"Why do you call this a council, Tomasso bar... "Why do you call this a council, Tomasso bar Sandre? Why have we been brought here under false pretenses?"
Tomasso stopped playing with his wineThey had come to the moment at lastHe looked from Scalvaia over to burly Nievole
"The two of you," he said soberly, "were considered by my father to be the last lords of any real power left in AstibarTwo winters past he decided, and informed me, that he intended to die on the eve of this FestivalAt a time when Alberico would not be able to refuse him full rites of burial, which rites include a vigil such as thisAt a time when you would both be in Astibar, which would allow me to name you his vigil-keepers
He paused in the measured, deliberate recitation and let his glance linger on each of them"My father did this so that we might come together without suspicion, or interruption, or risk of being detected, to set in motion certain plans for the overthrow of
vintage hermes Alberico who rules in Astibar
He was watching closely, but Sandre had chosen wellNeither of the two men to whom he spoke betrayed surprise or dismay by so much as a flicker of a muscle
Slowly Scalvaia lowered his cane and laid it down on the table by his chairThe stick was of onyx and machial, Tomasso found himself noticingStrange how the mind worked at moments such as this
"Do you know," said bluff Nievole from by the larger fire, "do you know that this thought had actually crossed my mind when I tried to hazard why your Triad-cursed father, ah, forgive me, old habits die hard His smile was wolfish, rather than apologetic, and it did not reach his narrowed eyes"…Why Duke Sandre would name me to hold vigil for himHe must have known how many times I tried to hasten these mourning rites along in the days when he ruled
Tomasso smiled in return, just as thinly"He was certain you would wonder," he said
gucci watches for women politely to the man he was almost sure had paid for the cup of wine that had killed his mother"He was also quite certain you would agree to come, being one of the last of a dying breed in AstibarIndeed, in the whole of the Palm
Bearded Nievole raised his glass"You flatter well, bar SandreAnd I must say I do prefer your voice as it is now, without all the dips and flutters and wristy things that normally go with it
Scalvaia looked amusedHerado was carefully watchfulTomasso liked him very much: though not, as he'd had to assure his father in one diverting conversation, in his own particular fashion
"I prefer this voice as well," he said to the two lords"You will both have been deducing in the last few minutes, being who and what you are, why I have conducted certain aspects of my life in certain well-known waysThere are advantages to being seen as aimlessly degenerate
"There are," Scalvaia agreed blandly,
gucci twirl watch "if you have a purpose that is served by such a misconceptionYou named a name a moment ago, and intimated we might all be rendered happier in our hearts were the bearer of that name dead or goneWe will leave aside for the moment what possibilities might follow such a dramatic eventuality
His gaze was quite unreadable; Tomasso had been warned it would beTaeri shifted uneasily but blessedly kept quiet, as instructedHe walked over and took one of the other chairs on the far side of the bier
Scalvaia went on, "We cannot be unaware that by saying what you have said you have put yourselves completely in our hands, or so it might initially appearAt the same time, I do surmise that were we, in fact, to rise and begin to ride back towards Astibar carrying word of treachery we would join your father among the dead before we left these woods
It was casually stated, a minor fact to be confirmed before moving on to
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Tomasso shook his head"You do us honor by your presence and are entirely free to leaveIndeed, we will escort you if you wish, for the path is deceptive in darknessMy father did suggest that I might wish to point out that although you could readily have us wristed and death-wheeled after torture, it is exceedingly likely, approaching a certainty, that Alberico would then see compelling cause to do the same to both of you, for having been considered likely accomplices of oursYou will remember what happened to the Canziano after that unfortunate incident in Ferraut some years ago?"
There was a smoothly graceful silence acknowledging all of this
It was broken by Nievole"That was Sandre's doing, wasn't it?" he growled from by his fire"Not the Canziano at all!"
"It was our doing," Tomasso agreed calmly"We learned a great deal, I must say
"So," Scalvaia murmured drily, "did the
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