Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold Read Free Book Online Page A

over it.”
    “I hope so. The world is kinder to accountants than poets.” I tried not to pull a face at the mention of accounts. “He says he is weary of appearance, and wishes to speak the Truth.”
    “Oh, dear. One can only hope he will grow out of that, too.”
    I sounded rather cynical even to my own ears, but Antheran was nodding. “Among Empire nobility, to speak the truth to the wrong audience can be unhealthy at best.”
    “Not only there,” I said. “Many people find the truth unpleasant.”
    “True.” he gestured at his robes, hanging beside the bed. “Tesserane silk. Before I could afford it, I wore the finest linens I could get, though often it meant a thin diet. Because unless I looked prosperous, I could never become prosperous. Among the nobles, appearance is everything. Truth is seldom more than an inconvenient detail.” He sighed. “If one does not have breeding, one must have wealth. If one has neither, one must strive for the appearance. But beneath it all, it is best to have knowledge. However unpleasant the knowledge, it is the... what is the word... you know how a tent, a pavilion, is constructed?”
    “Vaguely.”
    “There are posts, things which support the cloth. These are like knowledge, yes? And must be strong and firmly planted, otherwise, all the pretty silk will rip and fly away in the wind.”
    “Your son is not the only poet in the family, my lord.”
    “Hah.” He gazed into his glass. “But knowledge is like these posts in another way, Babylon – it is meant to be covered. If a man cannot afford to be held up by bureaucracy at every border, it is useful to know who is susceptible, say, to a little present. If, perhaps, one has a valued and honest steward, who is detained because of politics, but a bribe in the right place will release him, should one refuse to pay it? If one knows of a swift passage that will improve one’s profit, and will not cause harm, but requires that certain... deals be struck, that are less than strictly above board, should one refuse to make them? I like to believe myself an honourable man, yet this is the sort of truth I deal in.
    “And this is the sort of truth that my son prefers to ignore. He does not want to see that the fish swims in water, not above it; that truth is complex. My son wishes to hit people with simple truths as though they were hammers, and mainly he wishes to hit those who have no desire to hear any truth at all. The rich will hire poets who flatter them, and they, at least, get paid. Poets who care only for simple truths will be less likely to keep a whole skin.”
    He glanced at me over the rim of his glass, his eyes glittering. “You are a dangerous woman, Babylon. Much too easy to talk to.”
    “You are a pleasure to listen to, my lord.”
    “Well, I know I can rely on your discretion.”
    “Of course.”
    After washing, we went downstairs.
    “Ah, here he is,” Antheran said. “Well, my boy?”
    The lad was definitely looking happier. The sulky pout had disappeared, and a dreamy, slightly glazed smile had replaced it. “ Dvit. I mean, yes, thank you, Papa.”
    “Good, good!”
    The boy turned the smile in my direction and said, “Do you have, please, a...” he scribbled on air.
    “Quill?”
    “Please, yes. And perhaps paper?”
    Oh, dear. I glanced at his father.
    “Paper?” he said. “You have used it all already? Always more paper! It is expensive, you know.”
    I didn’t want to deprive the poor boy, but I didn’t want to annoy his father, either.
    “Oh, if you have some,” Antheran said, “give it to him, please, and add it to my bill. There is no harm, after all, in a little hobby.” He clapped his son on the shoulder.
    Personally, I couldn’t help feeling that if his first taste of the fleshly delights immediately made the boy want to write about it, he might be doomed to poetry whether his father liked it or not.
    I glanced up the stairs and saw Essie looking down and grinning. She winked at