Force Majeure Read Online Free PDF Page B

…?’
    White marbled eyes turned towards Kay and didn’t see.
    ‘No tea, thank you,’ she said. Luis moved away and returned moments later with a chair hoisted confidently in one hand ahead of him. In the meantime, the-Lady’s pen ticked and tickled, Esteban sank in his chair and Kay stood.
    Don’t let them intimidate you.
    Once Kay was seated, Flower-of-the-Lady clicked the top onto her pen, set it aside, and looked up. Even as the light fell across her face, the detail remained elusive. She might be Hispanic, she might be Caucasian, she might be something else altogether. She made a bridge of her hands. ‘Do you know who I am?’ she asked.
    ‘I think so,’ Kay nodded.
    ‘Good. Captain Esteban you know. Luis’ – she indicated Father Christmas, who had taken his seat beside her and now leaned forward curiously, his ear cocked towards the conversation – ‘is our librarian. You may be seeing a lot more of him. I am the chatelaine of this house, which means you are under my protection and are my responsibility for as long as you stay within these walls. As such, I hope that your stay here has been agreeable?’
    ‘It has,’ Kay agreed.
    ‘And the young lady who calls herself Azure has been helpful in every respect?’
    ‘She has.’
    ‘Perhaps you could tell me something of yourself and your business here.’
    Kay launched into a practised introduction, her basic curriculum vitae embroidered with details about her assignment to Candida, though giving nothing special away. It took some minutes, and in that time the chatelaine sat poised with amusement rather than interest, Captain Esteban tried and failed to conceal his frazzled lethargy and Luis gave nothing away beyond his sardonic Yuletide smile.
    Flower-of-the-Lady tapped her pen on the table. ‘I hope you realise you aren’t the first to Appear in Candida with a scheme to open the city to outside interests. Doctor Arkadin himself found the project beyond his abilities. He had the good sense to give up.’
    Kay nodded, though in fact the thought had not occurred to her, had not even been hinted at in her notes. She did prospectus-babble: ‘I understand your concerns, but my employers believe we have the right moment, the right skills and the right people for the job.’
    ‘Of course,’ the chatelaine murmured, and the long-awaited secret smile seemed to pass over her face at last. ‘This house has a long-standing amity with the civil authorities of Candida’ – an acid glance at Esteban – ‘such as they are. We have some influence of our own that may be brought to bear on your plans. For the moment, however, I’m concerned only with your presence in this house. You may stay here for as long as you like on certain terms. You may leave whenever you like, though if you find no suitable alternative accommodation, I would forcefully recommend that you stay. While you’re under the purview of Captain Esteban’s bureau, I will also have to take his opinions and recommendations – such as they are – into consideration. How do you feel?’
    She blinked, the first time Kay had registered that from her chocolately Basilisk-eyes. Kay realised that she had been given a rehearsed speech, as plastic and familiar as her own.
    ‘I have contacts in the city that Mr Esteban here –’
    ‘ Captain .’ Petulant kid, he was.
    ‘– that Captain Esteban said he would chase up for me. Assuming he’s done his job properly, I should be able to gather myself together and move out today.’
    And why are her eyes smiling now, and why does this feel like a trial, when did you last see your father, eppur si muove , and what is the guilt in Esteban’s eyes, and why does Father Christmas shift so uncomfortably in his chair, revealing to the child-in-the-grotto that she was just slightly too naughty this year?
    Esteban, realising the silence was meant for him to fill, hoisted himself up out of the slouch he’d made, looked to her apologetically and said: ‘The