shadowsong26 | More from Serenissima!

Title: Serenissima--various ficlets
Author: shadowsong26, TK
Rating: PG-13/R
Fandom: BSG 2003
Characters/Pairings: Joseph Adama, Gaius Baltar, Lee Adama, Saul Tigh, Ellen Tigh, Laura Roslin, Natalie, Sonja, Caprica-Six, Leoben, Zak Adama, Kara Thrace, Chief Tyrol, Bill Adama, Billy Keikeya, a couple of OCs, both male and female. Saul/Ellen, Zak/Kara, Baltar/Caprica, Roslin/Adama, background Boomer/Cavil.
Warnings: For sex, blood, implied character death, massive AU--these stories are set in Baroque Venice/Constantinople, sometime between 1650 and 1750.
Summary: Ten short fics in the Serenissima AU. Details on the 'verse here.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of their respective creators.
Note: Stories are presented in rough chronological order. Feel free to leave more prompts at the prompt post. The first set of stories and icons can be found here.

1. Joseph Adama: Things Unseen
There were things Don Joseph Adama was careful not to see. His beloved brother sneaking in the side door with a pretty grey-eyed boy, smiling at the escorts of the girls he himself flirted with, kissing the grey-eyed boy in an alley just barely invisible from the main avenue.

Because seeing it would have ruined everything.

~ * ~

There were things Senator Joseph Adama pretended not to see. Don Thomas Zarek not quite carefully enough gathering supporters among the senators and other citizens and even some of the non-citizens, plainly plotting to overthrow Doge Pietrogrigio, whom no one particularly liked anymore, but--well, Doges served for life, after all, and there wasn't much else one could do about it.

Because seeing it would have, beyond any doubt, proven Zarek responsible.

~ * ~

There were things Doge Joseph Adama couldn't afford to see. His son's marriage disintegrating, his elder grandson becoming increasingly estranged, his younger grandson seeming to travel the same road his own beloved brother had--but then Carlo turned out to be a girl, anyway, if entirely inappropriate for other reasons.

Because seeing it would have made the rifts grow deeper.

~ * ~

There were things Joseph Adama could never have seen, even if he wanted to. His son falling in love with his second wife, Don Zarek's speedy rise to power, the quiet infiltration of his cherished Serenissima.

Because seeing it would have been seeing his death.

2. Baltar and Father Ilario: Prove to Me That You're No Fool
Note: This takes place roughly a year after Prize.
"So, how did He do it?" Gaius piped up, interrupting Father Ilario.

The old priest pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ask me in Latin, Gaius."

The boy pouted, and concentrated for a minute, then repeated his question. Father Ilario corrected his declensions gently and had him repeat it again. Of course the distraction tactic hadn't worked--Gaius never was one to go off on linguistic tangents to avoid borderline heretical questions--so then he gave the answer. "He was divine, Gaius. He could do things that mortal men cannot."

"I understand that," the child said, impatiently. "I just want to know how."

"Not everything is given to us to know. God operates on an entirely different level than we men do. We, in our imperfect understanding, cannot answer your question."

"...well, that doesn't seem fair."

Father Ilario resisted the urge to slam his forehead repeatedly against the desk. It's good that he's asking these questions now, when he's still impressionable enough that I can steer him away from potential heresy. "No, I suppose it isn't. But if it were too easy, what benefit would there be in learning to know God and His will?"

An older, more contentious student would point out the futility of trying something that was impossible, but Gaius lived for any sort of intellectual challenge. As Ilario had hoped, he brightened visibly and was more than happy to return to the lesson.

3. Lee, the Mother Superior, and Atia: Madamina
Lee studied a painting on the wall of Santa Maria degli Innocenti. The painting showed a young girl in profile wearing a pale pink dress, one hand trailing along an opulent curtain. There were two other female figures behind her, dressed much more simply--one in green, one in blue. The pink girl showed a certain hesitance, but not quite fear. She wasn't precisely beautiful, not the way most paintings of Esther were--all gold and light--but she had some of the most compelling eyes he'd ever seen in a painting of the Persian queen.

Upon close examination, the painting wasn't the masterwork it appeared from a distance. There was an obvious smudge on the blue girl's dress, and the pattern on the green girl's bodice changed slightly halfway across. Esther's hand seemed a little off as well, in the positioning of the fingers. All of these, then, were the hallmarks of the work of a talented amateur, possibly one of the sisters.

