Vaughn clasped Daniel’s hand warmly. “Honored to have such an exceptional member of the RCN with us here, Leary,” he said. “Given the way your career’s started, I expect some day to be telling my grandchildren, ‘Yes, darlings, I knew Admiral Leary when he was merely a dashing young lieutenant.’ ”
“I didn’t know you even had children, Delos,” said a spare woman of forty-odd, well dressed in a fashion much flashier than Cinnabar tastes. What she wore was obviously a business suit, but instead of a muted progression from black through silver gray—like Adele’s—it was scarlet with gold accents up the right side.
Vaughn laughed. The aide behind him, the Tredegar whom Adele remembered meeting in the group visiting the Princess Cecile, scowled as though the sound had tripped a switch in his face muscles.
“No, Thea,” Vaughn said, “the Vaughn bloodline is far too valuable to Strymon for me to waste it where it wouldn’t be appreciated, don’t you think? And I’ve been away from Strymon for what sometimes seems rather a long while.”
He turned to Daniel, completely ignoring Adele. His attitude didn’t disturb her; it was to be expected from one of Vaughn’s status to one of her own. What was interesting was the fact that according to the same logic, Vaughn should be ignoring Daniel as well.
“Lieutenant Daniel Leary, the Hero of Kostroma,” he said, “allow me to introduce Mistress Thea Zane. Mistress Zane was one of my father’s dearest friends and has acted as a friend to me on Strymon during my absence.”
“When someone’s a long way away, Delos,” Tredegar remarked harshly, “it’s difficult to be sure that they are really friends and not secretly plotting to trap you!”
“I’m sorry that being out of touch with home for so long has so warped your perceptions, Tredegar,” Zane said with a condescending smile. “In any case, I’m not at a distance any more, am I?”
Vaughn laughed easily and put a hand on the shoulder of both his partisans. “Come, let’s board the boats, shall we? After all, there’s no point in renting the whole Gardens if we’re going to spend the afternoon on the entrance canal. Especially when the food—and the drink, Lieutenant, I know you navy men—is inside.”
His eye caught that of a man wearing the uniform of the Land Forces of the Republic. “Colonel?” he said. “Would you and your lady care to join me in the lead boat? Tredegar will be driving. He made the arrangements, so he knows where things are placed.”
“Yes, we’ll stop at Rakoscy Island for refreshments,” Tredegar said, walking toward the smallest of the craft with a gesture to bring those closest with him. “Then we can spread ourselves as taste determines.”
In a louder voice directed at the entire gathering he added, “There’s a barge for the servants. I thought the rest of us could choose our own seating.”
Daniel looked at Adele. He gestured with a twist of his lips toward a craft with gilded seats for ten. The ends of a three-seat bench were being claimed by a pair of blond women who might have been twins and were certainly equally stunning. Adele smiled faintly and followed Daniel, shifting her line slightly to block a young Cinnabar aristocrat who’d been aiming for the same place as Daniel was—the one between the blondes.
Even if this outing taught them nothing about Vaughn’s plans, Daniel should have no reason to protest the expenditure of time.
* * *
Smiling at the girls in turn, Daniel said, “Are both you ladies from around here?”
“Oh no,” said Shawna, the one on his left. “I’m from Welter Heights.”
The boat moved away from the canal side, rocking in the wake of the three craft ahead of them. Each vessel was piloted by a member of Vaughn’s retinue rather than a servant or a professional from the Gardens’ staff. The woman at the controls of this one was in her twenties and not at all bad looking. Under other circumstances Daniel might have chosen a seat in the bow beside her.
“And I’m from Welter Heights too,” said Elinor, trying—with some success—to give the words a sultry air.