Steelhands - Jaida Jones [222]
“Oh, I see,” Roy huffed, turning back to his dresser drawer and pulling out his favorite vest—some black-and-gold piece that, according to him, “never went out of style.” According to me, he just liked the damned thing, but you couldn’t tell Roy he was doing a thing sensibly for once without him taking offense and going to extraordinary lengths just to prove you wrong. “And here I thought I’d get the story from you firsthand. Perhaps, since you’ve never been involved in a political scandal before, you have a limited understanding of the etiquette involved, but it is customary for someone personally implicated to give his closest friend all the pertinent details. Especially when that friend sacrificed his good health and clear sinuses to be of use in the first place.”
“I appreciate that,” I said, which wasn’t quite as hard to get out as the apology had been. “I know how important your sinuses are to you.”
Roy gave me one of his sharp looks though the effect probably wasn’t quite what he’d hoped since his eyes were all red and watery from blowing his nose. Didn’t know how a grown man could make such a big fuss over one little cold, but somehow he managed to wrangle me around into feeling sorry for him anyway.
Or maybe I was feeling guilty since I couldn’t tell him about the dragons. And this was gonna pose an interesting obstacle for our friendship.
“Meeting’ll be interesting, at least,” I offered, with a shrug. I figured I could let him in on that much without giving anything away. And it was the truth. I almost wished I could’ve been a fly on the wall at the Basquiat when Antoinette let the magicians know what th’Esar’d been planning.
Roy was gonna hit the ceiling. I only hoped he didn’t sneeze in the middle of the meeting, right before the dramatic reveal.
“They are always interesting,” Roy said, with a little sniff I figured was on purpose instead of necessary. He knew I was yanking his chain—probably because I wasn’t very good at all that diplomatic subterfuge—but at least he seemed to realize I was being cryptic for a reason since he wasn’t threatening to get Antoinette down here to read my thoughts for him.
Little did he know we were on the same side now, the lady and me.
“Well then, this one’ll be especially so,” I said, which was where I had to end it. Much as I loved twitting Roy, I was gonna work my way around to having to give another apology if I kept at it too long. Silence was what worked best for me most days anyway, so I shut my yap and introduced a little quiet into the room.
With Roy present, I knew it couldn’t last long.
“I understand,” Roy said finally, resuming with his vest, and searching out a scarf to match it. Bastion help me, but he even had more than one. “You’ve been sworn to secrecy on some count, and you’re a soldier, too good to let a little thing like torture force your tongue. Believe it or not, there are things that even I do not wish to know, occasionally. At least that’s what I’m trying to tell myself. I think I’m managing to believe it.”
“Better be careful,” I said, picking out a gray scarf, which he rejected immediately. “That sounds dangerously close to self-improvement.”
“That implies I have room to improve,” Roy pointed out. He froze all of a sudden, going still all over like he was about to sneeze. I wondered whether I should hit the deck or maybe jam my fingers up his nose—but then his posture relaxed. “False alarm. I accept, by the way.”
“Pardon?” I asked, getting the distinct feeling