Was she actually going to learn something? She clasped her hands modestly and tried not to look too eager.
He said, “Let me tell you about the City you’re going to. You’re going to have to get used to all sorts of things; men and women dining at the same table; church services of a rather heretical nature—all sorts of unnaturalness. I know a level-headed girl like you can learn to handle these things, and I want you to know, child, that I’ll see there’s always a proper Opal priest in our group there to act as your confessor. You won’t be alone.”
“Thank you, Father.”
“As to your husband.” The Cardinal coughed. “Of course, his reputation may not be the best, but you have to make allowances for die prejudices of distance. They tell me he’s quite popular on the Diamond. In any case, there is no way he could fail to be charmed by your lovely self, dear, and I don’t mean that as some meaningless compliment.”
He saw that he had her complete attention. “You’re a fine, loyal young lady, and I know I can count on you. If there’s anything that happens to come up that you think I ought to know about—personal, political, anything at all—I want you to get in touch with me immediately.”
It all became clear. Her eyes lit up as every melodrama she’d ever read appeared before her and then paled by comparison. She barely noticed when the Cardinal took her hands between his own two huge palms, the band of his ring digging into her. “I can depend on you, can’t I?”
“Oh, of course, Lord Cardinal!”
He sat back and sighed. “I really never doubted it. Listen, my dear, I’m going to leave my assistant here today; you’ll see him on the Diamond often enough, and he can spend the next few days with you filling you in on Diamond custom. He’s the one I want you to go to with any messages you may have for me. You can trust him, Iolanthe; he’s a fine young man, of unquestionable character, and absolutely discreet.”
She nodded. He went on, “Now, I won’t bore you with affairs of state, and Officer Quince will be giving you plenty of details anyway. But I do want you to remember that anything you hear about Baret Two will be significant.” She looked blank. “What’s baret-too?”
“My dear, it’s our next trade stop. We’re in Baret System now.” He smiled. “I see that Officer Quince will have a great deal to go over with you. Never mind; I know you’ve always done well in your tutoring, and at least now your keenness will be better applied.”
He stood up, and Io followed suit. “I’ll be leaving you now to the care of … hmm, hasn’t your bodyguard arrived yet?”
“My what?”
“Obviously not. I’d understood he was coming today. You’re on your way to being a great lady now, Iolanthe; you’ll have to get used to these things.” He extended his hand for her to kiss.
At the door, he paused. “But, child, I never got your answer about the marriage. Do you want to go?”
“Yes, Lord Cardinal, I do.” ‘
“There, I knew your mother had the wrong end of the stick. Gets a bit confused sometimes, doesn’t she? Fond though she is of you. Sometimes a friend can see these things better.”
And he left, having gifted her with so many things to think about that it was almost like having indigestion. Mechanically, she combed her hair, pinned it back, and tied a dignified, tail-cut jacket over her long dress. She looked at herself in the mirror and started to laugh. This new way of seeing things certainly made her family’s betrayals dwindle in the mind. Already her parents seemed like tiny figures on some platform a long distance away.
Until she opened the door to the sitting room, ten minutes later, and found her mother sitting with a rather distastefully beautiful young man, just her mother’s type, who had to be Officer Quince. They were sitting far closer together than convention allowed, and none of the household slaves seemed to be in the room, which could only mean they’d been dismissed. For a moment Io felt a reflexive stirring of rage, then banked it. What did she care, anyway?
“Officer Quince,” she addressed him, reminding herself that although she was seventeen and female, she was the star of the piece. “The Lord Cardinal said you had some information to give me?”
Hartley Quince rose, sketched a bow that the bravos who’d been haunting the Pelagia residence for the past two years would have killed for, and came up with a gorgeous smile. Wasted on me, she thought. Finding him with her mother had permanently destroyed any allure he might have had, even if she’d been in a mood to look kindly on any grown man this pretty.
But she was gratified by the way he dropped her mother’s hand and gave her his full attention.
She was less gratified two days later, head stuffed full of ridiculous Diamond customs; suggestions for dinner conversation, indeed! A woman shouldn’t have to make such an effort over her meals, that was the whole point of segregated dining. “It’s far easier than it would be if you were marrying outside the Three Cities,” Officer Quince had said, but what of it? Whoever married outside the Cities?
And then there were the alarming statements that Quince would come out with, sans preparation, offering them like a cold dish for lunch: “Of course, you know about the demon,” he’d said yesterday.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Adrian keeps a demon on his personal staff. You’ll have to remember to be polite to him; he’ll probably be seated near you at state dinners.”
Iolanthe actually put out an arm to the back of a chair to steady herself. “Demons,” she said finally, “are in books. I mean, I’m sure they exist, but—you don’t see them,
