“I understand it, Bliss, but I don’t have to like it.”
“If you would like to interrupt me, please submit the proper paperwork to my assistant and I will have her consider your request. I was saying that if you were in that crowd, you would have to worry about Consultant assassins slitting your throat. But you’re with me, so you don’t.”
She was looking at him now with her pale silvery eyes, and he looked away from the spyglass to consider her.
Together, they waited in a moment of silence before he decided to ask, “Are you finished?”
She considered. “For the moment, I am done.”
“Good.” He returned to looking out the window, where his body double received what they were calling the Steward’s crown: a silver circlet to contrast with the gold circlet that the original Emperor had always worn.
The decoy held a replica, while Calder held the real one in a case in his coat. Its Intent was only a passing breeze next to the hurricane within the real crown, but it would have been in bad taste had he worn the same crown as the previous Emperor.
Also, the sheer weight of Intent inside the golden crown would have been too distracting if he had to wear it all the time. It was better to wear a normal ornament.
“He smiles too much,” Calder muttered.
“You smile often. Especially when you are trying to reassure others, which does not normally make them reassured. In fact, I think they might feel better if you did not smile.” She sat up, cupping her chin in one hand. “One might say that your smile does not fulfill the purpose of a normal smile. Is that common?”
Bliss pulled a black notebook from her coat and started making notes. He had seen her take notes on Elder anatomy in the same book.
Over the years, he had grown to like Bliss, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable being in a room alone with her for an extended period of time. At any point, she might decide that he would benefit from some bizarre and disturbing hallucinations.
He lowered the spyglass, collapsing it and slipping it into his coat. “When are the others due to arrive?”
Bliss flapped her hands at him. “Wait, wait, no! Don’t ask that yet!”
He glanced around the room to see if he’d missed something.
“Just a few more seconds…”
He stood in silence.
“Now, go!”
“When are the others due to—”
The door opened and General Teach stuck her head in. Her helmet hung from her belt, revealing her pale hair cut close to her scalp. She stared at him as though she intended to execute him, but that was how she looked at everyone.
“Guild Heads Bennett and Kern have arrived. Is everything secure?”
Her blue eyes moved to Bliss as the Blackwatch Head pushed down something trying to escape from inside her coat. “We are safe, Jarelys, thank you.”
Calder got the distinct impression that Teach was checking to see whether Calder was still safe from Bliss, but she still nodded and opened the door wider.
Cheska Bennett, Head of the Navigator’s Guild, strolled in with hands in her pockets. Her frizzy red hair was kept back by a blue bandana, and she wore a rumpled white shirt beneath a green jacket two sizes too big for her. Her sleeves were folded back to the elbow. She gave Calder a cocky grin, but a professional nod to Bliss.
Without a word, she tossed herself down on a nearby couch, propping her boots up on the armrest.
She was followed in by Baldezar Kern, Head of the Champion’s Guild. The man was about Calder’s height but noticeably broader, his massive chest and muscles straining at the buttons of his dark shirt. His black hair was winged with silver, and he strode in with a stoic expression.
His menacing demeanor was undermined by the child attached to his leg.
A girl of about three or four clung to his shin like a monkey to a branch. She wore a simple dress and long, dark curls, and she kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut. He continued walking as though she didn’t exist.
Calder extended his hand, which the Champion shook. “Guild Head Kern, I don’t want to alarm you, but I think you have a stowaway.”
Kern nodded grimly. “She placed me under house arrest.”
“Then you’re in violation of your sentence.” Calder slowly lowered himself to crouch next to the girl, who turned her face away. “What’s your name, madam?”
“Lily,” came the muffled reply.
“Lily is my youngest daughter,” Kern said, and at last Calder saw the hint of a weary smile. “I told her that I was going to work whether she let go or not, but I don’t think she believed me.”
“Do you like candy, Lily?” They had a wide selection of treats in storage, for the entertainment of guests.
Lily turned back to him and cracked one eye. But the eye hurriedly widened and she shut it again.
Calder looked to his right to see Bliss crouching next to him, her eyes wider than the child’s.
“How old is she?” Bliss asked in awe.
“Four.”
“Four. And she’s still so small.” Bliss extended a finger as though to poke the girl, but Kern pulled his leg back.
“She’ll get bigger.” Gently, as though handling a glass sculpture, Kern peeled his daughter off his leg and held her in front of him. She refused to look at him.
“I have to go to work now. If you wait outside with Zaria, these people will bring you anything you want to eat. Anything at all.”
Lily peeked at Calder, who nodded. Bliss saw him nodding and joined him.
The girl considered for a moment, then tapped her father’s wrist. He lowered her to the ground, where she ran off. Teach opened the door for her, but halfway to the door Lily paused, then scurried back and gave her father’s leg a quick hug. Then she ran back through the open door, where a grandmotherly woman with her hair in a bun was waiting with hands on hips.
Kern let out a sigh. “Kids. You know how they can be.”
Calder looked around the room. Cheska looked embarrassed, Teach mournful, and Bliss was openly shaking her head. He and Jerri had never wanted children, and none of the other three had ever married.
“We’ve spent more time with Elderspawn than human children,” Calder remarked, clapping the man on the shoulder. He’d felt softer boulders.
“They have more in common than you’d think.” The Champion grabbed a chair in each hand, placing them side-by-side and sitting on them both. They still creaked under his weight. Urzaia had been much taller than the Guild Head, but Calder was reminded of the times he’d sat on a barrel or crate and the planks had splintered under his weight. Champions were always heavier than they looked.
“That’s enough about Kern’s Elderspawn,” Cheska said. She pulled out a folded paper and waved it in the air. “We’re here to talk about this.”
It was a news-sheet, and though Calder could only see half the headline, he knew what it said. “REGENTS BACK DOWN! EMPIRE TO BE UNIFIED!” It was the talk of the Empire; since the battle of the Gray Island, the Regents had made several statements indicating that they would be willing to entertain negotiations.
If Calder and The Testament had managed to track down the Consultants and their ship, the Imperialist Guilds would be in an even better position, but he had been unable to chase far into the magical fog of Bastion’s Veil. And once they had spotted Estyr Six flying in, he and the others had decided to cash out and return to port.