The inner door opened and the convent's Mother Superior came in. "The cardinal was detained, and asked that I chaperone this meeting in his place." She sounded disapproving. Somehow, Lee was not surprised.

The Mother Superior moved to the side of the room to watch them, and Lee finally got a good look at the girl behind her--his fiancee.

She was small, smaller than he had expected. Her hair was a soft brown, caught up in a pearl-studded net. She swept him a curtsey without looking up. "It's a privilege to meet you, Signore."

He bowed over her hand, noticing faint ink-stains and a slight callus on the inside of her index finger. "And you."

There was a brief, awkward silence after that, which she broke. "I want to thank you, Signore, for agreeing to this meeting. I know it's not...usual."

He smiled at her. "I was glad to," he replied, then searched for something else to say, when another silence stretched on. His attention was drawn back to the Esther painting, and he blinked a little. "Was that you? The model for Esther?"

She looked up, following his gaze to the painting. "Oh. Yes, Signore, it was. Sister Angelica likes to paint, and was kind enough to let me assist with the convent accounts in exchange for modeling for her."

The Mother Superior made a slight disapproving noise, and Lee wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. "It's a good likeness of you," he finally said, knowing the comment was a more than a little pathetic.

"I'll pass the compliment onto Sister Angelica," she replied softly, looking down at her hands and tracing one of the ink stains. "She'll be glad to hear it."

Another awkward silence stretched between them, and she was again the one to break it, rising quickly. "I'm sorry to have taken up your time like this, Signore. Thank you again for indulging my whims." She curtseyed again, and allowed him to bow over her hand again before not-quite-fleeing from the room.

Lee stared after her. He sighed, and inclined his head to the Mother Superior. "Thank you for your time," he said.

She sniffed. "Of course, Signore," she said, then swept out of the room again, leaving him alone to consider the painting.

4. Saul and Ellen Tigh: Rumor
from TK

"She killed her husband, you know," Ellen said, dangling her glass from her fingers with deceptive laziness.

Saul didn't bother looking up. Ellen only ever used that particular tone of delicate malice when she was gossiping, and he really, truly, could not care less. But he had to ask, or she wouldn't shut up. "Who did?"

"Laura Roslin," she said, and laughed when he suddenly discovered an intense interest. "I thought that would get your attention."

"When was this?" he demanded.

She shrugged, running a finger now along the rim of her glass. "Oh, long ago. Just after we came to Venice. You remember, the fever."

He did. He'd caught the damn thing at the very beginning and been laid up for weeks. "Why hasn't anyone done anything?"

"Well, of course there was no proof," Ellen said, and snorted. "She's not a fool, Saul. But what else can you think? Her husband died so very conveniently, just after she bore a son." She leaned forward, over her crossed legs, a generous expanse of bosom half-falling from her dress, her wine-scented breath searing over his cheek. "Someone she could manage, Saul. The boy inherited everything, you know, but she's the one who's been controlling it. I'll bet you that if that boy had been a girl, Don Adar would still be alive."

"Does Bill know this?" Saul asked, but he couldn't, surely.

Ellen laughed merrily and leaned back again. "You should ask him," she said, her eyes sparking. "It was all over town, but he did go off with the Navy right after. With you."

There was a faint accusation in that tone that Saul, as always, ignored. "Wonderful," he grumbled. "Bill's marrying a murderess and he doesn't even know it."

Ellen said nothing, only smiled.

5. Baltar and Atia: Analysis
Atia turned her pen over and over in her hand, tracing the ink stains with her mind's eye. She had been thinking a great deal in the past two or three days, and had come to a decision. She wasn't exactly worried about talking her father into it--there was very little he would deny her, after all. But what she was asking this time...well, she might as well have been asking for the moon. "Papa, we need to talk."

He looked up from what he was writing. "Hm?"

She set her pen down and went over to sit next to him. "It's about my marriage. I...I don't think it's such a good idea anymore."

Her father set down his own pen slowly. "Did Don Lee say something to you?"

"No. Not...not something he said. He's..." Atia hesitated, considering the best way to explain the problem.

"You've gotten to know him a little..." He frowned. "Do you think he'll be...?"

