Michelle West - Sun Sword 06 - The Sun Sword Read Online Free Page B

be heard over the
gaudy din and jangle of money and jewelry. She was familiar with only two of the
languages, but as was so often the case, she had learned all the curse words
first; she grimaced, shook her head, and began to move, drifting between the
shoulders of men and women who were inches taller.
    They made their way across the floor, and her hands dropped defensively to
her purse. Not that there were thieves here, but crowds of this nature always
made her nervous. Angel and Carver were no better; Daine, on the other hand,
didn't seem to notice.
    So it was Daine who led them to the offices that were permanently occupied by
Terafin representatives. They were not large, these offices; space in the
Merchant Authority was costly, and permanent space afforded to the few who could
comfortably hold it.
    And among those, of course, was House Terafin.
    Finch was grateful when she saw the woman seated behind the broad desk in the
outer room; Lucille ATerafin. This place was much like a gatehouse, Finch
thought, although it looked nothing like one. The carpets on the floor were a
dark, deep burgundy, and the walls were of rose and gold; there were paintings
in gilded frames which bore signatures that she almost recognized, and given her
ignorance of fine art, this said much; there were chairs that were wide and
inviting, tables that habitually bore more silver than she could comfortably
carry; crystal vases and crystal goblets beside stoppered decanters that were
clearly not meant for decoration. It was a stately, perfect room.
    But only those with legitimate business—and Lucille could be very,
very
picky about what was considered legitimate—were allowed to bypass this room.
Many were the members of House Terafin who were made to cool their heels at her
pleasure—or displeasure—because many, many of said members came from the Terafin
Manse.
    And having quarters in the Terafin Manse was considered by many members of
the House—all of them born to the patriciate— to be the thing that separated
them from those who merely had the
name
. Terafin owned many Houses
throughout the Empire, after all, and only men and women of
value
were
given rooms upon the Isle.
    Lucille could not stand
attitude
, as she called it. Funny, that she
could then exude so much of it.
    But Jay had made some sort of peace with the old dragon who guarded the
hoard, and that peace extended to all of the den. Well, to Teller and Finch at
least.
    Her snort made it clear she'd seen Angel and Carver.
    Lucille rose at once, and circumnavigated the imposing desk behind which
other doors—all closed—lay. She was not a small woman; Finch wondered if she had
ever
been small. And to be honest, she would not have been out of place
behind the bar of a particularly boisterous tavern, club in hand a punctuation
to her loud words.
    But she wasn't in a bar; she was in the Merchant Authority, and if she was in
theory subordinate to the men and women who labored over contracts and royal
commissions behind her broad back, it was a very tenuous theory.
    "Finch!" She wrapped her arms around the younger woman, and then pushed her
away and frowned. "You've
lost weight
," she said, as if the losing were
an almost unspeakable crime.
    "It's the paperwork," Finch said meekly.
    "Paperwork?" Lucille's eyes were a deep blue-green, an astonishing color.
"We've got all kinds of useless Terafin members here—why don't you leave it to
them?"
    "Jay's not here to check their work," she offered.
    Lucille's eyes narrowed. "And I'm not watchful enough, is that it?"
    Lucille's bark, as the members of the Terafin merchant arm were wont to say,
was worse than her bite. But Finch had seen her bite, and she wasn't so certain.
    "I brought a few documents that have to be looked at and drawn up properly,"
she said, making her voice a shade meeker—which shouldn't have been possible.
    "Well, let me see them." Taking her seat again, Lucille pointed at the