, and Vespasian stepped aside to allow her to begin the slow ascent. She glared at him when he tried to take the books again.
“You just saw him make that decision on his own,” he protested, walking deliberately slowly to remain just next to her.
Despite the pile of books she held with her right arm and the tight grip she had on the banister with her left, Adria managed to turn her head long enough to give Vespasian a cold look. “With you feeding him information and pulling strings.”
He couldn’t deny that. “Look, it’s for the good of Renua,” he began as they reached the next floor and emerged into the corridor, “I can make it work. I know how the Eillenians do business - Varin would be lucky not to get tossed out of the city on his ear. If there’s anyone who can make a profit out of this deal, it’ll be someone who knows how to bargain, and how not to offend the Eillenians. I can handle it, and Renua will be the richer for it.” Seeing that her frosty posture still hadn’t thawed, he concluded, “At least it won’t be Varin making a fool of himself in Eillen.”
She seemed to become somewhat more cheerful at that. “True,” she replied, as they reached the library doors and he went to hold one open for her, “It’ll be you.”
The smile dropped off his face like a stone.
However, his attention was immediately claimed by the gaunt figure in a dark blue tunic who was standing in front of the shelves. His breath hissed out of him in surprise.
“Magician Venturos, what are you doing here?” Adria asked, equally surprised. The gaunt man, who was neither young nor old, turned to look at her and Vespasian suddenly felt a lot more nervous. Lord Cornelius might see a lot out of his beady old eyes, but the duke’s magician was the kind of person who not only saw everything, but did something about it. Though he’d been in service to the old duke since before Vespasian could remember, these days he was rarely seen. No one blamed him for preferring to spend his days doing whatever it was magicians did in secret - it was surely preferable to dealing with Varin.
“The young lord rides to Eillen, my lady,” the magician replied, fixing his dark eyes on the two of them without any detectable expression.
Vespasian experienced a sudden chill - how had he known? - before dismissing it scoffingly. The same way any charlatan knew things - and like the jugglers and conjurers and fortune tellers on the side of the road on fair days, Magician Venturos was a fake. A well-educated fake. It was that education that made him dangerous.
If Adria was similarly rattled, she didn’t show it. “That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing,” she pointed out.
He smiled indulgently at her. “Gathering information,” he replied, and though the sweep of his eyes took in the entire room, Vespasian suddenly had the impression that he was staring right through his skull. “It may be of use to us in Eillen.”