“That’s two questions.”
“So keep score.” Her eyes narrowed. “Did you know Rish and I were going to be attacked last night? How?”
Vorpatril bit his knuckle.
Byerly’s face set in a faint, empty smile for a moment-processing? — then relaxed into its ironic default expression once more. “I hired them.”
Tej’s heart plummeted. Were they deceived-again…?
“What!” cried Vorpatril indignantly. “You might have said!”
“I was not certain to what degree I could rely on your acting abilities.”
Vorpatril crossed his arms and sat back with a snort.
Uh, what…? thought Tej. Rish’s empty hand slipped quietly back out of her trouser pocket, even her guarded face bewildered.
Byerly continued to Tej, “I am presently engaged in studying some people. Frequently, the best way to gain a close view is to make myself useful, which I do-selectively. While it is not always true that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, in this case I thought it well to give the appearance of cooperation while diverting its result, at least until I could find out more about you.”
So he’d betrayed her with one hand, and his acquaintances with the other? “That’s…pretty ambidextrous.”
He shrugged, unoffended. “Hence Ivan-a third hand, if you like, whom I admit was a last-minute stop-gap, but this all came up rather suddenly. My plan-as there was no indication whatsoever that your strangely elusive maidservant lived in-was that he should take you out frolicking, leaving the cupboard bare for your midnight visitors. Pleasant for you both, frustrating for them, entirely unconnected with me. I still don’t know why they wanted you kidnapped, mind you.” He looked up and batted his eyes invitingly.
“You’re an agent.” Commercial, governmental? Surely not military. “What kind?”
“Now, that is a piece of information worth your name.”
Ivan put in, “Er, Tej, if your enemies know who you really are already, why should your friends be kept in the dark? Does this make sense to you? Because it doesn’t to me.”
“You’ve not proved yourselves our friends.”
“What, I have too!” said Vorpatril. He jerked his thumb at the other man, and conceded, “Him, maybe not so much.”
Tej rubbed her mouth. Ivan Xav had a point. “Is he trustworthy?” she asked him straight out.
“No, he’s a damned weasel.” Vorpatril hesitated. “But he won’t betray Barrayar. If what you are poses no threat to the Imperium, you have nothing to fear from him. Probably.”
Byerly cast Vorpatril a look of exasperated disbelief. “Whose side are you on?”
“You’ve been known to make mistakes. I distinctly recall pulling your, and your Countly cousin’s, feet out of the fire on one of ’em, spectacularly. But do I get respect? Do I get gratitude? Do I get-”
Byerly, hunching, said, “You got another job.”
For some reason, this settled him. “Huh.”
Byerly massaged his neck, looked up, and met Tej’s gaze with a mild smile belied by his intent eyes. “Very well. I will now deal for your name.” He inhaled. “I am an Imperial Security surveillance operative. My specialty is normally the high Vor social milieu centering around Vorbarr Sultana. I am out of my usual venue because the people I am following left there and came here in pursuit of their affairs, which are certainly criminal and potentially treasonous.”
Tej shook her head. “The ones who are after us are not Barrayarans.”
“I know. Yours are the people my people are dealing with. Locating you for them was to be a favor, to sweeten a pot presently in process of going sour.”
Vorpatril’s face scrunched. “Hey. Was finding Tej and Rish one of the little ways you made yourself useful, too?”
Byerly shrugged.
“For God’s sake, By! What if those goons had snatched ’em?”
“I thought the experiment might yield much useful information, whatever way it fell out,” said Byerly, sounding pressed. “In no case would their captors have been allowed to carry them out of the Imperium. But if Tej and Rish can tell me even more about their, ah, foes, then this affair has fallen out better than I might have expected. Although there are other consequences…well.” Very reluctantly, he added, “Thank you, Ivan.”
“It’s not just my life at risk,” said Tej slowly. “Rish’s is, too.”
Byerly said, “I am working with two associates. If I-what is that Jacksonian phrase? — get smoked, it is probable that they will be, too. So you see, I am not without my further responsibilities, either.”
It occurred to Tej that this exchange had just given the Barrayaran agent a very good professional reason to keep her and Rish as far away as possible from kidnappers and hostile interrogators, regardless of his other agendas. Her bluff had won them a very real prize. Or else he’d want them safely dead, but she did not sense the excited tang of such a hidden lethal intent upon him. Tej glanced at Rish, who had been following this with all her attention-and superior senses. Is he telling the truth? Rish returned a cautious nod. Yes, go ahead. With maybe a So far implied.
Yes. This man’s coin is information. Not…coin. Rish would appreciate the aesthetic clarity, to be sure.
Tej swallowed. “Very well.” Her throat felt very tight and thick, as if it were closing off in some deathly allergic reaction. “My full name is Akuti Tejaswini Jyoti ghem Estif Arqua. My parents are-were-Shiv and Udine ghem Estif Arqua. Baron and Baronne Cordonah.”
She looked up, to gauge the effect of this news. Byerly had gone expressionless again, as if not merely processing, but locked up. Vorpatril’s face had fallen into a fixed smile. She had once owned a favorite fur and fabric bear, very huggable, with eyes that glassy, but she felt no urge to hug the Barrayaran now.
Chapter Five
Ivan’s mind had gone so blank, the first thought that arose in it sped out of his mouth wholly without impediment. “How did all that name get stuck on one girl?” And how the devil did she spell it?
Tej-Ivan could see why the nickname, now-tossed her clouds of curls in impatience. She made a truncated gesture, as if to deny-what? “When we kids started to come along, my father found this book-I don’t know from where- Ten Thousand Authentic Ethnic Baby Names From Old Earth, Their Meanings and Geographical Origins. He had trouble choosing. I have a sister named Stella Antonia Dolce Ginevra Lucia, but by the time I arrived, he’d reined back a little.” She added after a moment, “We called her Star.”
“You’re…not an only child, then?” asked By. “Not the heiress of your House?”
Oh, there was a good question. And an appalling thought.
Tej gave By a cold stare. Waiting for a trade?
“I’m an only child, myself,” Ivan offered.
“I know that.”
“How?”
“I looked you up on the comconsole. You’re really you, too.” She frowned at Byerly. “I wonder what I’d find if I looked you up?”
“Not much. I am a scion of an undistinguished cadet branch of my family.” By’s glance flickered to Rish, listening with those pointed turquoise elf-ears. “Disinherited, technically, but since my branch possesses nothing to inherit, that was something of an empty gesture on my father’s part.”
“He has a younger sister, I think,” said Ivan. “Haven’t ever met her. Married and living on South Continent, isn’t she, By?”
By’s smile, already thin, flattened further. “That’s right.”
“There’s no point in withholding anything Captain Morozov could tell us,” Ivan pointed out helpfully to Tej. This whole deal thing was alarming, really, all too Jacksonian and adversarial. “That’ll include anything that’s public knowledge, or that’s hit the Nexus news feeds.” And likely a good bit more than that, and Ivan was now sorry that
