Born of Trader stock himself, he moved easily in Bingtown society and with acumen when Hest was dealing with his trading partners. There had been a flurry of gossip when Hest had offered Sedric a position as his secretary; it was obviously beneath his perceived social position, no matter how poor his family had become. Alise had been a bit startled when Sedric accepted it. But in the years since then, all had come to see that he was far more than a humble servant. He had proven himself as an excellent secretary to Hest and certainly as an affable and entertaining comrade on the long sea trips that Hest had to undertake yearly. He advised and assisted Hest in matters of dress and grooming. When Hest’s sometimes abrupt manner gave offence or cooled a budding business relationship, Sedric artfully employed his tact and charm to set things to rights.
And when Hest was home, Sedric’s affable presence at her table was something that Alise greatly enjoyed. He excelled at all social occasions from dinners to cards to long afternoon teas. As she was prone to be a listener rather than a talker, Sedric enlivened their meals with his jests, wry observations of their latest travel disasters and gentle harrying of Hest. Sometimes it seemed to her that it was only due to Sedric that she knew her husband at all.
Did she know him at all? She watched Hest now as he smiled distantly at her, so certain that he could postpone this discussion with her. Well they both knew that if he could procrastinate long enough, he’d be off on one of his trading trips again and she’d once more be left behind at home. She firmed her courage and replied to him, ‘Perhaps you have forgotten that you promised me that one day I should visit the Rain Wilds and see dragons for myself. But I have not forgotten your promise.’
‘Nor outgrown your desire for it?’ he asked her gently.
She flinched at the barb, wondering, as she frequently did, if he was aware of how often his words stung her. ‘Outgrown?’ she asked him quietly, her voice going wooden.
He came back into the room. He had not entered it in search of her. Rather he had come in quietly, selected a book from the shelves, and attempted to leave just as covertly. He could walk so softly. If she had not chanced to lift her head, she would never have known he’d been there. Her words had detained him just as he’d stepped outside the door. Now he closed it firmly behind him. The book he’d chosen was still in his hands. It was an expensive one, she noted, bound in the new way. He turned it gently as he mused over her question.
‘Well, my dear, you know that times have changed. Dragons were quite fashionable the year we were wed, but that was five years ago. Tintaglia had only recently appeared, and Bingtown was just emerging from the ashes, so to speak. Talk of dragons and Elderlings and new treasure cities as well as our independence from Jamaillia – well, it was a heady mix, was it not? All the ladies in their Elderling cosmetics and every fabric patterned to look like scales! It was no wonder dragons fired your imagination. You’d come of age in a harsh time in Bingtown. You needed to escape reality and what could be a better fantasy than tales of Elderlings and dragons? Trade was in a shambles with the New Traders and their slave labour undercutting all our established ways. Your family fortunes were suffering. And then we had a war. If Tintaglia hadn’t appeared and come to our aid, well, I think we’d all be speaking Chalcedean now. And then she locked us into that bargain that we’d help her serpents get up the river and tend the new dragons when they hatched. Well, we certainly discovered that the reality of a dragon was far different from any fantasy you might have imagined.’
He gave a small snort of disdain. Tucking his book under his arm, he wandered across the room to the windows and looked out over the gardens below. ‘We were fools,’ he said quietly. ‘Thinking we could negotiate with a dragon! Well, she got the best of us, didn’t she? We’re as close to being at true peace with Chalced now as we’ve ever been, trade is rebuilding, Bingtown rejuvenating, and Tintaglia has found a mate for herself and hardly ever comes to call. It should be a better life and time for everyone! But the Rain Wilders are still dealing with her errant offspring and the expenses they create. They eat constantly, trample the earth to muck, foul everywhere, and hamper efforts to explore the underground ruins. They are pathetic cripples, unable to hunt or care for themselves. All the Traders must contribute to pay for hunters to keep them fed. With no return for us! No one thought to write an end clause for that agreement. And from what I hear, it will never change. Those sorry creatures will never be able to take care of themselves, and who knows how long they will live? We’ve waited five years for them to grow up and become independent. They haven’t. It would be a mercy to put them down.’
‘And profitable, too,’ Alise said coldly. She felt silence growing in her. Sometimes it reminded her of a fast-growing ivy; silence covered her and cloaked her and she suspected that one day she would smother in the silences Hest could create. It was an effort to break through that strangling quiet, but she did it. ‘All have heard how much the Duke of Chalced would pay for even one scale of a real dragon. Think how much he’d give for a whole carcass.’ When she thrust a cutting remark into one of Hest’s pauses, it was like trying to stab a knife into hardwood. It never seemed to stick and left scarcely a mark.
Now he turned toward her as if startled. ‘Did I hurt your feelings, my dear? I didn’t mean to. I forgot how sentimental you are about those creatures.’ He smiled at her disarmingly. ‘Perhaps I’m too much the Trader this day. You should expect it of me when I’ve just returned from a trip. It’s all I talked about with anyone for the last two months. Profitability and tightly-written contracts and well-negotiated bargains. I’m afraid that’s what fills my mind.’
‘Of course,’ she said, looking down at her desk. And, Of course she said to herself as her anger slipped away from her. It wasn’t gone, only sunken in the bog of uncertainty that engulfed her life. How could she hold onto her anger when, in an instant, he could sidestep it in a way that made her feel it was unjustified? He had been preoccupied, that was all. He was a busy man, immersed in trade negotiations and contracts and social details. He undertook those things for both of them, so that she could live in the quiet social backwater that she seemed to prefer. She could not expect him to be perfectly tuned to her life. More than once, he had gently pointed out to her that she always seemed to put the worst possible interpretation on his words whenever they had even the mildest disagreement. More than once, he had expressed bewilderment that she sometimes resented how he sheltered her.
A tiny childish part of her stamped and gritted her teeth. And he has side-stepped your question as well. Demand an answer. No. Just tell him you are going. You have the right. Just tell him that.
Hest was already drifting toward the door. He stopped by a tobacco humidor, opened it and scowled. Evidently the servants had not replenished it since his return.
‘I’ve planned my journey to the Rain Wilds. I’ll be departing at the end of this month.’ The words leapt out of her mouth. Lies, every one of them. She’d made no specific plans, only dreamed.
He turned to look at her, his brows arched in surprise. ‘Indeed.’
‘Yes,’ she asserted. ‘It’s a good time to travel to the Rain Wilds, or so I’m told.’
‘Alone?’ he asked, sounding scandalized. And a moment later, annoyed as he said, ‘I’ve made commitments of my own, my dear. It would be impossible for me to break them. I can’t go with you at the end of the month.’
‘I hadn’t given that part much thought,’ she admitted. Any thought at all. ‘I’m sure I can find an appropriate companion for the journey.’ She wasn’t sure of that at all. It had never occurred to her that she might require such a person. She had thought, somehow, that marriage had put her beyond the need for chaperonage. ‘I cannot imagine that you could doubt my fidelity to you,’ she observed. ‘I am not chaperoned in the months when you are away on your trading journeys. Why should I be chaperoned when I travel?’
‘Perhaps
