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"To be what? A professional actor? Living on a penny a day and the approbation of a fickle public?"

Ivy sniffed "Who says we are discussing Mr Tunstell?"

Alexia was driven to distraction "Get into the carriage, Ivy I shall take you back to town"

Miss Hisselpenny nattered on about her ie and its companion apparel, invitation list, and comestibles for the entirety of the two-hour ride into London Not roo the course of that drive, that he apparently was of little consequence to the proceedings She watched her friend climb down and trot inside the Hisselpenny’sof concern What was Ivy doing? But with no time at the moment to worry over Miss Hisselpenny’s situation, Lady Maccon directed the driver on to Buckingha her Lady Maccon was always at the palace two hours after dark on Sundays and Thursdays without fail And she was one of thethe least high-and-ht tone and pointed opinions After the first teeks, she had even gone to the trouble of learning all of their narand The ton were suspicious of Lord Maccon’s choice, but the htforward talk, even fro her neck for bite al steaton, don’t I know it," replied the lady

"Well, we shan’t keep you Go on in, ht smile and went

The dewan and the potentate were already waiting for her Queen Victoria was not The queen usually arrived nearer toover her family and supper, and stayed only to hear the results of their debate and forh for having kept you both," said Alexia "I had unexpected squatters on e No excuses, I know, but those are my reasons"

"Well, there you have it," snarled the dewan, "The affairs of the British Eraces" Landed as the Earl of Upper Slaughter but without any real country seat, the deas one of the feolves in England who could give the Earl of Woolsey a fight for his fur and had had occasion to prove it He was al, with dark hair, a wide face, and deep-set eyes He ought to have been handsome, except that his mouth was a little too full, the cleft in his chin a little too pronounced, and his ly assertive

Alexia had spent long hours wondering over that e Where had it come from? Had he always had it? For how many centuries had his poor abused upper lip labored under the burden of such vegetation?

Tonight, however, she ignored both hi down and placing the dispatch case on the table next to her, "shall we on to business?"

"By all means," replied the potentate, his voice honeyed and cool "Are you feeling well this evening, muhjah?"

Alexia was surprised by the question "Quite"

The vaerous of the two He had age on his side and much less to prove than the dewan Also, while the dewanLady Maccon for form’s sake, Alexia knew for a fact that the potentate actually loathed her He had registered an official coe to the Woolsey Pack Alpha and the saht her in to sit on the Shadow Council Alexia had never discerned exactly why But he had the support of the hives in this as in s, which made him far more powerful than the dewan, for whom pack loyalty seeave the vaet on?"

Generally, the Shadow Council administered supernatural interaction with the Crown While BUR handled enforceislative issues, political and uidance, and the occasional sticky-residue snafu During Alexia’s few ed from hive authorization in the African provinces, tothe death of an Alpha overseas, to neck-exposure enuine crisis to deal with This, Alexia felt, was going to be interesting

She snapped open the lid of her dispatch case and extracted her harmonic auditory resonance disruptor, a spiky little apparatus that looked exactly like two tuning forks sticking out of a crystal She tapped one fork with her finger, waited a moment, and then tapped the other The two produced a discordant, low-pitched hu noise, amplified by the crystal that would prevent their conversation fro overheard She placed the device carefully in the , but they had all learned to deal with it Even inside the security of Buckingham Palace, one could never be too careful

"What, exactly, has happened in London this evening? Whatever it was had my husband up scandalously early, just after sunset, and host informant in a positive fluster" Lady Maccon reraphic pen imported from the Americas

"You do not know, muhjah?" sneered the dewan

"Of course I know I a, for my own amusement" Alexia was sarcastic to the last

"Neither of us look any different to you this evening?" The potentate steepled his long fingers together on the tabletop, pure white and snakelike against the dark reen eyes

"Why are you hu to do with it" The dewan stood and began to pace about the roos

Alexia pulled her favorite glassicals out of her dispatch case and put thenification lenses with spectral lassicals these days, even Professor Lyall Alexia’s were old, inset with decorative onyx around the side that did not boast multiple lenses and a liquid suspension The many small knobs and dials were also made of onyx, but the expensive touches did not stop thelassicals looked ridiculous: the unfortunate progeny of an illicit union between a pair of binoculars and opera glasses

Her right eye becanified out of all proportion as she twiddled one dial, ho in on the potentate’s face Fine even features, dark eyebrows, and green eyes--the face seemed totally normal, natural even The skin looked healthy, not so pale The potentate gave a little smile, all his teeth in perfect boxlike order Res

Lady Maccon stood and went to stand in front of the dewan, stopping hilassicals upon his face, focusing on the eyes: plain old brown No yellow about the iris, no hidden quality of open-field or hunter instincts