"He's a good man, Papa," Atia said quickly. "And that's...a part of the problem." He opened his mouth to answer her, and she held up a hand. "Please let me finish?" When heclosed his mouth, she sighed. "He's a good man, Papa. A very good man. But he's...he'll be good to me. Or try to be. And that will make it worse, because we are so...so very unsuited for each other. Papa, we'll make each other miserable. And I know that...I know that my happiness isn't the primary object of this marriage, nor Don Lee's, nor should it be, but...Papa, I don't think the benefits to you or his family are worth the misery it will be for him, for me, for our children...Papa, you said you'd take my happiness into consideration, when we started talking about a marriage for me. Can you find a way out for us? Please?"

He was silent for a long moment. "It...won't be easy, gioia mia.*"

"But you'll try?" Atia pressed.

He sighed. "I'll talk to the family. I can't promise anything, but I will try to find a way out of this."

Atia smiled and hugged him. "Thank you, Papa."

He stroked hugged back and stroked her hair. "It would help if you had an...alternative to propose."

She stiffened a little and pulled back, staring at him. "How long have you--"

He smiled. "Atia. Gioia mia. Do you really think I'm blind?"

She turned nearly as red as his robes and stared down at the ground, mumbling something.

He tilted her head up. "Is that what you want?"

"I...I have to talk to him first..."

"You do that," he said, visibly pleased. "Let me know what he says, and then I'll see what I can do."

6. Roslin and Lee: Live
from TK
"My father's been shot," Lee said, bitterly, and for just a moment Laura could not breathe.

All that blood, so much blood, Lee's arms were red to the elbows. Fear tasted sour at the back of her throat. "Did he..." She couldn't ask the question.

Lee understood her, though. "No," he said. "No. He's alive. He's not going to die. He isn't."

Lee loved his father more than he let himself believe he did-- Laura could hear it in the desperation in his voice. "No," she replied, reassuring him and a little herself. "No, he isn't going to die. He's tough."

No. She needed William Adama alive. Partly, of course, because he was still the most capable military officer Venice had left, after the Turks had destroyed their fleet so completely. Partly because he was still the Doge's son, still a conduit to power, even if Joseph Adama was dying. Partly because, no matter how angry with her he was right now, they'd still forged an effective partnership, one she was loath to lose. And partly...

Partly for reasons she refused to examine too closely.

It didn't matter. She needed him alive. He was not allowed to die. "He won't die," she repeated.

I won't let him.

7. Natalie and Sonja: That Woman
"I can't stand that woman," Natalie announced as soon as she came into the room where her best friend was waiting.

Sonja didn't even look up from her book. "What woman?"

"Baba's new second wife."

She merely turned a page in her book. "No one expects you to."

"She's just...insufferable. She's whiny, she can't make up her mind to save her life, our family was doing just fine until she came in..." Natalie trailed off, unsure quite how to articulate her other complaints.

Sonja finally looked up. "So, is it because of those things, or because she's still half-convinced she's Venetian? Or is it because you're afraid she'll supplant your mother? Or is it the fact that she's not that much older than you and Prince Leoben?"

"...yes."

Sonja stood up and came and wrapped her arms around her friend. "You don't have to like her, tatlım**. Can you manage to be civil?"

Natalie made a face. "If I must."

"At least try. Things will be easier for everyone if you do."

Natalie sighed, then nodded and hugged Sonja in turn. "Thank you, aşkım***."

"Of course."

8. Baltar, Caprica, and Natalie: The Time It Takes to Fall
Gaius woke up to a deep rumbling crash. He blinked hazily in the semi-darkness, waiting for his brain to catch up.

He lit on Caprica, standing just to the right of the window, still undressed. There was a reddish quality to the light--was it dawn already?

He stood up and headed over to join her, pausing when the world rumbled again. "It's the wrong season for storms," he said, when it had passed.

"That's not thunder," Caprica said, with an inexpressible sadness. "You should stay away from the windows." She drifted away herself, collecting her chemise and stepping into it.

He ignored her and peeked out, then froze. "My God..." he whispered.

Caprica was silent for a long moment, then he heard the faint hiss of her skirt on the floor, and she took his hand. "They'll be here before long. The cannons. We should go."

Gaius jerked, and came back to himself. "Yes. Yes, of course." He turned away from the window, grabbed the first article of his clothing he could find and pulled it on.

Caprica moved past him to watch out the window again, and sucked in a sharp breath. "We're not going to be able to go out the front," she told him.

