Page 54 of Skinwalker's Bane
He looked at her sharply and missed a step. He hissed and recovered, his hand at her waist digging in absently. Then, “Benefits?” His tone was curious.
“I know how official recognition would benefit the Association,” she added. “What does it do to better people’s lives? What would your agenda be, apart from fattening your profit line?”
He tilted his head, studying her. There was a frown between his brows that made her heart thud uneasily. Bishan would have had a coronary if he had heard this. She was skating very close to a dangerous edge. Why was she doing it? It was as if her mouth had a will of its own.
She tried to recover whatever ground she might have lost. “I only ask what others will eventually think to ask for themselves,” she told Marey. “If you want to be at the political table, you will be asked to justify why you should be given a seat there. You may want to marshal your arguments before the next person asks.”
He turned her around on the dancefloor a few more times, silent.
Her heart sank. She had ruined any chance of the Chairman looking upon her favorably.
As the dance ended, the Chairman let her go, although he didn’t immediately take her back to her seat. Instead he studied her. “Your two colleagues, the ones sitting on either side of you who Rask keeps pushing toward me. They would say the same thing as you?”
She had nothing left to lose, so she spoke the truth. “If they have minds of their own and good intentions, they will. Why don’t you have a dance with each of them, Chairman, and see what their answers will be?”
“Minds of their own, huh? And I thought you would be the first one to tell me what I wanted to hear.” Amazingly, he laughed. “Very well. Iwilldance with each of them and ask them the same question. Now I am curious to hear what they say.”
Chapter Fourteen
Devin sat hurriedly when she got back to her chair, to hide her trembling.
Rask beamed approvingly at her, as the Chairman patted her shoulder and thanked her for the dance.
Then he asked Dirks to dance and winked at her as he led Dirks away.
Most of the big table was empty. Devin considered ordering more coffee. The richness of real coffee was making her stomach roil, though.
From behind her, even over the music, she heard the same relaxed round of belly laughs from Adam’s table.
Abruptly, she got to her feet and made her way through the tables to theirs. Haydn saw her approach. So did Liya, who smiled, and Anar Baden, who jumped to his feet. “Devin!”
She stopped behind Adam’s chair, which put her behind his back. He didn’t look around. “I suspect that what you have inthatcoffeepot,” she said, indicating the pot sitting in the middle of the table, “is printed coffee and I would give anything for a cupful. May I?”
There were at least five chairs around the table that were currently empty, their occupants up dancing or otherwise occupied. Haydn pushed one out with his boot. “I thought they were serving the real stuff on your table.”
“They are. It’s making me feel sick,” Devin confessed. She sat in the chair that Haydn had pushed out for her. It put three empty chairs between her and Adam and another empty one between her and Haydn. She was alone on this side of the table, yet everyone looking at her wore warm expressions.
Even Adam, even though he had not made any overt move toward her or spoken directly to her since their stilted greeting before dinner.
Devin drank half the cup in one large gulp and sighed. “That’s better.”
“Won’t your Dreamhawks people be annoyed you’re sitting here with us Plebians?” Anar asked curiously.
“You’re a Palatino,” Devin pointed out. “Liya lives and works in the Aventine. I learn from anyone who will talk to me.”
Haydn raised his brow. “Okay, then.”
“I interrupted your conversation,” Devin pointed out.
“We were talking about politics,” Haydn said.
“That explains the laughter, then,” Devin replied.
They chuckled and she could see them relax.
“Actually, we were talking about Sauber and his demand that the ship get rid of Captain Owens.”
“No one can get rid of the Captain,” Devin said. “Not now. Not until the next election.”
