Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 196
windowless spiral stairway. He could barely make out gleams
of light coming through cracks in the door. After a moment he
heard shuffling footsteps, and the door opened inward.
"Come in, come in." Controller Turcaret waved him
inside.
Axel was surprised to find the controller was alone. The
tower room he had been given was lovely. Tall leaded
windows in all four walls admitted long shafts of afternoon
light to gleam on the leaves of hundreds of plants festooning
every surface. The chamber was tall, maybe six meters, and
stone-floored. Whoever normally lived here had trusted to the
sturdiness of the place, and had potted several young trees of
respectable size. One, a willow, curled its long branches down
over an iron-framed bed. Another overshadowed a writing
desk. A wardrobe, several cabinets and a table sat half-hidden
behind the foliage. There was a fireplace by the bed; the place
might be quite cozy in the wintertime.
Axel crossed his arms, trying to manage a diplomatic
smile. "Well. How are you?" he asked. It really should be
Calandria at this meeting; but Turcaret had asked for Axel in
particular, so Cal was off getting the horses ready, and he had
to pretend to like this man for a few minutes. He manufactured
a smile.
Turcaret brushed some leaves and a beetle off the table
and motioned for Axel to sit. "Come in, Chan," he said as he
rummaged in a cabinet. "Make yourself comfortable." He
produced a bottle of wine and two glasses.
Axel eyed the bottle. "Are we celebrating something?"
Turcaret laughed darkly and uncorked the bottle. "We
might be. That depends on how cooperative you are."
"Does it have to do with your reasons for visiting the
Boros?" asked Axel. What he really wanted to ask was, Did