He starts turning blue. And he isn’t lying. I can’t remember setting a sealing spell on the place when I left. Besides, he probably could have walked in anyway with the opening talisman of his. I drop him to the floor and head back down the hall.
“What’s so important you had to dog me down here?”
He gasps for air and waves a crumpled piece of vellum at me. He wants me to come down there and take it but that isn’t going to happen. I wait until he can breathe again.
“It’s the banquet tonight, my lord.”
“What banquet?”
“To celebrate the laying of the City Hall cornerstone.”
“Tell them I can’t make it. I have the flu or the clap. Whatever it is you cloven-hoof types get.”
“But, my lord. You have to bless the banquet.”
More rituals.
“Get Merihim to do it.”
“It’s not his place, my lord.”
“Okay. Then cancel it.”
He scrambles to his feet. The vellum isn’t crumpled anymore. He’s holding on to it like a life preserver.
“You can’t.”
“Then don’t cancel it. I’m putting you in charge. If Merihim can’t do it, find someone who can. I’m busy.”
I walk back in the direction of the fake wall.
I hear him come after me.
“You’ve been obstinate in the past, my lord. But refusing the banquet is beyond acceptable. And I heard that you dismissed the planning committee today.”
He’s right about one thing. I was having so much fun I forgot about politics. Lies and promises. It was goddamn stupid to let that slip.
I turn and he comes up short.
“And you know who Marchosias and a few others think put me up to it?”
“Who?”
“You.”
He takes a step forward.
“Me?”
“Everyone knows you’re paying off half the staff to spy for you. Let you know who’s gaining power and losing power. I’m your power. You control my schedule and who gets to talk to me and see me. You must make a fortune selling my time. Of course, you can’t go too far. If I’m too hard to get hold of people start thinking you’re making a power play. A dangerous move for someone in your position.”
I look at him. He wants to say, I’m not to blame. You’re the one who doesn’t want to do anything or see anyone.
I say, “Don’t take it so hard. Marchosias has been yammering about you ever since I got here. She keeps bringing up people on her staff she says could replace you. Some of them have pretty good credentials. You didn’t know any of that? Maybe you ought to run another background check on your staff.”
He squints at me the same way the committee did when I came in late.
“With all due respect, my lord, I’m not sure I believe you.”