House of Shards Read Online Free PDF Page B

Dosvidern's voice was tactful. “Have you been provided as, ah, a full-time escort for Lord Qlp and myself?”
    Khamiss was cautious. “If necessary, ma’am.”
    “I don’t believe any such necessity exists,” said her ladyship. “I have been travelling with Lord Qlp for some time. It is inactive most of the day, and although its, ah, olfactory presence can be overwhelming, it has never acted in such a way as to prove a hazard to other beings.”
    Relief bubbled in Khamiss’s mind. “As your ladyship suggests,” she said.
    “And now,” said Lady Dosvidem, “if I might trouble you to escort us to the Casino?”
    Cigars, thought Khamiss.
    “Certainly, my lady,” she said.
    Lord Qlp burbled a greeting as the two Khosali stepped toward him. Khamiss’s nostrils clamped shut. She couldn’t get them to open.
    Afterward, she was denasal for hours.
    *
    “Drexler and Chalice will have everything ready by tonight,” said Vanessa Runciter. She dressed in cool colors that emphasized her clear, pale skin; her hair was the color of smoke and piled on top of her head in an old-fashioned way, and she smoked a cigaret from a silver-banded obsidian holder. Her father had cornered the dither market on Khorn and left her the entire pile when he died: to others it seemed perfectly unfair that she was lovely as well as implausibly wealthy.
    While waiting for Fu George to make his move, she had lost a cool four hundred novae at the markers table. Even the croupier had been impressed.
    Vanessa put her arm through Fu George’s. They began strolling toward an exit. “I've been making lists. We've got a lot to choose from. Kotani's diamond studs, Baroness Silverside's famous art collection, the Baron's cape, Ma-dame la Riviere's antique necklace, jewelry of one sort or another from Lord and Lady Tvax, Colonel Thorn, the Waltz twins, the Marchioness Bastwick, Adriaen, Commodore and Lady Andric . . .”
    Fu George delicately raised his handkerchief to his lips, folded the pearl within it, put the handkerchief in his inside breast pocket. “And Advert,” he said. “She's got a minor fortune and likes to display it.”
    Vanessa looked dubious. “It might be a bit dangerous, going to that quarter again.”
    “Ten points for style, my dear.”
    “True.” Dubiously. She frowned as she concentrated on her list. “There's an antique store—expensive, some nice items, but nothing truly exciting. A rare book store. Drexler will have to look at that: I’m not enough of an expert. A jeweler's, but it would have considerable security. The main hotel safe.”
    “The Eltdown Shard,” Fu George said.
    Vanessa stopped in her tracks. “You're sure?”
    “No. But the new Duchess is here, and this is her debut.”
    Vanessa took a languid puff on her cigaret as she glanced over the room. One of the many holographic ideograms for “good fortune” paraded over her head. “They had a history of the Shard on the station feed, did you notice? But perhaps that's just publicity. It’s a long journey from the Empire. Providing security for that entire distance . . .”
    “She can afford it.”
    Vanessa’s eyes narrowed as she focused on the tiles table. “She's playing tiles with Maijstral. I don’t like the looks of that.”
    “It means nothing. She is young, a social being. She conversed as pleasantly with me.”
    “I still don’t like it, Geoff.”
    Vanessa and Maijstral had a history. Fu George, knowing this, discounted her objection and began moving in the direction of the exit once more. A Cygnus moved by on silent repellers, holding a tray of drinks in its invisible force field.
    “We'll know for certain tomorrow night,” Fu George said. “If she has the Shard, she'll wear it then.”
    “And until tomorrow?”
    He thought for a moment. “The Waltz twins, I think,” he said. “Both at once should be good for a few style points.”
    *
    “Pardon me. I believe you have something on your carapace.”
    *
    “Yes. He's got all the