Page 66 of The Queens and the Kings
He returned to the papers.
“Do you know Malcolm Helsing?” Henrik asked.
“From Kapurnick?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Einar grinned, scoffing.
Henrik said, “I just have a few questions.”
The man waved the direction from which they’d come. “Take it to the Ladylord’s staff.”
“Aren’t you part of her staff?”
He smiled contemptuously. Henrik stepped to the side and braced his legs, occupying as much room as possible. Einar positioned himself in front of the door, blocking the entrance. They took up what little space existed between the desk and the door.
“Not a problem,” Henrik said. “We’ll wait.”
The man hesitated, assessing with beady eyes whether Henrik was serious. After a few seconds, he harrumphed, returned to work. A mousy woman in the back corner gawped, wide-eyed.
Ten minutes passed.
The man didn’t move. The woman in the corner shuffled around, her eyes bouncing from Henrik, Einar, the man, and back again. Henrik didn’t take his eyes off the male scribe. Einar didn’t either. The man wriggled and shuffled in his chair, avoiding eye contact.
Twelve minutes.
Fifteen.
The male scribe cleared his throat. Someone attempted to enter, Einar shoved them back. While the complaining person drifted away, shouting, the man’s furtive glances toward Henrik increased. He shuffled a stack of papers, dropped a fountain pen, muttering under his breath as he fumbled with it.
Somewhere around the twenty minute mark, the woman slipped a paper onto the man’s desk. With a flicker of annoyanceaimed at Henrik, he gave a brief nod. She grabbed a pile of papers on the edge of his desk and clutched them to her chest. Chewing her bottom lip, she looked at Henrik.
Henrik gave her a fleeting smile.
The man cleared his throat. “Let her out, eh?”
“I’m taking a message to the Ladylord.” Her plea barely pitched above a whisper. “A-asking permission to share the results of what has been found by our scribe. I’m the scribe Malcolm wrote to. I’d be happy to share, but I can’t without permission. I’d be let go, and I have children.”
Victory.
How sweet.
“Understandable.” Henrik shifted one step to the left. Einar followed. After the woman departed, they resumed their positions.
“Can’t you go?” the man asked with an exasperated sigh. “You’re getting what you want.”
“Maybe,” Henrik said.
“She’ll return in ten minutes!” He gestured them out with his paw-like hand.
Henrik cast a gaze to the sun, considering the time. At this rate, the meeting’s start had long since passed. The female scribe would take his request directly to the Ladylord, as he hoped, which would give her some idea of where they’d gone. It wasn’t as much about the information as it was about the message.
He didn’t walk into negotiations on blind faith.
Einar gave a lazy grin. “You know what?” he drawled, “I think we’ll stay. I haven’t had this much fun in weeks.”
