The Chemickal Marriage

She tensed, watching, mouth just open, daring him to act, though whether in violence or passion he had no idea – did the woman even distinguish?
    ‘Such a shame …’ she whispered.
    They stood in broad daylight at the edge of the square, yet he could no more step clear than if they were trapped in the crush of a ballroom. Chang’s voice was tight. ‘Since when did you care for shame?’
    Her words remained hushed. ‘Afterwards … after you kill Vandaariff … after Miss Temple is redeemed … we must once more seek each other’s life. It seems a terrible waste … two such well-matched creatures …’
    ‘I am no creature, madam.’
    Her eyes traced his jugular. ‘And
that
is why I shall win.’
    They walked beneath a canopy of trees on streets bereft of traffic. The Contessa’s eyes became restless and distracted, scanning the fine house-fronts but seeing none of them.
    ‘Have you ever been on a ship, Cardinal Chang? On the sea?’
    ‘No. Have you?’
    ‘Of course. I’m not a peasant.’
    ‘I beg your pardon.’
    ‘But I have never sailed any distance – for
weeks
.’
    ‘Does that matter, aside from outlasting seasickness?’
    ‘Have you not wanted to visit Africa? China? To feel the Indian sun on your face?’
    ‘No.’
    She sighed. ‘Neither have I.’
    ‘I fail to see the problem.’
    ‘Did you ever hear Francis Xonck speak of Brasil?’
    ‘Once, which was enough.’
    ‘All Francis ever sought was excess.’
    ‘Are you any different?’
    ‘I never had to seek,’ she replied tartly.
    ‘Is this about Miss Temple?’ Chang asked. ‘You mention the Indies –’
    ‘She is
from
the Indies. To her,
we
are the Dreamland – if more vaguely apprehended. But her obvious dissatisfaction here makes my point. One avoids Africa, Cardinal, because Africa will unfailingly
disappoint
. New horizons are always seen through one’s old set of eyes.’
    ‘But you
are
a traveller. When were
you
last in Venice? Or wherever you called home?’
    ‘I am home every minute of the day.’
    Chang bit off his reply. For the first time in his experience, the Contessa di Lacquer-Sforza was behaving like a conventionally galling woman.
    ‘You are frightened,’ he said.
    ‘Of Oskar Veilandt? Cardinal, I am tired. And
hungry
.’ The tone underscoring this last made perfectly clear that the Contessa was not talking of her dinner. ‘Why, are
you
afraid?’
    ‘Not for myself.’
    ‘
Pah
. You are exactly as noble as a cart-horse.’ She plucked the shoulder of Chang’s scarlet coat. ‘Did you actually murder a priest?’
    ‘I did not need to.’
    ‘Are you willing to murder Oskar?’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘And if he promises to save your life?’
    ‘I would not believe him. My life is forfeit – and along with me, how many others? The city? The nation?’
    ‘When
I
am dead, Cardinal, cities and nations can go hang.’
    Chang saw she was smiling and immediately became wary. ‘Have we arrived?’
    ‘Near enough … we are certainly observed.’
    Chang saw only the same well-tended streets. ‘Observed by whom?’
    ‘To answer that is the reason I am here. I was not asked to accompany you – merely to deliver you to their hands.’
    ‘If you had simply sent me off, I might not have cooperated.’
    ‘If you were going to abandon Miss Temple, you would have done so earlier, when you could have pummelled Jack Pfaff raw. No, apart from the splendour of your company, I have come to see who else does Oskar’s bidding.’
    ‘And is this the house of someone you know?’
    She looked at him quizzically, and then nodded towards a white-painted mansion at the end of the street. ‘I thought you had been here. It was where he worked on Angelique.’
    Chang sighed, recalling too vividly the abandoned greenhouse and its bloodstained bed. ‘I did not realize we had walked so far. The house is improved – from the rear it looked a shambles.’
    ‘Vandaariff money. And he
is
a resurrectionist.’
    ‘What stops them from shooting us dead in the street?’
    ‘How do you ever manage to feed yourself? If there are two people Robert Vandaariff is more keen to preserve than ourselves, I cannot name them. No, whoever he has charged will emerge, and then I will better know my enemies.’
    ‘At which point you will saunter away? Why not take you as well, if he desires you so
ardently
?’
    ‘Well, that is Oskar. I would end
his
life the first chance I had, but he will ever postpone. He has pretensions