The Zenda Vendetta (TimeWars 4)

“Well, perhaps not,” said Finn, “but he brought it on himself. He should not have had the woman bait me in that manner. Especially in your presence.”

“I do not think that I have ever met a woman quite so brazen in my life,” said Flavia. “I had heard about the countess. One cannot avoid such gossip; but seeing her tonight, I believe it all. That woman would be capable of anything.”

“Undoubtedly,” said Finn, thinking that it was the understatement of the year, if not the century.

“She is very beautiful, though, is she not?” said Flavia, not looking at him.

“I suppose,” said Finn, “if one cares for the type.”

“Do men…” she hesitated. “Do men find such women to be desirable?”

“I am sure that many do.”

“Do you?”

“That is an impertinent question.”

“Forgive me. I did not mean to be-”

“Oh, for goodness sake, I was only joking,” Finn said.

“Oh. I see.”

“In answer to your question, I will be frank. In a word, yes.”

“You are forthright, at least.”

“I had not finished. It is one thing to respond to a woman physically, and don’t blush. Remember that you asked.”

“I did, indeed.”

“And it is quite another thing to look beyond the senses and consider a woman-or a man, for that matter-for what goes on inside the head. In some cases, as was the case with me for far too long, I fear, nothing goes on at all. In others, what goes on within is a far cry from what appears without. In Countess Sophia’s case, I have the strong impression that what goes on within is very like snakes writhing.”

Flavia shuddered. “Lord, Rudolf, what a thought! I had not suspected that your imagination was so lurid.”

“Drink can do that to a man,” said Finn, wryly.

“And how do you perceive what goes on inside my own head?” she said, with a slight smile.

“To answer that would be impertinent of me,” said Finn.

“How diplomatically you avoid the question,” she said, chuckling.

“Diplomacy, in many situations, is merely a tool to prevent one’s looking foolish,” Finn said.

“How statesmanlike you are becoming!”

“It comes of spending hours on end with Sapt,” Finn said. “Once I began to actually listen to him, I discovered him to be the very font of wisdom.”

“I simply cannot stop marveling at the change in you,” she said. “You are like a different man.” She pursed her lips and cocked her head to one side, saying in a joking manner, “I am beginning to suspect that you are not Rudolf at all, but some imposter who is his double. Tell me the truth, what have you done with the real king?”

“The truth? He’s being kept in the dungeons of Zenda Castle. It’s all a plot of Michael’s.”

The coach came to a halt before her house.

“That was a poor jest,” she said. “The way Michael looked at you tonight, I can almost believe that he would be capable of such a thing. Remember, Rudolf, that you have no heir as yet. If anything should happen to you, the throne would surely go to Michael.”

“Are you so frightened for me?” Finn said.