She fluttered her metal-clad fingers in the air. "You’re asking me what the two of them do in his favorite discreet? Maybe they play chess." She rolled her eyes under lids heavy with powdered gold. "Don’t look so shocked, Hans. You should know his power as well as anyone. He’s old and rich; we Polycarbon women are young and not too terribly principled." She looked quickly up and away from beneath long lashes. "I’ve never heard that he took anything from us that we weren’t willing to give." She floated closer. "Tell me what you saw, Hans. C-K’s crazy with the news, and Valery does nothing but mope."