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“I,”said the Dexion, “do not ‘dabble.’ My colleagues and I are conducting vital experiments on heretical artifacts. This is an invaluable opportunity to discover what the Hesperines have been hiding from us.” He seemed to realize he was giving Cassia exactly what she wanted—an explanation. He straightened, regaining his composure, and turned a more fawning smile upon the other Tenebrans. “It is my duty to keep all of you safe. That is precisely what I am doing.”
“Artifacts these may be,” Cassia said, “but they are luxuries—all the gifts the Hesperines offered us last night, which you forbade us to accept.”
Lord Adrogan reached to pick up a beaded silk shoe. Tychon caught the lord’s wrist and tightened his grip.
Lord Adrogan had no difficulty wresting his hand free. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re keeping all the spoils of this journey for yourselves.”
“Honored Master…” Lord Severin hesitated over one of Lyros’s jeweled necklaces. “Are you certain there is malign magic on these items? My tenants live under the constant threat of starvation. One gem from this necklace is all I would need to change that.”
“Perhaps I would be able to answer your question if my studies had not been interrupted,” Chrysanthos replied.
Cassia could not let Chrysanthos turn that accusation back upon her. “Why did you say nothing to Master Gorgos? As our future royal mage, he should have been informed.”
Master Gorgos marched to the desk. “Indeed, why was I not consulted? Why was my expertise not called upon?”
“Our realms of expertise are somewhat different,” the Dexion said.
“Oh?” Cassia prodded. “How is your agricultural magic different from Master Gorgos’s?”
Master Gorgos’s eyes narrowed. “Youarerelying entirely on your, ahem, agricultural magic, aren’t you, Honored Master?”
“Good gods, man.” Lord Gaius faced Chrysanthos. “If you are testing these artifacts to the full extent of your ability, you are putting the tolerance of our hosts to the utmost test and endangering the lives of every man and woman in this embassy. I will not have it.”
“What are you thinking?” Benedict demanded.
To further rattle Chrysanthos, Cassia brought up his rival. “Need we remind you how tenuous our situation is since Dalos antagonized the Hesperines during the last Summit?”
Tychon started forward, but Chrysanthos put a hand on his shoulder to hold him back. Or perhaps hold him up. The apprentice was swaying on his feet, his face pallid and sweating.
Tychon was obviously suffering the ill effects of acting as his master’s channel. It was clear how much magic the Dexion had been pulling through his apprentice so he could use the power Skleros had stored for him in a vessel. Back in Tenebra, that poor man they had dragged out of the king’s prison and placed under the guard of Chrysanthos’s war circle must be suffering far worse than Tychon. Skleros, apparently satisfied with his work, remained a silent onlooker and smoked like a forest fire.
Knight pushed against Cassia’s legs again. But she could not heed his protective urges, not now, even if it meant pushing the mages too far. She had not pushed them far enough. She wrapped her arm around Knight’s neck. He shook his head vigorously.
In the tense silence, Cassia tried to enjoy watching Chrysanthos bear the brunt of everyone’s stares. But the rush of the confrontation was deserting her. Her heart no longer raced. Drowsiness dragged at her. Perhaps she had underestimated the consequences of living on pleasure and coffee.
The moment of weariness wasted her reaction time. Chrysanthos got in a word. “Do not speak the name Dalos within my hearing. He was…” The Dexion paused. Took a breath. “…the most blundering, incautious excuse for an Anthrian mage who ever dared try his clumsy hand at dealing with Hesperines. No one could be more undeserving of the opportunities granted to him.” The Dexion skewered Cassia with a look. “May I also remind you he was a Cordian interloper, and I am as Tenebran as all of you.”
Cassia made no apologies for dancing close to the limits of his disguise.
“You’d best remember it,” Lord Gaius threatened the mage.
Chrysanthos composed himself. “No potentially antagonizing spells have been attempted here. Our explorations have occurred well within reasonable limits and involved nothing to which our hosts might object. There are nondestructive methods that still provide a useful degree of information.”
Cassia raised her eyebrows at the remains of the doll.
One of the men who had nearly made the toymaker cry sifted through the scattered stuffing. “It’s just a toy!”
“Is it?” Chrysanthos returned. “Do you not think you have the right to know if there are any curses on the temptations the Hesperines paraded before you last night?”
Behind Tychon’s back, Lord Adrogan sidled over to a chest under a window. He threw open the lid, and it banged against the wall. Everyone in the room looked toward the sound.
“Gold!” Lord Adrogan lifted out a heavy chain that had been on display at the goldsmiths’ pavilion at the fair. “What else have you been hoarding in here?”
Chrysanthos’s voice turned cold. “Do you imagine yourself entitled to some kind of reward for bravery because you attached yourself to the embassy? You cannot possibly imagine what the Hesperines owe my brethren. If I eke some compensation from this journey, it will be a drop in an ocean that no amount of riches can ever fill.”
“You do not deny you kept these for their value alone?” Lord Gaius asked.
“I did not say that.” Chrysanthos’s smooth smile was back. “I may study anything I wish while I am here. It is both my duty and my right.”
