Chương 117: Chapter 114: A First Impression.

Duke Solair was not a small man. He was broad in the shoulders and thick through the middle, and he filled the chair he sat in the way my father might have, before the auction. His hair was the same green as his children's, going grey at the temples. His face was lined. It was his clothes that surprised me. Julian Greenward was a man who draped himself in so many gemstones that the eye went to the emeralds first and the man second. A man diminished by everything he wore.

Duke Solair was far wealthier, and so I might have expected him to match Julian, at least a little. Instead, Duke Solair wore plain dark cloth with no jewels at all. There was nothing on him that demanded to be looked at first, and that was precisely why I could not look away. So this is what real power looks like, I thought. Vaelin let out a small hum of agreement, as if he'd known all along.

"Remove the cloak, if you would," he said. Damian, Anias, and Violet stepped in front of me before I had finished processing the words. It was almost funny, how quickly they moved. Violet's hand was already going for a warhammer that wasn't there. Even Randell had moved forward, which truly was a surprise. I glanced sideways. Sere was already gone. I hadn't remembered to warn her not to do something stupid. It was too late now. All I could do was hope that she knew. Duke Solair raised one hand and sighed.

"I do not mean it as a threat," he said.

"I have come a long way. I would simply like to see the person I came to meet. Nothing more." I put a hand on Violet's shoulder.

"It's fine." She didn't move. None of them did.

"Please," I said.

"Step aside." They did, slowly. I stepped forward, and I did not remove the cloak.

"Pardon me for not believing you right away," I said, "After all, you are the man who took my manor while I was out for the afternoon." I tilted my head.

"Where are my guards, Duke?" Solair's mouth thinned. He turned, and murmured something to the butler standing at his shoulder. Then he turned back to me.

"You did wish to meet with me, did you not? Well. Here I am." He paused.

"As for your guards, my steward informs me they are perfectly well. If you did not see them outside, then perhaps they have gone to see the city. It is a fine city for seeing, I am sure you can agree?" It was a good answer. A very good answer. I could have done something to them, it said, without a single hard word. He waited for me to remove the cloak, or perhaps to say something in response. When I still did neither, he leaned back.

"Will you truly not show me your face? I can guess well enough who you are, Ghost. So all this really accomplishes is casting a shadow over a negotiation you yourself requested." The word Ghost did not surprise me. I had read a dozen newspapers by now, and it had not taken the papers long to dig up my personal history -that of the reclusive heir, the daughter who never left her room. The Ghost of House Veyne. They were rather proud of that one. It carried a different meaning now that I was a Hero.

I sighed and pulled back the hood.

"Then there really is no point," I said.

"Well. Here I am, Duke." He looked at me. Truly looked, the way the Goddess once had, though without her weight behind it. His eyes moved over my hair and my eyes and my frame, and he nodded slowly.

"You're smaller than I thought you'd be." Violet stepped forward. I caught her shoulder.

"And you're wider than your photographs suggest," I said. I knew it was a mistake before the sentence had finished leaving my mouth. The room went very still. One of the guards near the wall took a single step forward, his hand drifting toward his hip. Anias had gone rigid. Even Vaelin stirred. It was a surprise my hand hadn't twitched, though it wouldn't be far. Insulting a powerful man was never- Then Duke Solair began to laugh. It was a deep laugh, the kind that shook his whole frame.

All everyone did was stare, even his guards.

"Ah," he said, when he had recovered.

"But I deserve that." The breath I had not realized I was holding left me slowly. His face turned serious.

"It has come to my attention," he said, "that you were of some help to my daughter today." He inclined his head a fraction.

"It was a lapse in my judgement, that she was where she was, without guards. One I intend to address so that it never happens again. But I am grateful that someone was there. I have heard the story from her own mouth, and your conduct was commendable." He tipped his head lower.

"Thank you." I felt distinctly awkward. It wasn't supposed to be a grand gesture. I hadn't known who the girl was. I hadn't planned to use it, or accounted for any of it. I had simply heard two men cornering a child in a passage, and that was enough. Good. Vaelin hummed in my mind. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Well, that was one vote of confidence at least.

"It's fine," I said.

"Anyone would have done the same." He waited. And when I said nothing more, his eyes widened. Only for a moment. Then he nodded, slowly, as if I had suddenly grown wings and he was just trying to accept it. After a long pause his gaze moved past me, to my friends, and settled on Violet.

"You are the heir of House Indri, are you not?"

"So what if I am?" Violet demanded. He held up a hand.

"I meant nothing by it. I was merely curious." Something almost amused crossed his face.

"It seems some of the rumors are true, then." For some reason, his gaze flicked to me, then back to Violet. I could only imagine what rumors a man like this had heard about Violet Indri.

"Are you here representing House Indri?" he asked her. Violet opened her mouth.

"No," I said, my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me. I gave the smallest shake of my head. I did not want to know what door that question opened, or what he might do once it was open. Solair accepted it without protest.

"Very well, then you are just another visitor, escorting Lady Veyne. In that case, I would ask to speak with Lady Veyne myself. In private." That, Violet protested.

