Free Perfiditas by Alison Morton

myself with grace and decorum. What’s decorum?’
    Where to start? I was in no way qualified to answer, but I tried. ‘I see it as doing the right thing, in a polite way, but not allowing yourself to be pushed around by anybody else. But, hey, Allegra, if you do it wrong, just smile. They’ll forgive you.’
    Helena looked over at me and frowned.
    ‘Oh,’ Allegra said, ‘I thought it meant standing there being bored, not saying anything while the grown-ups commented on how much you’d grown.’
    I burst out laughing, which set Gil off giggling into my chest. I stroked his soft hair. ‘Well,’ I replied, ‘I’m not very good at it, either. Nonna told me off earlier for not behaving properly.’
    Allegra’s eyes came out on stalks. ‘You?’
    ‘Yes.’ I chuckled. ‘Here’s the thing, Allegra, let’s you and I watch out for each other on the day and make a secret signal to each other if we think the other one is losing it.’
    ‘Deal,’ she said, using the English word.
    ‘Deal,’ I confirmed.
    When they were all tucked up, passing through drowsiness on the way down to sleep, Helena waved off the light and ushered Conrad and me out .
    ‘Honestly, you two are a piece. I settle them for bed and you come along and hype them up.’ She waggled her red-lacquered finger melodramatically.
    Helena had given up, she said escaped from, teaching other brats and now educated my brats. She said she could shout at them without censure as they were family. This was an act she put on. My children were wonderfully looked after. Allegra delighted everybody she came into contact with. She was quick, and charmed her way into and out of anything she wanted; maybe something to watch as she got older. The twins were just hitting the terrible twos, but Helena was a past mistress of the art of distraction.
    She paused, turning to look at me. ‘Are you all right? You seemed only half there this afternoon. Aurelia was really pissed with you.’
    I made a face. ‘No, everything’s fine. I just have a difficult training exercise coming up and I have to impress the new legate,’ I said, glancing at Conrad who gave me a little smile. ‘I heard he’s a real horror, so I’m shaking with nerves.’
    ‘Yeah, right.’
     

IX
    “Catherine MacCarthy” rang Hirenses Associates next morning about her missing umbrella.
    ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Macarti,’ said Sextus after a brief pause, ‘I can’t see one anywhere. Perhaps you left it on the shuttle?’
    ‘No, dear, I’m sure I had it when I came to see you, and I’ve lost track of it after that.’
    He sighed. Silence.
    ‘Oh, well, I’ll drop in later or tomorrow morning. Please give my love to Aidan.’
     
    I was in the field room checking kit for the operation when a priority message with a caution tag came through from Sepunia. I didn’t know her that well: she’d sat quietly in meetings offering careful supplementary remarks like a good number two when Aburia was giving her reports. For her to use a caution tag was really something, which is why I sauntered down the corridor to Sepunia’s open door in the Intel room like I was on a casual Sunday outing.
    ‘ Salve , Sepunia.’ I knocked on the door frame and smiled. ‘Anything for me to brighten up a dull day?’
    ‘Hello, Carina, nice of you to drop in. Come in and sit down,’ she chirped at me. We were like a couple of girls sorting out our social calendars. I closed the door and she flicked the smartplex windows to frosted. Her face dropped from bright and breezy to one hundred per cent serious.
    ‘The surveillance team reports that Aidan is travelling in his normal pattern between home and office,’ she began, ‘but he’s either in the company of, or in direct sight of, a minder. We’ve identified four other definites, plus another two possibles. I can’t confirm the last two, but they appear more frequently than they should if they were the general public.’ Sepunia handed me printouts with photos.