The instant he was out of sight of the lifeguards Cloven Februaren turned sideways.
“How does he do that?” Anna asked.
All three children babbled, Vali loudest. “Maybe what is he doing would be more interesting.”
“Dreaming the Construct,” Heris said. “And that’s all you need to know now. And you’re not to repeat that to anyone.”
Hecht glanced at Principat? Delari. He had seen no evidence that Delari could, or did, “dream the Construct.” Why not? If it was so easy that Heris could learn?
Delari said, “We still have dinner to finish. Further discussion can wait.”
The gathering in the quiet room differed only in that Anna was present. Always before she had been asked to stay away. Heris arrived last, bringing coffee. Her great talent. Brewing the rare and incalculably expensive beverage.
Muniero Delari shut the door. Lined with stone, it was immensely heavy. He said, “Anna, you’re a remarkable person. As near perfect for our Piper as a woman could be.”
“But?”
“Yes. Right. I do have a but. I’d rather you weren’t here. What you don’t know can’t hurt the rest of us. But my grandfather says your ignorance could be a more deadly threat to you and the children. And the four of you have become important to us.”
This was new. Hecht sipped his coffee quietly, occasionally glancing at Cloven Februaren. The ancient had been away only minutes. He seemed content to sip coffee and look smug.
Anna looked to Hecht for support. He said, “I don’t know where he’s going. But you don’t need to be scared.”
“Let’s jump right into the cold water,” Delari said. “Heris, in addition to being the top coffee artist in Brothe, is Piper’s older sister.”
Hecht started. Then realized that almost everything Anna needed to know piggybacked on that one statement. Anna knew pretty much everything else about Heris.
Anna said nothing for more than a minute. Finally, “You’re all related. Grade Drocker was Piper’s father. Which explains a lot. But…” She stared at Hecht, eyes wide. “You fired the shot that caused his death.”
“I didn’t know who he was. I’m still not sure what difference it would’ve made. He meant to kill me. He’d tried before. He got two of my friends instead. He didn’t know who I was, either. Till around the time I went into the City Regiment, when he did a turnaround and started sculpting my career.”
“And his father took over when he went.”
Muniero Delari made a slight bow toward Anna. “More coffee, Piper?”
“Always. You know I’m addicted.”
Cloven Februaren leaned nearer Anna and, in a stage whisper, said, “Here comes the really grim part.”
Delari scowled. “Can’t you be serious about anything? Two hundred years old. The most powerful sorcerer in the world. And any one of Anna’s children is more serious and responsible.”
“Being serious now, Muno. Putting on my stern face and acting my age.”
A flicker of smile cracked Delari’s scowl. “He had a point, Anna. Obliquely. You’ve just been included in some extremely dangerous knowledge. The only people who know all that are in this room. Others-er-Rashal al- Dhulquarnen in Dreanger comes to mind-know Piper isn’t what he pretends to be. None of them know the whole truth. They can’t find it. The records have been destroyed.”
Februaren said, “The bush he’s beating around is, if anyone finds out it’ll be because somebody in this room right now tells somebody. And that wouldn’t be healthy.”
“Hey!” Hecht said. “Don’t you threaten…”
“Sun comes up in the east. Tides come in and go out. I’m stating facts. Cold facts.”
Delari said, “Anna, you’ve been whining because you haven’t been included in all of Piper’s life.” As Anna frowned at Heris. “Now that you’re included, you can’t walk away.”
The Ninth Unknown said, “You came to Brothe from Sonsa because your former husband’s secret employers insisted. Are you still reporting to al-Qarn?”
Hecht grew more nervous by the second. This could not end well.
“Not for almost two years. I’m sure those people wrote me off for being too close to Piper.”
“That’s good,” Februaren said. “The point’s been made. Piper, fill us in on your adventures.”
The old man and Principat? Delari hardly interrupted, though Hecht did not have a great deal to report that Februaren had not already picked up during his random visits. Both seemed particularly interested in Asgrimmur Grimmsson.
“What did you do with him?” Delari asked. “I’d certainly like to talk to him.”
“Me, too,” Februaren said. “A man who became an Instrumentality, then a man again. Interesting stuff.”
“He’s hidden in a room like this down under the Castella. Hopefully not attracting attention. I didn’t know where else to put him. He wants us to help him free the Old Gods he trapped after he turned into a monster. The unintended consequence of that was the liberation of Kharoulke the Windwalker. As the world is becoming a paradise for his sort.”
“More coffee, Anna?” Heris asked.
“No. I’ve had enough. Of everything. I need some time alone.” Her world had become far more vast and dark in just a few minutes.
As he prepared for bed, Hecht overheard Vali ask Anna, “So did they finally tell you what’s going on?”
“Yes. And now I wish I’d minded my own business.”
“Devedians say, ‘Have no congress with sorcerers.’”
“Which makes them smarter than most of us think.”
The Captain-General visited the fallen Bruglioni citadel. Four lifeguards and Kait Rhuk’s fire team accompanied him.
The Bruglioni stronghold had covered several crowded acres. Surrounded by a curtain wall, it had included gardens and outbuildings as well as the fortress that served the family as home and headquarters.
That was all rubble in a hole, now.
Madouc whispered, “Sir, here comes Colonel Ghort, his own self.”
People made mock of Pinkus Ghort’s rustic speech-which came and went according to a formula best know to Ghort his own self-and of his dress. But Hecht had heard no one but Ghort himself denigrate Pinkus Ghort’s intelligence.
Ghort said, “You musta hauled some major ass, getting down here from Alten Weinberg so fast, Pipe.”
“Promises to keep. What happened here?”
“Firepowder accident. Believe it or not, people survived that. Most of the servants. Gervase Saluda and Paludan Bruglioni, both. Though they’re both bad hurt. Paludan might not make it. Saluda was just leaving when it happened. Lintel came down and crushed his legs. He’ll probably never walk again. The rest of the family are still down there. Along with a fortune in rare wines. I’m told.” Ghort sounded more distressed about the wine than the trapped Bruglioni.
“They had a fine cellar when I worked here. You sure it was an accident?”
“It was pure stupidity. We have a witness who heard an idiot Bruglioni nephew brag that he was going to steal some firepowder and make his own fireworks. He was carrying an open lamp instead of a closed lantern.”
Hecht stared at the rubble. Dust still swirled in the hole. He tried exercising his cynical side. “Who’d profit if it wasn’t an accident?”
“Same folks as will anyway. Anybody in the Five Families who ain’t named Bruglioni. This should about do the family in.”
Kait Rhuk said, “Permission to interject, Captain-General?”
“Go ahead.”
“Colonel. Why would the Bruglioni have had enough firepowder to do this? Not to mention that-I think-legally,
