of it, hethought it wisest to take as much time as needed to study each andevery contract.Howvery patriotic of him.Andso very reasonable sounding, too.Exceptthat it shouldnt take forever to go over those contracts, Dylencommented. Unless hes taken it upon himself to personally studyeach and every one without any help whatsoever.Riodansmiled mirthlessly. That is probably what hes doing to slowdown the process. And it appears your source was right about Dimasgaming habit. Sivar mentioned that hes talked to Dimas about it aswell. But he didnt seem aware of a possible connection between himand Malkon. Either that or hes a very good actor, Riodan wrylyposited. Though I cant imagine why the pretense at ignorance ifthat is so. Im inclined to believe he really doesnt know. Orcare.Hedoesnt appear to take much interest in Malkons affairs,Dylen agreed. Which says a great deal about the state of theirmarriage.Itsaid a lot as well about the Deir they had come to Asmara to keep aneye on. Malkon Ferrenda had proved far from impressive. Glib andoften pompous, he was given to preening himself on even the mostminor of accomplishments. Not least of these self-proclaimedachievements was his binding to Sivar Halvan. That this had comeabout after careful negotiations between his sire andSivarsnegotiations hed had close to no part inhe blithelyignored. Indeed he had gained a not so charming reputation forembellishing stories about himself if by doing so he could furtherpuff up his already swollen head.Dylensummed him up within minutes of meeting him as shallow and vain andtoo clever by half. A thoroughly untrustworthy character who neededclose watching as much for his propensity for harassing any Deirunlucky enough to catch his eye as for his suspected meddling inAsmaran politics. Both Dylen and Riodan heartily sympathized withPrince Sivar for having to bear with so unlikable a spouse.Riodanput down his cup and sat back. In any case, lets assume thatMalkon encourages his debtors to gamble away their fortunes andtherefore borrow far more than they can ever repay within the time hestipulates. He would then threaten them with a stint in paupersprison if they dont do as he says. I warrant he used that againstDimas to force him to delay the approval of those trade agreements.But what the Ferrendas have to gain from the delay, I dont know.Profit,of course, Dylen said. And not always in the short-term. Istudied the information Gilmael sent regarding the contracts inquestion and checked who the competitors of the corporations andguilds concerned are. Well, surprise, surprise, theyre eitherowned by the Ferrendas or Jubal and Malkon have considerableinterests in them. I warrant Malkon is trying to get a foot in so tospeak by slowly dislodging rivals and supplanting them eventuallywith Ferrenda-backed companies. If hes successful with Asmara,hell probably try to do the same with other southern nations. Theprejudice against the Ferrendas isnt as strong down here as it isin the north.Thatsvery sound reasoning, Riodan conceded. I should have thought ofthat. Gilmael and our Trade Minister, too.Dylenshrugged. Theyve got more on their plates than just this oneproblem. And youve been busy with your own investigations aswell. After a pregnant pause, he said, I