“I wish you would start. Could you not just have fucked the fellow, Rich? Would it have been so impossible to put aside pride of place and demands of rank in the bedroom if you were so very fond of him? Why must you live on that damned superior pedestal?”
Richard gritted his teeth. “Perhaps because I cared for him enough not to force anything on him.”
“Except his dismissal from your service after years of such single-minded devotion that I am now astonished I did not see this coming.”
“Christ,” Richard said, his voice strangled. “Must you say these things?”
“Yes, I think I should. Hire a new valet, and keep your hands off this one.”
“I don’t want a new valet,” Richard growled.
“Then tend to your own clothes, because I very much doubt Cyprian is returning. That is all. We can discuss this further when, or if, you find yourself with something more sensible to say.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m sure you’ll puzzle it out,” Dominic said, and went out of the room, shutting the door with rather more force than necessary.
—
Richard gathered everyone he could at Quex’s that evening, since there was no point putting it off. Sir Absalom Lockwood and Peter Arlett scowled on either side of the fireplace like portly bookends. Julius Norreys had Harry sitting somewhere between the arm of his chair and his lap; Dominic, arms folded, leaned against the wall. Francis Webster had claimed the other armchair, where he sat with an expression that might have served as model for a male Medusa, and Lord Gabriel Ashleigh hovered behind him, chewing his lip.
“I can only give you all my apologies,” Richard told them. “We have relied on Cyprian for a long time, and it is unnerving to be without him.”
“That is not the word,” Absalom said. “If he bears a grudge, if he chooses to lay information—”
“Then we must deal with him,” Peter concluded.
“May I ask how?” Julius’s voice was clipped. “Because, as I am sure you have all noticed, we have come to depend on Cyprian for more or less everything that cannot be shouted in the street. He saved Harry’s life.”
“And Silas’s neck,” Harry said.
“And my reputation,” Dominic added.
“And I cannot imagine what you thought you were doing falling out with the man in such spectacular wise, Richard,” Julius concluded. “If you wanted to be rid of him, I should have taken him on like a shot.”
Richard had admitted only to a disagreement. He had no intention of revealing more. “I did not plan to argue with him.”
“I wish you hadn’t.” Ash sounded rather tense. “I had hoped to borrow him.”
“Can you make amends?” Julius asked.
“Good God, you ask Richard to grovel to his valet?” Peter said with incredulity.
“Oh, well, as long as he maintains his proper dignity,” Julius snapped. “It is a damned waste. That is a good man, Richard, and you are a fool.”
“Julius,” Harry said urgently. “I’m sure Richard didn’t dismiss him without reason.”
“He saved your life. I think a little more flexibility might have been in order.”
“Recriminations aside, we have a practical issue,” Absalom said. “Here, and at Millay’s, we have had Cyprian as, uh, facilitator. Somebody else will need to do that.”
“What did it entail?” Julius asked. “Because I will freely admit, he seemed to me to operate by sorcery.”
“I could not say, but I am happy to discuss it with the proprietors and find out,” Dominic offered. “Leave that in my hands.”
Richard thanked God for Dominic, always there, no matter how angry he might be. He gave him a tentative smile and received a rueful shrug in return.
“The other thing—” Ash began.
“Can wait,” Francis told him. “I should rather first be assured that Cyprian is not laying information, or proposing to blackmail any of us, or any of the other obvious courses of action open to him.”
“I don’t believe he is,” Richard said.
“With respect, Richard,” Francis said with a bite in his voice, “you believed that he would prove loyal in a way he simply has not. Did you pay him off? A generous severance?”
“No.”
“No. So he has moved from a lavish salary to nothing. That bodes ill.”
“You well know he will not struggle to find another post,” Julius said.
“With whom?” Francis asked. “Yes, Richard? What thought crossed your mind just then?”
Richard braced himself. “Merely that Maltravers made an approach to him.”