Page 82 of Reckless Heir
I use the walk to prepare.
The first thing I know is what they want: information about what I am, what I represent to Aleksei, whether I'm a controlled variable or a wild one. The second thing I know is what Dimitri wants, which is different: he wants me uncertain or afraid, because an uncertain Orphan is a useful tool in a Regent meeting, and a useful tool in a Regent meeting is leverage in a Regent vote.
The third thing I know is what I'm going to give them, which is nothing useful.
The corridor is stone, cold, lit by sconces that might be original to the building. Centuries of something heavy in the walls — decisions made, debts extracted, the specific weight of an institution that has been running long enough to believe it's permanent.
I walk steadily. I don't hurry. Hurrying tells them something.
The chamber is circular. Stone walls, high ceiling, five seats arranged in a shallow arc facing a single chair in the center. The five Regent seats are occupied. I recognize none of the faces — they're not wearing masks here, which is its own information: the Masquerade masks are for external ceremony. In this room, they don't need the theater.
They're older than I expected. Three men, two women, ranging from perhaps fifty to perhaps seventy. The kind of faces that have watched things happen for a long time and have learned to read the meaning rather than the surface. Five sets of eyes settle on me when I enter.
I walk to the center chair.
I sit.
I don't cross my ankles. I don't fold my hands. I sit the way Grace told me to sit in rooms like this —as if the chair belongs to you and you chose to use it.Grace said this about boardroom dynamics, not Regent chambers, but the principle is the same:posture is information, and I'm going to be very careful about what information I release.
"Sofia Conti," says the woman on the far left. Silver hair, precisely dressed, a voice that carries without effort. "House Romanov Orphan. You've been at St. Gabriel for ten weeks."
"Yes."
"We've been watching your progress." She says this without particular warmth. Informational. "You've distinguished yourself in the Orphan seminars. Your syndicate law professor describes you as the most analytically capable student in the current cohort."
I say nothing. This is a statement, not a question.
"We're interested in your future," says the man in the center. He's the oldest, the stillest, and therefore the most important. I make a note: sixty-seven, former Commission arbiter. Neutral in the Romanov-Drakos split until eighteen months ago, according to something I overheard Aleksei tell the Moscow team. Something shifted him. "Not the near future — the near future is already determined by the arrangement with House Romanov. We're interested in the longer term."
"The arrangement runs until the debt is paid," I say. "There's no defined end date."
"Debts end," he says. "Or they transform. Or the parties transform." He looks at me steadily. "The Regents take a long view, Miss Conti. We want to understand what you are, before you become something else."
"What I am," I repeat.
"You're a Conti. Old family. New to this world despite your blood. You've been processed through the Orphan system and assigned to the most powerful active Heir in the current cohort." The woman on the left again. "And you are demonstrably not what an Orphan usually is."
"What is an Orphan usually?"
A beat. Something moves between them — not quite communication, more the adjustment of people who operate by long-established understanding and rarely need to explain themselves to each other.
"Useful," says the man in the far right seat. He's the youngest of the five, sharp-faced. "Compliant in the specific ways that matter. Decorative when required." He looks at me without disguise. "You're none of those things."
"I'm here," I say. "I said the oath. I wear the uniform."
"You also drafted an addendum to your contract before you arrived," the woman says. "You've been studying Russian without informing House Romanov. You have files on every major Regent family going back three years." She tilts her head slightly. "We see everything at St. Gabriel, Miss Conti. Including what's in the library acquisition requests."
The room is very still.
Oh,I think. And then:of course.
The library acquisition requests.Eastern European Political Linguistics: A Practitioner's Reference.They know. They've been watching the library acquisition requests because of course they have — the Regents run the institution, and the institution has surveillance in its walls, and whatever I thought I was doing in private has been noted somewhere.
This is useful information. They've just told me the depth of their monitoring.
I file it and continue.
"You want to know," I say slowly, "whether I'm an asset or a liability."
