said, “No insult meant, Charles. But who knows what sort of listening devices might have been planted on you without your knowledge?”
Charlie nodded his permission, and the guard captain patted him down with some sort of scanning device. Silas announced, “He’s clean.” Then he searched himself, the two guards, and lastly Rierma. Apparently, they’d adopted a standard procedure of searching anyone who’d been outside Rierma’s suites, no matter how briefly. Silas finished by telling Rierma, “We’ve recently re-swept the entire suite, and for insurance, we’re jamming.”
Silas dismissed the two guards, leaving Charlie, Rierma, Sig, and their guard captains. “Now we can talk,” Rierma announced. “Something to drink, Charles?”
Charlie declined. Rierma poured an amber liquid into a glass while Sig introduced her guard captain: Talcott. Charlie didn’t know Sig as well as Rierma, but when she inquired about his health, then made a few comments on the weather, he politely interrupted her. “Forgive me, Your Grace. Ordinarily we might begin with some small talk, then slowly work our way around to the really serious stuff. But after such a dramatic entrance to these suites, don’t you think small talk is somewhat anticlimactic?”
She threw her head back and laughed. She was a pinch-faced little woman, and he’d never before seen her laugh so heartily. “You are your father’s son.”
Charlie had had years of experience ignoring such baited comments. “May I ask why I’m here?”
Rierma swirled the drink in his glass. “I’ve known you a long time, watched you grow up, even helped raise you a bit here and there.”
Sig said, “I don’t know you as well as Rierma, but I recall that you were a good spacer—smarter than most—and he says you’re a man of honor. We wish to consult you on a matter of some delicacy.”
“And that matter is?”
“I warned you he’d not vacillate,” Rierma said. Rierma looked at Charlie, and all pretense at cheerfulness disappeared. “Sig and I . . . are somewhat uncomfortable with the situation here at Almsburg. We’re concerned for our safety.”
Silas said, “Pelletier and Roacka, per Cesare’s orders, briefed us all on the attempt on your life. And I’m told Arthur suspects Adsin.”
Charlie now understood. “But that was a mixture of carelessness and gullibility on my part. Now that we’re forewarned there should be no issue.”
Sig shook her head. “You’re not that stupid, Commander, so I must assume you’re cautious.”
Charlie smiled at her. “When one treads a path among kings and dukes and duchesses, caution is a survival trait.”
“Charles, my boy,” Rierma said. “I’ll bet you could hold your own among the best courtiers. But there is more than merely security at issue here. Lucius is up to something sneaky, and he’s about to do something. He’s not a subtle man, and rather transparent to those of us who’ve known him long. We fear for the Realm, our duchies, and our personal safeties.”
Sig said, “And I didn’t like seeing Tantin there the other night. Adsin and that Syndonese officer have been thick as thieves, and I don’t trust either of them.”
Rierma turned to pour himself another drink, saying, “I find it surprising that even Lucius trusts that snake, but then our king has never been terribly perceptive. Flatter him the right way and he’ll believe anything.”
Charlie glanced at Silas and Talcott, was surprised to see that the two guard captains showed no discomfort at a discussion bordering on treason. “Do you think Tantin is working on his own, without Goutain’s knowledge?”
Sig shook her head. “No. Tantin’s a bootlicker, and his presence here is too visible. If he was sneaking around behind Goutain’s back, he’d be far more discreet.”
“And let’s not forget Nadama,” Rierma said. “He’s playing some game as well, something far more serious than getting Dieter married off to Delilah.”
Charlie waited for Rierma to say more but nothing came. The silence stretched out uncomfortably as they waited for him. Rierma was a friend, both to him and House de Maris. Sig he knew not well, but Arthur attested to the fact that she was a friend. So he felt he had no choice but to trust them.
“We can do little to protect the Realm from Lucius’s machinations,” Charlie said. “And the best protection for your duchies is if you yourselves are free to see to their welfare. Now, if I were a cautious man, and the captain of the guard responsible for the welfare of my liege,” he looked pointedly at Talcott and Silas, “I might wish to have a stronger, more personally loyal response