Frak, he thought, but the immediate, potentially solvable problem served nicely to nudge him out of his numb shock. "What about the alley?"

She shook her head. "We could try going off the balcony?"

He thought for a few seconds, then nodded. "If we time it right..."

"We might land on a boat," she finished, then took his hand and pulled him up and outside.

Gaius wasn't too thrilled with this plan--he'd never been particularly fond of heights, and if they missed the jump and landed in the water...

Well. If they were lucky, they'd drown quickly.

He heard the door break open beneath them, and the thought of landing in the water didn't frighten him quite so much anymore. Caprica unlocked the door to the balcony and pulled him over to the edge, scanning the canal below them for a good-sized boat. Then she looked up at him. "We might miss."

"I know."

"And if we do manage it, we'll probably break--"

He closed his eyes. "Caprica? Please don't."

"Sorry."

The invading Turks were battering at the door behind them, and Caprica reached for his hand. She started to say something, then looked beyond him. "Gaius, get down!"

She shoved, and then her hand slipped out of his. Despite himself, he looked up to see her falling. He yelled something, started to get up to go after her, but something connected with the back of his head. Dazed, he slumped against the balcony railing and blinked at the young Turkish woman who was approaching him.

She put a hand under his chin and lifted it to study his eyes, and smiled. "Hello, Your Eminence. My mother would like a word with you."

He tried to turn, tried to look and see if Caprica had resurfaced, if there was a chance that she--

The Turkish woman jerked him away from the railing. "Get him out of the city," she said to the men who were with her. "And then see if you can find where my cousin landed."

Something about that wasn't quite right, Gaius realized, but the world shimmered around him, the burning city reflected in the canals, then faded into darkness.

9. Natalie, Sonja and Leoben: Children of the Revolution
Natalie paced up and down, fiddling with her bracelet. Her mother's death had been one thing--Natalie loved her, had always cared more for her approval than her father's, but her execution had been warranted--but the way he was modifying the warships was insane, and borderline homicidal. She had the firm belief that rulers had a responsibility to the people they oversaw as well as the wealth and territory those people represented and the ideals they fought for against. He apparently disagreed.

Sonja slipped into the room. She'd changed a great deal in the past few years, with all that had happened to her older sisters, and she clearly felt the weight of her responsibilities keenly. "You wanted to see me, tatlım**?"

Natalie shook her head. "This is business. Or politics. Or...I don't know what the word is. But no pet names, okay?"

Sonja opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Natalie's older brother joined them.

"What's going on, Natalie?" he asked, visibly annoyed at being pulled away from whatever it was he was doing.

Probably something Not Discussed In Polite Company involving that Venetian girl he's so obsessed with, Natalie thought, with something less than sororal affection. She shoved that aside--Leoben might be obsessive and a little scary, but she needed him. "You know what he's doing, to the warships, right?"

Sonja bowed her head.

"What about it?" Leoben asked.

"We have to stop him," Natalie said flatly. "And I don't think he's the type to listen to reason."

Sonja looked up sharply at that. "What are you suggesting, Natalie?"

She took a deep breath. "Leoben. Erkek kardeş****."

He stared at her. "He'll kill us all. You know that."

"If we don't do this, our entire nation will die," she replied. "He will get everyone killed trying to exterminate the Venetians."

"Your sister's right, Your Highness," Sonja said, breaking the silence that followed Natalie's pronouncement and revealing why she was here. The Alti sisters were useful for more than espionage. Natalie and Leoben would need their support, and the support of the various factions, nobles, soldiers whose loyalty they held.

Leoben ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not the heir. Simon is."

"That doesn't matter as much as why we're making the power-grab," Sonja said.

"I'll be a terrible Sultan."

"Not the way he is," Natalie said. "Besides, I can do all the work--" I'd end up doing it even if I didn't offer--"but I need you on board to claim the title. Please, erkek kardeş."

Finally, her older brother nodded. "Okay. I'm in."

"I'll get our support in order," Sonja said, now that she could spring into action. "And see if I can figure out what happened to Vera. I think we'll need her special brand of crazy."

Natalie nodded, her hands starting to shake slightly. This is really happening. It's really, really happening. "We'll move in three days," she told the others. Now is the time to be decisive. Now is the time to avenge my mother.

Now is the time to save my people.

