The Chemickal Marriage

stallion.’
    ‘The spine is damnably narrow – in the dark, one’s aim goes awry. I don’t suppose you would remove your spectacles?’
    ‘Why should I?’
    ‘So I can see what he’s done, of course. You’d be surprised how much one can tell – the eyes, the tongue, the pulse – I do not venture to bodily discharge in a moving coach. Oskar would have made a fine physician, you know, within his particular
realm
.’
    ‘His realm is monstrous.’
    ‘Ambition is
always
monstrous. You should have seen him in Paris – the house in the Marais, the
stench
– and that was just his painting!’
    Chang slid the dagger back into his stick. The Contessa tensed herself as he reached deliberately to her and pressed a gloved finger on the exact spot, just below her sternum, where his stick had struck home.
    ‘Do not doubt me, Rosamonde.’
    ‘Why would I do that?’ She dropped her eyes. ‘That is tender.’
    Chang was suddenly aware how simple it would be to turn his threat to a caress. She would not have stopped him. The woman’s appetite was as flagrant as a peacock’s feathers and as private as – well, as any woman’s inner mind. She laid a hand on his wrist.
    ‘I had words with Doctor Svenson –’
    ‘Release my arm or I will hurt you.’
    The Contessa restored the hand to her lap. ‘Must you be so unpleasant – so stupid?’
    ‘I am stupid enough to have you in my power.’
    The Contessa sighed with exasperation. ‘You carry the past like a convict carries chains. What has happened means nothing, Cardinal. Time may change every atom of our minds. Whose youth has not held a quaking fool, distraught, disgraced – a razor’s edge from taking their own life? And for causes that, if one
can
call them to mind after even four months, are no more worth dying for than last year’s fashions are worth ten pfennigs to the pound.’
    ‘You speak to excuse yourself.’
    ‘If you will take my life at the end of things, Cardinal, then you will, or I will take yours, or both our skulls will serve as Lord Vandaariff’s finger-bowls. But until then –
please
.’
    The Contessa laid a hand across her brow – her left hand, he noticed, remembering the gash across her right shoulder. Did she still favour it?
    ‘I do congratulate you on the costume,’ she said. ‘The irony
sings
.’
    Chang nodded towards the driver. ‘Where were you going?’
    ‘Does it matter? I’m sure you have your own plans for everything.’ The Contessa shook her head and smiled. ‘Now
I
am the sour cloud. Did you know Doctor Svenson nearly shot me dead? I trust his not being here meansthe child has
finally
spurred him to business. I do not recommend the use of children, in all truth. They whine, they forget, they are hungry – and the tears! Good
God
, every way you turn there is snivelling –’
    ‘Where were you
going
?’
    She glared at him, her cheeks touched with colour, then laughed – still a lovely sound, for all that the merriment was forced.
    ‘Where we
can
, Cardinal. Every thoroughfare between the Circus Garden and the river is blocked and Stropping Station is its own armed camp.
Thus
’ – she arched an eyebrow – ‘the mighty Robert Vandaariff takes the city in his all-powerful fist.’
    Chang nodded to the window. ‘But our present path takes us straight
to
the Circus Garden.’
    ‘I am aware of it, yet I think we have a few minutes to extend this
fascinating
talk.’
    ‘You speak of Vandaariff’s fist. According to Doctor Svenson, these explosions apparently elude your concern.’
    ‘On the contrary, I am inspired to avoid large gatherings.’
    ‘Is that why you quit the Palace?’
    ‘The Palace is in actuality as dreary as a beehive – the buzzing of
drones
–’
    ‘
Enough
. On every front where Vandaariff has extended himself, you have only ceded ground. The explosions, his control of Axewith, martial law, property seizures – you have opposed none of it.’
    ‘How could I? Have you?’
    ‘I have tried.’
    ‘With what result, apart from Celeste Temple being blown to rags?’ The Contessa reached for a small clutch bag at her side. Chang caught her hand and she disdainfully opened the bag to reveal a flat lacquered case and her cigarette holder.
    ‘How did you know that?’ he asked tightly.
    ‘How do you think? From the wife of a deputy minister who heard it directly from Vandaariff himself – what else is that gaggle of harpies good for? I am at least
informed
.’ The Contessa