Chapter Five
At seven o’clock the following morning, Bakar House was unusually bustling. Dawn was some time away, and the night’s frosts had yet to clear from the windows. Nonetheless, Konrad himself was awake, fed and dressed, choosing his stout wilderness layers instead of his city attire. Nanda and Alexander stood together in the hall, both shrouded in similarly thick, snow-proof articles of clothing. Tasha eschewed such practicality in favour of her usual dark coat and cap, though being undead Konrad supposed her relationship with the cold did not much resemble his.
Diana Valentina stood impassively in a corner. She had brought her own spirit familiar, an arctic fox, whose incorporeal form Konrad could dimly perceive hobnobbing with his serpents. Much sibilant hissing and muttering w