10. Roslin, Adama, Lee, Zak, Kara, Saul, Tyrol, Billy, and Baltar: A Promise to Return
from TK
This takes place shortly before Justice
They met at the water door of the Doge's palace, and the sight of her brought a relief so powerful it made Bill's knees weak. Oh, he'd known Laura, known that if anyone could get out of the inferno of the mutiny alive, it was her, but he hadn't be able to fight back the fear.

Neither, from the look on her face, had she.

"Bill," she breathed, and then his arms went around her and for a moment or two there was no more talking. Behind him, his sons and Kara made pained noises; Billy and Tigh turned politely (or, in Saul's case, briskly) away; Tyrol coughed into a fist. But Laura was warm in his arms, her lips soft on his, and most importantly her heartbeat strong under his hands, alive, alive, alive.

His sons could go on making pained noises for a while. He didn't care.

She pulled back after a while, one hand going to his face while her eyes searched his. Whatever she read there seemed to confirm some inner suspicion of her own, because she nodded, a little sadly, and said, "It's all right, Bill. I know what you're doing, and it's all right. Don't worry about me."

What in heaven's name had he done to deserve this woman? He closed his eyes, pressed his forehead against hers.

"Mamma," Billy said, suddenly, urgently.

Laura made as if to pull away, but he held on, aching for one more moment. Just one more moment and he could let go of her, say goodbye for what they both knew might be the last time. One more moment.

"Bill," Saul said, at nearly the same time as Tyrol's hissed "Sir." And about then he heard it too; tromping feet, shouted orders. Torchlight flickered on the waters of the canal. Not here, not yet, but close.

He let go of Laura. It ached, but he let go of her.

"Admiral." That was Baltar. Bill hadn't even registered the squirrelly little cardinal's presence, but there he was, fidgeting nervously in the gondola moored by the water door. "Serenity, if you would please..."

"Admiral," Laura said, steadily. "Keep my city safe for me."

"Serenity." He bowed. "I will."

"Wait." That was Lee, behind him, sounding alarmed. "Wait, Papà, you're not going?"

He kept his eyes on Laura when he answered. "I'll cover the Doge's escape," he said. "Delay them. The rest of you get out of here."

"Like hell," Saul said, gruffly. "I'm staying."

Bill could hardly deny Saul that, not after all they'd been through. "All right," he said. "But the rest of you, go. Now."

Lee opened his mouth as if to object, but Zak seized his arm and began whispering in his ear, fast and vicious. Kara looked at him for a long, measuring moment, then nodded, slowly. "Come on, boys," she said, looking to his sons. "Let's go break Sam out of prison."

Tyrol cracked his knuckles. "I've some business to be about myself," he said, and nodded to Bill, the one motion full of respect. "Admiral."

Bill nodded back. "Be safe."

His children melted into the shadows, followed by Tyrol, and now it was just him and Saul and Billy and Laura, the footsteps getting ever closer.

"Serenity." And Baltar. The man sounded as if he wanted to piss himself.

Laura ignored him. She took two quick steps forward, framed Bill's face in her hands and met his eyes. "You came for me, once," she said, for his ears alone. "I will come for you."

He wrapped his hands around her wrists, sliding the pads of his fingers over her veins. Her heart beat under them, clear and strong, reassuring. "Cara mia*****," he said, softly, then pulled her hands down, and kissed her again, once.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were clear and hard. "Keep yourself alive, Admiral," she ordered him. "I still have need of you, and I do not release you from your duties."

"I hear and obey, Serenity," he said. But they were out of time: shouts came from inside the palace. "And you have to go."

"Mamma," Billy said, insistently, from his place in the gondola.

Laura gave him one last look, then turned, skirts swirling, and accepted her son's hand into the boat. The gondolier, a Turkish woman who bore a strong resemblance to Athena Agathon, wasted no time in poling away from the walkway. She got up quite a turn of speed, actually-- reassuring. Laura would be safe.

He held Laura's eyes for as long as he could.

Then Zarek's forces were upon them, and he had no more time at all.

11. Adama, Roslin, and Sonja: Reunion
From TK
This takes place shortly after Justice
The Turks so plainly did not trust them that it almost made Bill laugh. Not that he could, in all honesty, blame them, since they'd just spent the last few days fending off sporadic Venetian attacks. Bill and his children came under a flag of truce, it was true, and Anders and Saul were with them as well, but even then, trust could only go so far before it became stupidity.

Whatever else they were, the Turks were not stupid.

