years. All those wasted opportunities, just to end up with a Barrayaran?”
This was tolerable only because he had accepted Tej’s every No — well, No, thank you, Dada — on said deals for five years straight with no more demur than an occasional wince and grunt. At least Dada wouldn’t complain that Ivan Xav was a natural, being one himself. Nor could the Baronne, without blatant hypocrisy. Not that she couldn’t find other grounds.
“This Vorpatril fellow turns out to be quite interesting, for a Barrayaran, I will allow that,” said the Baronne. “If I thought it was guile and not blind luck, I would be quite proud of you both. Or-did you know of his high-level connections before negotiating this strange oral contract?”
“For free, no less,” said Star in an aggrieved undervoice. “ Tej.”
“No,” sighed Tej. “We only found out after.”
“Figures,” murmured Pearl.
“Did you look him up?” Tej asked the Baronne. “Back on Escobar?”
“Of course. As soon as Lily passed us that-at the time, it seemed a very garbled rumor, but actually it seems correct in more details than I would have believed. Not that we weren’t overjoyed to have finally located you two. But how closely does that boy actually stand the to Barrayaran Imperial throne?”
Oh, blast, the Baronne had already stumbled onto that angle. Well, of course she had. She was the Baronne. “Camp stool,” Tej corrected in a small voice. “When The Gregor has to sit in ceremony. On account of Vor being a military caste.” The Baronne waved away this distinction. Tej…remembered a plaque in a street that groundcars ran over.
Rish put in, “There are quite a few more bodies between him and that position than when he was younger, apparently-plus he’d have to win a couple of civil wars with rival claimants, to hear him tell it. He was never the only potential heir.”
Grandmama lifted a quelling finger. “I would advise against pursuing that direction, Udine, dear. There are many safer approaches you might work in aid of our aims here, and I promise you, you do not want to get bogged down in extended altercations with the locals.” She gave the impression of a delicate shudder without, actually, shuddering.
Tej cast her a grateful glance. Dada grunted, not disagreeing.
“Still, he’s in their military,” said Star. “He can’t be totally clueless, in a crunch. Maybe we could use him in our Security. Our new Security, when we set it up.”
“Or in Administration,” said Pidge. “You say he’s a kind of secretary?”
“Or in Hospitality,” said Jet, with an amused snicker. “How well does he strip?”
Tej glowered at him.
The Baronne waved this aside, pursing her lips. “But apparently, he’s been kept close confined here in the capital under the eyes of his handlers for nearly the whole of that career. Chained to a desk, which is, I suppose, kinder than chained in a cage. Keeps him out of trouble just the same, to be sure.”
“He really works,” said Tej, not very loudly. “Admiral Desplains-that’s his Ops boss-values him.” What Desplains had actually told her was, Despite Ivan’s erratic personal life, he’s never once made an error in identifying hidden political stakes. Rare talent, that. Or had that been political snakes? Confusing.
“So I should think,” said the Baronne. “This military chief must gain considerable cachet for harboring such a princeling on his staff. Almost a Jewel. I wonder what his deal was, behind the scenes, in return for taking on such a charge?”
“He likes Ivan’s work,” said Tej, though completeness forced her to add, “mostly.”
The Baronne sat back and tapped her fingers on the sofa arm. She said unhopefully, “I don’t suppose you’ve had any ideas how best to exploit him, have you, Tej? Having had-or is that enjoyed? — the closest observation.”
Really, Baronne, do you have to point that out? Tej twitched uncomfortably. “The Greg-the Barrayarans were going to give us a ride in secret to Escobar. On a government courier ship. It would have given a clean break for Rish and me to lose the bounty hunters. I thought that was enough.”
Star sniffed. “There are much more direct ways to dispose of bounty hunters, Tej.”
Star had been the understudy of the House Cordonah security chief-a department which had failed signally to stave off the present debacle, Tej was reminded. With a pang of frustration, Tej restrained herself from escalating the critique. The most important part of the takeover had been in behind-the-scenes deals on financial and diplomatic levels anyway-yeah, Pidge’s department, wasn’t that? Star just liked lots of big guns.
“So what did you do about Prestene’s hired meat? They must have followed you four, as well,” said Tej to Star.
Star lifted her chin, proudly. “They met with fatal accidents, of course.”
Dada, with a practiced finger-flicking gesture, suppressed this side-trail as well. “Tej’s turn to tell her tale.”
Em said, “Still, such a ride-depending on what they wanted you to trade for it-would have saved this expensive side jaunt to collect you two. Too bad you couldn’t have brought it off two weeks back.”
“Well, there was the divorce thing we were waiting for.”
“The what?” said Dada.
With a reluctant sigh, Tej plunged into an account of her and Ivan Xav’s trip to New Evias, and Count Falco’s strange, archaic court with its unexpected non-result.
Dada rubbed his lips thoughtfully as she wound down, his dark eyes crinkling. “I expect we may simply ignore this local wrinkle when we leave. Alternatively, should you wish to become a widow, you have only to ask. It wouldn’t be a first. I’m sure something could be arranged.”
“No!” said Tej indignantly, hoping he was joking. She was almost sure he was joking. Despite being a Barrayaran, Ivan Xav wasn’t disposable.
“Don’t be so hotheaded, love,” said the Baronne to her mate with a fond smile. “We shouldn’t waste our opportunities before we’ve thoroughly explored them, after all.” The double meaning of waste might have been intended, because the corner of Dada’s mouth twitched up, as it always did when his half-haut queen indulged in Jacksonian gutter slang. The Baronne never could make it come out quite right. Dada could, authentically, when he got on a roll about his old times. But Tej wasn’t sure she liked this swing of the Ivan Xav pendulum any better.
Star frowned in doubt. “If your Barrayaran husband wanted to get rid of you, why didn’t he just let the bounty hunters carry you off? Problem solved, from his point of view.”
“Barrayar’s a more complicated place than I thought,” said Tej, in a possibly-fruitless effort at warning. Was anyone listening to her?
An unexpected murmur of support from, of all people, Grandmama: “Indeed, we should not go rushing in.”
“I want some sleep first, before rushing anywhere,” said Dada, a yawn cracking his face. “What a dismal shuttleport. Bed next for everyone, I think. Nobody’s thinking straight.”
“Should I go out and try to scrounge an arsenal, first?” said Star. “We’re horribly disarmed, here.”
“You have to admit,” said Pidge, “Dada was right about not trying to carry ours along. It would never have survived that second search.”
“Would’ve passed the first one, though,” grumbled Star. “Before Amiri insisted on bringing up that Vorpatril fellow’s name.”
“No, don’t you dare!” said Tej, fairly sure that Star out cruising back alleys trying to deal for illegal weaponry fell under the heading of something awful. Especially while this short of sleep. And clues, for that matter.
Rish came to Tej’s aid: “As far as any unwanted visitors from Prestene go, I think that Barrayaran Imperial Security has us covered for now. I know they’re watching out for them. And with more resources than we can command here, right now.”
Dada nodded understanding and agreement. “My take as well. Bed, chicks and chicklets.” He stood and stretched, cracking joints. Grumbling, the Arquas trailed off to their respective roosts.
Dada and the Baronne hugged Tej and Rish a temporary goodbye as they left for Ivan Xav’s flat. Their grips lingered, as if reassuring themselves by the most fundamental sensory means of the girls’ well-being, and, well, being. “Yes, call us at Ivan Xav’s number when you’re ready to go down to dinner,” said Tej.
Pidge followed them into the hotel corridor.
“We could be halfway through the Hegen Hub by now, if you two had stuck to your original plan,” she