"And why the hell would you want to do that?" Damian stepped forward.

"That is hardly appropriate. Surrounded by so many of your guards." I felt the faintest stir of mana from Anias. And I still did not know where Sere had gone. Solair raised his hand again.

"I mean no harm." He pointed at me, almost lazily.

"Besides, the girl is a Hero. However young, she can take care of herself." The corner of his mouth lifted.

"Is that not what she told that pompous brat Julian? That is what the reports say, at least." I almost smiled.

"Yes," I said.

"It is, and I can." I turned to my friends.

"Please, leave us. I'll be fine." They looked at me, each of them. None of them looked happy.

"Naturally," Solair added, "I will send my own guards out as well. This is meant to be a private discussion after all." That surprised me. I hadn't expected it. Slowly, reluctantly, the room emptied. My friends filed out, with backward glances that promised they would not be far. The Duke's guards followed, until there was only the three of us. The Duke, his steward, and me. He motioned to the chair across from him. I sat.

"It isn't just the two of us," I noted, glancing at the man still standing at his shoulder. Duke Solair smiled.

"I would never conduct a negotiation without my steward present." I nodded. I had suspected as much. So this was the man we had spent the entire morning trying to reach. He didn't look like much in the coliseum, and he didn't look like much now. He was a tidy, and unremarkable man. But no one became steward to a House like Solair's by being a nobody.

"First things first." The Duke leaned forward, and his eyes were suddenly much sharper than they had been.

"How did you know our code?" I had been waiting for the question. Vaelin stirred at the back of my mind. I could have invented a lie. I had several ready, each of them serviceable. None of them were the truth, and I had gotten the distinct impression that a lie was the worst thing I could say.

"I can't say," I told him. His expression didn't change, but something behind it sharpened further.

"It is no small thing, to know that code. It is not handed out. If there is a spy within my House-""It's nothing like that," I said.

"At least, I'm fairly certain it isn't. I simply can't say."

"That is an odd answer." He said.

"Surely you have a better one."

"It is the only one I can give while still being truthful." He studied me for a long moment. The steward's face gave away nothing at all. Then Solair nodded.

"Very well." Something shifted in his gaze. I suspected that despite my insistence, every man and woman in House Solair would be in for one inspection or another. It only made me more curious too. The Duke waved a hand. The steward stepped forward and set the Merchant's Balance on the table between us. Where he had pulled it out from, I did not know. It hadn't been in his hands just a moment ago. The brass scales gleamed dully in the light.

"We have tested the Artifact you provided," Duke Solair said.

"It does indeed function as you claim. It is a strange Artifact, but we have stranger ones still in our vaults."

"Then you know how valuable it is," I said.

"And you know what I want for it." He clasped his hands.

"You want a lot of grain. Enough to feed an entire city. For years." His head tilted, and he smiled.

"It is a bold request. One might think you were trying to cut the legs out from under House Greenward entirely. I am well aware of his role in Aelheim."

"That is precisely what I mean to do." He blinked.

"You are rather forward."

"I prefer it." Duke Solair smiled, and this time it reached his eyes.

"So do I. People believe that because there is money to be made, one must talk in circles to make it. They have it backwards." He spread his hands.

"Time is money. And you have more time to make money if you simply get to the point." I kept my relief from my face. Cordelia had guessed he would be this kind of man. She had been right, as she always was. We could do this. He would take the Artifact, perhaps a little coin besides, and Aelheim would never starve at Julian's whim again. The plan was working. Even that visit to the coliseum had worked out for the better, if only to leave a better impression. It was all coming together.

"We can do as you have asked," he said, leaning back. He gestured at the scales.

"This is a truly valuable Artifact. But I will be honest with you. I will speak plainly, so that we do not waste time." He regarded me for a long moment.

"One Artifact, even this one, is not nearly enough." Something inside me sank.

"I am well aware," I said. He smiled.

"Then do show me that." I did not need him to spell it out. I sighed. Crimson light flooded the office. Vaelin materialized in my grip, and the room changed. The warm light of the Magical Implements was swallowed by that deep red. It fell across the maps and the ledgers and the Duke's face and turned everything the color of blood. Duke Solair went still. In his face I saw the greed I had expected. Naked, hungry greed, the kind that I suspected lived in every great House no matter how plainly they dressed.

What I had not expected was the rest of it. There was awe. And beneath the awe was fear. It was the second time I think I had really moved him. The first had been when I had told him anyone would have stepped in for his daughter. The steward stepped forward. Solair raised a hand without looking, and the man went paused.

"That will be all," the Duke said quietly. I let Vaelin go. The blade dissolved from my hand, and the room fell back into its amber light, which felt thin and weak now, like a candle after the sun. Solair leaned forward. I knew what he was about to say before he said it. I saw the pressure of it building behind his eyes. I tried very hard to be still, and to not let the anger or disappointment show.

"It is very simple," he said.

"We needn't haggle over one petty Artifact. Nor over anything as trite as coin." He spread his hands, and he smiled, and it was not unkind, which somehow made it worse.

"Marry into my house, and you will have your grain."