Not that it mattered. The flag of truce was enough to get them to Laura, and at this point Bill cared very little for anything else.

He'd heard rumors. Stories of the Doge's response to Zarek's message demanding surrender. He didn't know how accurate they were, but... well, it sounded like Laura at her most frightening. If the stories were true even in half their particulars, Zarek must have said something to send her into a rage so white-hot it would be practically incandescent.

He didn't mind Laura's anger, at least not when it wasn't directed at him. She wasn't the kind who let anger prevent her from thinking. It was... it was...

Well, if Bill was totally honest with himself, it was fear. Fear for her, for what she might do and later regret, for what she might be, when she finally let her anger go.

The Turks escorting them stopped finally outside the door of the doge's office, where those who were already standing guard eyed the ragged little group suspiciously. Finally, a blonde girl who looked uncannily like Baltar's pet courtesan stepped forward. "Only one of you may enter," she said. "The rest must wait. You will not speak until you are spoken to, and when the lady tells you to leave, you will leave."

Good Lord. Clearly, bringing the navy against the Turks had been a waste of time. They should have just sent Laura. The war would've been over before it even started.

"I'll go," Bill said, before anyone else could speak up. "You have my word that I will do as you say."

The blonde girl looked him up and down through narrowed eyes, before nodding decisively. "So be it, then," she said, and preceded him through the door.

She bowed elaborately before the heavy wooden desk (such memories Bill had of that desk-- some bad, some very, very good) and said, "Lady, the messenger is here. All is as you wish."

"Thank you, Sonja," Laura said quietly. She sat facing away from him, staring out at the lagoon. "You may go."

"But..." Sonja began, then stopped. She glowered at Bill, threateningly, then obediently left the room.

Bill went to one knee and waited. He needn't have promised Sonja not to speak; his throat was too clogged with emotion.

"So," Laura said, after a long silence. She still did not turn around, and her voice was flat and dead. "This is how it will be. You may surrender if you like, and I will even accept it, but you must understand this. There will be nothing for you, nothing for any of you until Tom Zarek is dead, his body in the canals and his head on a pike." She paused again, Bill thought maybe to get control of herself. "Some things are not negotiable," she finished, finally. "Do you understand me?"

He fought down tears, somehow, and managed, finally, "Serenity, I do not come from Zarek."

She was on her feet in an instant, facing him, her eyes wide, her face white, one clenched fist at her throat. "Bill?" she faltered, as if not quite believing what she was seeing.

He wanted badly, so badly, to get up and take her in his arms, but she was still the Doge and not his wife, and there were lines with Laura that he could not cross. "Zarek is in custody," he told her, instead. "The rebellion is dead. The city is yours; it awaits your command."

Laura made a faint animal whimper in the back of her throat, then the Doge was gone and she was around the desk, stumbling on her skirts and falling into him, her hands clenching white-fisted in his shirt. Not that Bill cared; he rocked back ungracefully into a sitting position, but he caught her easily enough, pulling her tight against him until he could hold her no closer.

It wasn't close enough, but for the moment it would have to do.

"They told me," she said, against his shoulder. She gave a laugh that turned quickly to a dry sob. "They told me you were dead. They told me they killed you."

"I'm sure they thought they did," Bill said, dryly, but he tightened his grip on her still more. "I'm not hurt, cara mia*****. I'm fine."

"They told me you were dead," Laura said again, and then, irrelevantly, "I love you."

He bent his head, laid his face against her hair. "I love you," he whispered into it, and closed his eyes.

The Turks burst in a moment later and he was sure it must have looked very odd, the Doge of Venice sitting on the floor wrapped so tightly around a man she might as well have been his second skin. Laura did not seem to care, though, and if she didn't move Bill wasn't going to let go of her. Not now. Not yet.

"Lady," the blonde girl, Sonja, said, uncertainly.

"Go away," Laura said, without lifting her head from Bill's shoulder.

One of the Turks coughed, the kind of cough that meant he was really laughing but didn't want to be caught at it. The blonde girl shot him an evil look, but nodded slowly. "As you wish, Lady," she said, and chivved her compatriots out.

"I should tell the others," Bill said, though he made no move to get up or dislodge Laura in any way. "My sons. Kara, Saul. They came with me. I should tell them I'm all right."

"Sonja will do that," Laura said. "Or Leoben. Don't go."

"No," he said, and meant 'never.'