I nodded. “Definitely.”
Chapman escorted my compatriot away, and I got to work searching for the food bar. The crowd eyed me with disdain equal to my nervousness. I avoided eye contact and focused on my sense of smell. My nose led me into the wing opposite where Marc had disappeared, and I discovered a long row of tables loaded with goodies.
Servants stood behind the tables, at the ready with plates and forks to gather up the food for the hungry guests. I strolled over to them with more confidence than I felt and pointed at some of the delicacies. “I’ll take some of those, and that.”
The servant lifted his nose, but did as I requested and handed me the plate. I slipped away with my treasures to a far corner, where I watched the other guests enjoy conversations and stifled laughter. My plate was soon done, and so was the magic.
Being among swells was boring. Really, really boring. I set my plate down on a nearby windowsill and sighed.
“You must be a stowaway.”
Chapter 25
I whipped my head around to find myself face to face with a gentleman bedecked in a black evening suit. He was about forty, with a black beard and short hair, though graying at the temples. His eyes were as black as his hair, and there was something very piercing about the way he studied me, almost like he could penetrate my very soul. He grasped a wine glass in one hand, and a crooked smile lay on his lips.
I whipped my head to and fro. There was no one near me. “Are you, um, talking to me?”
“Who else?” he wondered as he strolled closer, so we stood only a few feet from one another. “You have a look in your eyes that doesn’t match the rest of the crowd.”
I blinked at him. “What kind of look?”
He tipped his glass in the direction of my face. “A look of innocence one doesn’t often find among these cutthroats of business. May I ask from where you hail?”
“I’m, um, well, sort of new to the area,” I told him.
The man chuckled. “You are a terrible liar, My Lady. Your face is as easy to read as the reports of my dives.”
Marc had mentioned the same thing. I really needed to work on not projecting all my thoughts for the world to read. That would have to happen later, though, as I looked the middle-aged, slightly pudgy man up and down. Diving and the man in front of me weren’t computing in my brain, and the computations were being printed out on my face.
He grinned in response. “No, miss, I don’t perform the dives myself. That’s what the eagerness of youth is for. I merely give them the means to dive.”
“What do they dive for?” I asked him.
He winked at me. “Anything I please, provided the owner is deceased.”
“Why’s that?”
The man looked askance at me. “You certainly are an innocent.”
Where are you, Marc? I asked myself as I shrank beneath his scrutiny. “Sorry. I just, um, I came from a, well-”
He shook his head. “There’s no need to apologize for your lack of knowledge. In most people, I would find such naivety intolerable, but in you, my dear, it is refreshing. As for your question, an owner would certainly demand a portion, or perhaps all, of the treasure. Besides, recent treasures are hardly worth scavenging for. The ones in ancient legends, however, are very much worth the effort.”
The tales of yesteryear piqued my curiosity. “What kind of ancient legends?”
He smiled and tapped the side of his nose. “That would be telling, wouldn’t it?”
“Telling what?”
His eyes darted over the room, and he lowered his voice. “Many of my salvaging competitors are present. They would dearly love to be informed of my next search. Here.” He offered me his arm. “Let us go out to the garden. We’ll have more privacy there.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and scoured the large room once more. “I, um, that is, I’m sort of waiting for my friend.”
His arm faltered, but his smile didn’t. Still, there was something in those dark depths that didn’t sit well with me. “It seems it is I who should apologize for being so forward with you. I meant no offense.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to apologize. I’m just a little nervous.”
“Fate has been unkind to you of late?” he guessed.
