Lita laughed. “What fabulous reflexes. See? That’s what I mean. You’re not mediocre at all when it comes to innate talent.”
Maldynado tore his gaze from the sphere, lest his interest strike Lita as odd. He stood and cleared his throat. “Mediocre? Me? Naturally not. The ladies have known of my innate talent for ages.” On the outside, he waggled his eyebrows and launched a speculative look at a passing woman; on the inside, his pounding heart threatened to leap out of his chest and sprint a few laps around the block. After Lita finished rolling her eyes, Maldynado asked, as casually as he could, “Say, what is this thing?”
“The box or the ball?” Lita asked.
“The ball. I’ve seen enough dust-collecting knickknack holders to not need an explanation on that thing.”
Lita laughed again. “Oh, Mal. You’re so silly. That’s an antique ivory snuff box from the Tarovic Era.”
“Yes, as I said, a dust-collecting knickknack holder. And the black doohickey?”
“I have no idea, but your sister-in-law sent me to pick it up for her. She’s collecting them, I gather.”
Lita reached for the sphere. Maldynado stifled the urge to snap his fingers shut about it, and she plucked it from his grasp.
“It’s interesting, I’ll admit,” Lita said, “but I don’t see why one would want a collection.”
Not unless that collection included a super powerful aircraft with firepower that would make Turgonia’s best warship roll over and cower under the waves. “I have six sisters-in-law. Which one did you say is collecting?”
“Mari.”
“Ah.” Ravido’s wife again. Maldynado might have found his information for the emperor. “You know, Lita, I think you may be right. If there’s a chance to reunite with the family, I should take it. After all, one never knows how long one’s parents will be around. You don’t want to later regret missed opportunities to make amends.”
Lita blinked a few times and peered up at Maldynado’s face. Maybe he’d slathered too much icing on the cinnamon bun.
“I’m not going to rush to do as Father pleases, but maybe I’ll stop by the estate when I return to Stumps.” Maldynado gave the sphere an indifferent wave. “If you wish, I could give that to Mari in person. You were simply going to post it, I assume?” Inwardly, he shuddered at the idea of a potential weapon going through the mail.
“Actually, Mari’s on her way down,” Lita said. “I’m expecting her to arrive on the Glacial Empress in a couple of days.”
Maldynado’s fingers twitched. He wanted to get that sphere. If he could give it to the emperor along with this information, it could prove that he had good intentions. But if he seemed too desperate to snag it… The last thing he wanted was for some cousin to tell Ravido that he might be angling to thwart his plot. He had enough to worry about already.
“Is she?” Maldynado asked. “And Ravido is coming as well?”
“No, he’s busy with something in the capital. Did you hear? He was reassigned to Fort Urgot recently.”
“I had heard that. I wonder why they moved him. Wasn’t he a post commander somewhere down south?”
“The machinations of the army are beyond me.”
Maldynado had a feeling he’d gotten as much information out of Lita as he would. As it was, she’d probably relay the details of the meeting to Mari, who might mention Maldynado’s appearance to Ravido. Maybe he should have kept walking and pretended not to see his cousin after all. Still, he might be able to find out more about these black artifacts from Mari. If he was brave enough to visit her. The last time they’d been alone in a room together, she’d tried to take his pants off, no matter that her husband had been in another part of the house.
“As long as she’s going to be in town, I’ll have to stop by and visit her,” Maldynado said.
“Do you know her well?”
“Not as well as she’d like,” Maldynado muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing. Where’d you say she’d be staying?”
“Rabbit Island. The Glacial Empress stops there upon request, so that its warrior-caste clientele needn’t mingle with the commoners at the city docks.”
“Yes, of course.”
Maldynado exchanged a few parting words with Lita-and foisted a couple of the boutique’s business cards on her-before walking away, but he was already thinking of the ramifications of their meeting. With the luck he’d had lately, he might end up in more trouble than ever. Busy worrying over that possibility, he almost crashed into someone standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
Yara. After her dismissal, Maldynado had assumed she’d left town without him. He hoped she hadn’t been close enough to hear the conversation-he hadn’t been so oblivious to his surroundings that he wouldn’t have noticed her leaning against the wall behind Lita-but she might have caught a few words. And seen that black sphere.
“That was my cousin,” was all Maldynado said. “Ready to rejoin the others?”
Yara considered him through half-lidded eyes.
“Or-” Maldynado hefted the bags, “-did you want to try on your outfit first? It’s quite alluring. If you have curves under those bulky sweaters and unflattering enforcer uniforms, these garments will show them off.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Yes, yes, I am.” Maldynado smiled as they started walking, relieved that he seemed to have distracted her from whatever she’d been thinking about as she studied him. But they’d gone only a few dozen paces when she spoke again.
“Who’s Tia?”
Maldynado stumbled. If Yara had heard Lita mention Tia, then what else had she heard? He’d been planning to share some information with the emperor, but now he’d be forced to divulge every detail. Grandmother’s hairiest wart, his role as family snitch was assured. If they didn’t sculpt statues of men who walked behind others, he was even more certain tattletales didn’t earn them. He couldn’t keep himself from glowering at Yara.
“I didn’t know they taught eavesdropping tactics at the Enforcer Academy.” Maldynado straightened his bags and continued down the street toward the bridge.
“Corporal Lokdon has never eavesdropped on you?”
“She doesn’t need to. She always knows what I’m thinking whether I talk about it or not.”
“So she knows about this Tia and the details of the estrangement from your family?”
“No, she’s not as nosey as you.” Maldynado gave Yara a pointed look. In truth, Amaranthe was nosier than anyone he’d ever met, but she hadn’t dug into his history, at least not that he knew about.
“Perhaps, given your current predicament, you’d be wise to share everything you know with the emperor.”
“You think it’s within me to be wise?” Maldynado said it jokingly, but at the moment he had doubts himself.
“Less foolish might have been a better word choice.” For once, Yara’s face wasn’t hard or condemning. Maybe it was the soft light of the sunset, but she actually seemed… sympathetic.
Maldynado’s lady-wooing instincts kicked in, and he realized that he might win some sympathy from her if he shared his story. Almost as soon as she’d joined up with the team in Forkingrust, he’d been mulling over ways to get her into bed. Oh, she wasn’t the sweet, voluptuous sort he usually went for, but she was handsome enough in her own square-jawed, hard-eyed way, and challenges always enticed him, at least when it came to women. Much like taming a tiger, there was an exhilaration in winning over someone determined to ignore, or even loathe, him. He’d never used Tia’s story to win anyone over though, and he shied away from the idea. It would be disrespectful to her spirit. Besides, it wasn’t as if the story would guarantee him sympathy. His family had condemned him over it, and maybe Yara would too. He’d certainly never forgiven himself.
“I’ll keep your advice in mind,” Maldynado said.
“Was this Tia one of your lovers?” Yara asked as they continued to walk. “Was there some scandal that embarrassed the family?”
The fact that she was asking questions surprised Maldynado. So far, all she’d done was throw insults at him. Why change now? He searched her face, wishing he was as good at reading people’s thoughts as Amaranthe was. Yara seemed to be… looking for confirmation that he’d messed up his life because of some stupid affair. Maybe she’d have an easier time continuing to dismiss him that way. Why not? Most others did. He’d come to accept that, but the idea of someone thinking Tia had been some throwaway female roused his hackles.
