The Traders' War (Merchant Princes Omnibus 2) by Stross Charles Page A

even though everything she’d learned as Helge told her she must stick to a cultivated awe in the royal
personage. ‘About
what
? I’ve just been threatened by your grandson – ’
    ‘Don’t you worry about that.’ Angelin sounded almost amused. ‘I’ll deal with Egon later. You may leave now. I won’t stand on ceremony. Thurman, show the lady
out – ’
    ‘What
is
this?’ Miriam demanded plaintively.
    ‘Later,’ said the Queen Mother, as one of the guards – Thurman – urged Helge toward the door. ‘The trait is recessive,’ she added, slightly louder.
‘That means – ’
    ‘I know what it means,’ Miriam said sharply.
    ‘We’ll talk later. Go now.’ The Queen Mother looked away dismissively. The door closed behind Helge, stranding the younger woman at one side of a sprung dance floor where
couples paced in circles around each other in complex patterns that defied interpretation. Miriam – at this moment she felt herself to be entirely Miriam, not even an echo of the social
veneer that formed her alter ego Helge remaining to cover the yawning depths – took a ragged breath. She felt stifled by layers of artifice, suffocated by the social expectations of having to
live as a noble lady: and now she had to put up with threats, innuendo, and hints from the royal family? She felt hot and cold at once, and her stomach hurt.
    The trait is recessive
. The king was a carrier. That meant that each of his sons had a one in four chance of being a carrier.
Have you thought about marriage? Obviously not from the
right angle, because you’ve been too successful, too fast
. Wasn’t Prince Egon – golden boy with a thousand-yard stare, watching her with something ugly in his eyes –
already engaged to some foreign princess?
Raised in secrecy
. Might
he
be a carrier?
I know your grandmother
.
    ‘Lady Helge!’ It was Kara, two maids in tow, looking angry and relieved simultaneously. ‘Where have you been? We were so worried!’
    ‘Hold this,’ said Miriam, thrusting the empty glass at her. Then she darted outside as fast as she could, in search of a bush to throw up behind.
     
    TRANSLATED TRANSCRIPT BEGINS
     
    ‘Has the old goose been drinking too much, do you suppose?’
    ‘Hist, now! She’ll hear you!’
    ‘Oh don’t worry. She only understands one word in ten. It can’t be helped, I suppose. She grew up in fairyland, wearing trousers and chopping up dead men to
     understand how they work. They didn’t have time to teach her how to
speak
as well.’
    ‘What, you mean –’ (
Shocked giggle.
) ‘– to the Crone?’
    ‘No, I don’t suppose she’s
that
stupid. But she’s one of the kind such as have a thoughtful temper. You don’t want to get on the wrong
     side of her, you know. Wait, here she comes –’ (
English.
) ‘Would you like another glass, ma’am?’
    (
Click
.)
    ‘Phew, there she goes again, bouncing after some stuffed-pants longhair. This one looks like he swallowed a ferret, look at the way he’s twitching.’
    ‘Raw with lust for the old goose.’
    ‘Hist! Is that your third glass?’
    ‘Who’s counting, madam? Listen,
you
have that one. Oh, over there! Don’t look, don’t be so obvious. Himself with the brown hair and the, um,
     isn’t
he
something?’
    ‘He–’
    (
Click
.)
    ‘Not as if my lady is stupid, but she is
strange
. Witchy-weird like any of the Six, but more so, if you follow me. Wears breeches and talks the Anglaische all the
     time except when she’s trying to learn. But she does it so badly! Look at the way she carries herself. Wagging tongues have it that she seduced Sieur Roland, but if something like that
     could seduce anything then
I’m
Queen of Summer Angels. What do you say, Nicky? Dried-up bluestocking or – ’
    ‘Don’t underestimate her, she’s not stupid, even if she doesn’t understand much. She may not look like a lizard but she’s descended from a long
     lineage of snakes. Sieur Roland is dead, isn’t he, so I’m