Chapter 41 - The Meeting

Chapter 41: 41 - The Meeting

Adrien was waiting on the steps when Gaspard reached them, with Evelyne standing at his left shoulder. His mother knew everything now: the camp, the cages, the burners, and the two letters beside every payment worth looking at. She had read the books herself and spent most of an hour afterward in silence.

Gaspard came up the steps like a man who had never been asked to hurry.

’And he’s here to find out what we know...’

"Gaspard Arquenay." Adrien did not move off the step. "I’d like to ask why you’re standing in my yard without warning. I hope you’re not holding a grudge over the duel with your son."

Gaspard coughed into his fist. He had prepared an opening, and it had not survived contact. "Adrien Clairmont. Your father’s tongue, I see." He inclined his head toward Evelyne. "Lady Clairmont. It’s good to see you looking well, after everything."

Evelyne looked at him the way she looked at damp in a wall. "What do you want, Gaspard?"

"A short conversation. Nothing more."

They took him into the drawing room and put him in the chair facing the door, which was the guest’s chair and also the worst one in the room. Adrien sat opposite while Evelyne poured tea, apparently deciding perfect manners would bother Gaspard more than rudeness.

He got through half his cup before beginning. "I’ll be honest with you, Lord Clairmont. Our houses have not been on good terms."

"Your territory is close to ours, and some of my father’s land now sits in your name. I’d noticed."

"Which is partly why I came." Gaspard set the cup down. "Business, as it happens. I hold timber rights along the north of this valley, and I’m being told the concession has produced nothing for several weeks."

’Two minutes. Some kind of record for a man trying to be subtle.’

"I’m sorry to hear it."

"So am I." Gaspard turned his cup a quarter turn. "Which is why I wondered whether anything unusual had happened up on that mountain lately. You’d know your own ground better than I would."

Adrien waited. "Something did. We had a bad month with the beasts. They came down twice in a few weeks, which does not happen here. We lost nine people. My knight nearly went with them."

He met Gaspard’s eyes. "So if your men are missing, my guess is something up there moved, and everything else moved with it."

"That is a great deal of trouble for one valley."

"It was."

"And it’s stopped now?"

"It has."

"How fortunate." Gaspard picked up his cup. "Rather sudden, though. In my experience these things ease over a season. They don’t simply end."

"They do when somebody removes the cause."

The man’s fingers tightened. "And do you know what caused it?"

"We think somebody was up there who had no business being there," Adrien said. "Doing something that upset the whole range, and doing it for a while."

"How unpleasant."

"Extremely."

"And did you find them?"

"We found what was left of the site. Not much. Whoever was there had gone before we arrived, and they went in a hurry."

Evelyne refilled Gaspard’s cup without being asked, putting her hand into his field of vision while he decided what to say next.

"You’ll forgive me," Gaspard said. "I’m a slow old man. Are you telling me there were people living on the north side of this valley?"

"I’m telling you there were people working there."

"On Clairmont land."

"On Clairmont land, yes. For months."

Gaspard shook his head. "Well. That is a serious thing."

"It is," Evelyne said. "We buried nine people over it, my lord, and one of them was fourteen. I wrote the letters to their families myself, so I would call it serious."

Gaspard turned toward her. "My apologies, Lady Clairmont. I meant no lightness by it." He looked back at Adrien. "And what do you intend to do about this?"

Adrien took a small drink. "What anyone would do after finding strangers operating illegally on their land. Find out who they were."

Gaspard waited, but Adrien gave him nothing else. Eventually he asked, "And after that?"

"That depends on what I find."

The fire shifted behind them. Gaspard had no immediate reply. Adrien could almost see the questions behind his eyes. How much had they found? Were there names? Records? Had anyone survived? Did any of it lead back to Arquenay?

He could not ask without admitting he had a reason to care.

So Gaspard lifted his cup. "A sensible approach."

"I thought so."

"And I suppose the Crown will hear of it eventually."

Adrien shrugged. "If there’s something worth telling them."

Something tightened behind Gaspard’s eyes before he covered it with another drink.

Adrien had let the man hold the rope long enough. "How is Léon?"

Gaspard’s chin rose slightly. "Well. Busy."

"Give him my regards. He and I got off badly, and I’d rather it stayed at that." Adrien set his cup down. "He took the loss of that staff harder than I expected."

"He’s young. Everything is the end of the world at his age."

"It usually is." Adrien turned his cup a quarter turn, copying Gaspard’s movement. "Although some men don’t manage humiliation well. It turns into something else, and after a while they stop being careful."

He let it settle. "You’d know the type better than I would. I imagine they’re expensive to keep."

Gaspard did not move for almost three seconds. Adrien watched him decide that asking would cost more than the answer was worth.

"They are."

He stood. "Well. I’ve taken enough of your morning, and my carriage has a long road ahead."

"You’re welcome any time."

"That’s kind of you." Gaspard straightened his coat and inclined his head toward Evelyne. "Lady Clairmont. My regards."

She returned only as much courtesy as manners demanded.

Gaspard reached the doorway and stopped with one hand on the frame. "Lord Clairmont."

"My lord."

"It was a good meeting."

Adrien smiled faintly. "I’m glad you got what you came for."

Gaspard looked at him a moment longer than politeness required. Then he left, and eventually the sound of his carriage faded down the west road.

Only after it was gone did Adrien look toward his mother. Evelyne was still staring at the empty doorway, one hand beside the teapot. Neither of them needed to say it aloud: Gaspard Arquenay had come to Greymoor looking for an answer, and Adrien was fairly sure he had left with several more questions.