[log] i'm the stranger's lonely glance, i'm the hero's only chance
After Martel leaves again, Morray stays in his office for a good long while - a few clerks from Lenda come and go in the intervening hours, but he doesn't emerge himself until well after dinner, seeking out Teobhan with no particular agenda in mind yet but finding her. He supposes, perhaps, they should discuss some of what Martel had to say to him ( Read more... )
Teobhan, coincidentally, is looking for Morray as well. When she sees him, she pauses in the hallway for a second, as if considering her method of approach, and eventually she just walks over and kisses him hello.
If her life is ruined by the end of the month, she might as well enjoy what time she gets to be free.
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For his part, Morray doesn't rightly realize she's there until she's in front of him, at which point she's rather efficiently distracted him from whatever was in his thoughts. "...hello," he says, half into her hair.
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"The Lord General knows, now."
No sense in beating around the bush. She stays leaning on Morray.
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Morray hesitates, and then wraps his arms more securely at her waist. "Yes, I know."
...it wouldn't hurt to continue talking, there.
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She presses her face into his shoulder for a second. Teobhan doesn't know what she expected; that this would continue? That they'd simply wait until Maldis died of old age himself? For once, she had no plan. And now the Lord General (and probably his wife) have taken matters into their own hands, and her husband is almost certainly going to die soon.
She doesn't love Maldis, but she doesn't want him dead.
"What did he say to you?" Her voice is slightly muffled.
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At this point, Morray decides that the hallway is not the best place for this conversation. He sets about ushering her to privacy - his chambers, not his locked rooms - while he answers. "He said quite a few things," and didn't say even more, he's almost certain.
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Teobhan obligingly follows him inside, and sits down on the edge of the bed, hands balanced on either side of her. Like she's bracing herself, really, as she waits.
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"My assistance will be required," he says, evenly, as he closes the door behind them and dithers very briefly on whether or not to lock it (he doesn't), "during her Majesty's inquiry into your husband's ... life, I suppose. Picking through his accounts falls to me. This is what my cousin had come to speak with me about."
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"...well, you know all the records in my household are available to you. Most of it was run by me, actually," she admits, "though I wouldn't put it past him to have coffers of his own in private."
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"I expect that'll be what's most interesting," he says, sitting down on the corner of his bed and sort of absently setting about taking his boots off. Fair enough. He considers how to go on - it's obvious that Martel commented on them.
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"Probably." If they're being realistic.
She curls a lock of her hair around her fingertip.
"Just tell me what he said about it, please. I know he must have said something."
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Silence, and with it some awkwardness, reigns for a short time while he frees himself of his boots and puts his feet up on the bed. "He made a brief remark and we discussed other things," he says, cautiously diplomatic. "I had the impression something was on his mind."
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"I'll bet," she mutters, somewhat mutinously.
She likes Martel. Really. And she likes Maryani. But she kind of wishes they wouldn't interfere like this--it's embarrassing, for starters.
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Morray exhales. "He's been waiting for a reason. Your husband - he's only been waiting for a reason." He knew that, before Maldis up and provided one.
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She turns sharply and stares at Morray.
"Why?"
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Just for a moment, Morray stares back at her as if to say do you really expect me to deconstruct the motivations of a madman, fond of him as I may be?
"...he doesn't much care for him."
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