Quill thought as Gabby chattered on. What in the hell should he do now? Take a trip? Go to investigate a firm located a long way away—say, Jamaica? Persia? What does one do when consumed by lust for a future sister-in-law? Stay away, his conscience said. Look what happened to Claudius. He ended up killing his brother—Hamlet’s father—then…But thinking about Shakespeare didn’t really help. Everyone was so melodramatic in the old days.

For one thing, he couldn’t leave. It was unthinkable, given his father’s condition. It would be a breach of good manners, given that he was Gabby’s host. As long as I don’t kiss her again, Quill thought, I can be her host. I am a civilized man. He ignored the treacherous pattern that Shakespeare had set. After all, everyone knew that after Claudius married his brother’s wife, things didn’t go well for him. It would be better to leave the country.

Gabby was still talking. “Given how difficult it is for Kasi to remember even simple things, you would not credit how well he is doing! Some letters do come out backward. I certainly hope that Mrs. Malabright has been able to keep up his studies.”

Quill pulled himself together. “Who is Mrs. Malabright?”

“Father thought at first to place Kasi in an establishment. But it was very difficult to arrange that from India, and it seemed fairly certain that representatives of the East India Company would trace the arrangement. So Kasi is under the care of a Mrs. Malabright, here in London. She is an Englishwoman who lived in India for twenty years. Since he knew her well, it was less of a shock for him to leave home.”

“Has Kasi lived with you for his whole life?”

“Oh, yes,” Gabby said sunnily. “Kasi came to live with us when he was only a few months old.”

“Couldn’t he take his place on the Holkar throne?”

“Certainly not,” Gabby said without hesitating for a second. “My father is convinced that the East India Company would turn him into a figurehead and then take over the Holkar region. Kasi, poor sweetheart, is not entirely all that he could be. My father says that his mother drank too much cherry brandy while enceinte.”

“What did Kasi’s father think of his wife’s brandy consumption?” Quill asked.

“They both enjoy cherry brandy,” Gabby said, turning her limpid eyes to Quill. “The last time I visited the palace, the Holkar was drinking his third bottle of the day, and his wife was thoroughly incapacitated as well. The kingdom is run by the Holkar’s favorite concubine, Tulasi Bai.”

Quill scowled at her. “You shouldn’t be talking about concubines, Gabby. Lord, you shouldn’t ever have visited a palace full of drunkards.”