Dominic’s attention sharpened behind me. I didn’t see him move but I felt the room account for the possibility.
Rhain noticed. His gaze flicked over my shoulder. To Dominic. Then back to me.
Something passed between them too quickly for language. Old acquaintance, read at speed. Dominic’s warning was quiet. Rhain’s answer was amused.
Rhain took a small step back. Half an inch. Not enough to restore the protocol distance. Enough to acknowledge the warning.
“You speak Norwegian, I’m told.”
“I do.”
“Where did you train?”
“Georgetown. Then Oslo for two years.”
“Oslo.” A small pleased inflection. “Where in Oslo?”
“Frogner.”
“My grandmother’s neighborhood.”
“Du må snakke norsk med meg en dag.”You must speak Norwegian with me one day.
I answered without thinking. “Vi kan begynne nå hvis du vil.”We can begin now, if you wish.
His head tilted.
I’d answered him in his grandmother’s dialect, which wasn’t Oslo standard. I’d learned it from a Northern roommate ten years ago. A detail a translator wouldn’t have offered unprompted.
He noted it without changing his face, without changing his cadence, without giving me any indication that he’d heard it at all.
Which, unfortunately, gave me every indication.
He had heard it. He would keep it.
“Ms.Cordero.” The pause was a quarter of a second longer than the cadence required.
“Lord Solberg.”
“I look forward to many conversations.”
“Likewise.” The word came out smooth. It was the only part of me that did.
He moved on at the right pace. In the right direction. With the right small adjustment of his coat. He greeted the rest of the Ashenmere council in formal cadence. He did everything correctly. And he did all of it with the smile on at the right setting.
Behind me, Dominic let a breath out slowly. A choice. Working very hard not to be the most dangerous thing in the room.
When the receiving hall began to disperse, I stayed at Yuki’s left shoulder.
The 21:00 cable was already drafting itself in the back of my head.Davis. Norwegian delegation arrived 13:17 local. Bjorn Solberg, R. Solberg, one unnamed security. Stopped one half-step short of protocol distance to council head. Significance unclear. Continuing observation. Report.Three sentences.
I had two weeks and I was going to need every minute.
The Second
Rhain
Iscent-locked on a translator in a receiving hall and lost the better part of ninety percent of the diplomatic strategy I’d spent three months building.
