'Colwyn City Hall can be a beast issuing permits.

'Take the development officer for dinner. Loan your local councillor a high-end capsule. They're all in it for what they can get. Wouldn't be feeding from the public trough otherwise.

'Unless they're in it to clean up the corruption.

'Yeah. Those ones are a problem. Fortunately, they don't tend to last long.

'You're a cynic'

'Pragmatist, if you don't mind. I'm also a lot more experienced than you in every field. So trust me when I say politicians all have their weakness.

'What's yours? she teased.

'One, I'm an easy lay. But you already know that. Two, risk. Risk is my weakness. The sensation when a risk pays off is like nothing else. I always take the risk. I enjoy the reward too much not to.

'So what risk are you taking right now?

'You're smart, you've researched me. The finance files, at least. Tell me.

'I accessed some background on my way over. Opinion is you're dangerously overextended.

'And those loans have grown significantly in the last couple of years. So why do you think that is?

'You're going to wipe out property companies with houses like this one? Flood the market.

He grinned. 'Small scale. I think big. Besides, it'll take a decade for something like this to first become fashionable then generally accepted. Think, what's the most pressing problem Viotia has today?

'Living Dream?

'Kind of. Ellezelin is always looming over us. Rightly so. The Free Trade Zone is a massive market; it's not going away and it's always growing. Anyone already operating in it has a huge financial and production capacity advantage over some poor little Viotia company. The worry is that when they eventually open a wormhole here all our companies will lose out to cheap imports. Trade will be one way.

Her mind went back to Albany, the sheer scale of the place. 'You're going to undercut them.

'Albany is as automated as anyone can be without replicators. I've spent a decade investing in the most advanced cybernated systems we can have to drive production costs down. To do that, to push each unit cost as low as it can physically go, you have to have massive volume production. That's what's killing me at the moment. The factories are barely ticking over. But when that wormhole finally opens…

'It's not going to be the financial massacre they expect.

'They import. I export. Only the quantity of those exports will be ten times greater than they assume.

'You'd need a distribution network.

His smile was triumphant as he turned out to face the lake. 'Certainly would.

'Wow, she said. And meant it. Likan's ambition was so great hers wouldn't even register on the same scale. 'Why tell me? You can't be trying to impress me into bed. You've already got that.

'Although I have an egotistical opinion of my own ability, I can't actually manage every aspect by myself, even with an augmented mentality. Too many details. For an expansion phase on this level, I need people I can trust in senior management positions; especially offworld.

'That's very flattering.

'Yes and no. You'd be capable management, I think; you have the right kind of drive and mindset. You don't have the experience to be top rank, but that will come.

She frowned. 'Why me?

'How much research did you really do? On Sheldon himself?

'None, she admitted. 'Just what I picked up in school'

'The old Dynasties were just that, family enterprises. The surest way humans have ever come up with to retain loyalty and control. Nigel used his own flesh and blood.

'Ah. It was as if the room was suddenly on the move: downwards.

'All the senior positions were held by his own children, Likan said. 'That's also what I do.

A memory abruptly rushed to the fore of her mind. 'Debbina? she said before she could stop it.

Likan actually winced. 'What did I ever do to you? No, okay, not my beloved little girl. But a lot of my other children are running sections of my company.

'And how do I fit into this?

'How do you think?

'Spell it out for me.

'You become one of my wives. You have my children. They take their place in the company.

'You really know how to romance a girl.

He flashed her a wry smile. 'Come on, we're grown-ups. Every marriage today is half business. We'll have a great time in bed. I can afford any lifestyle you want. Your children grow up being part of the most dynamic company in this section of the Commonwealth. They'll never want for anything, and they'll be presented with virtually unlimited challenges. I know you well enough to know that appeals. Who wants trust fund brats, right? And the same goes for you. Stick with me for ten, fifteen years, then you can either continue with a post in the company, or you cut loose with a huge chunk of money and enough insider knowledge to run circles around everyone else.

'Ozzie's mother! Are you serious?

'Perfectly. He sidled up close, and put his arm round her, kissing again, more gently this time. 'I don't want an answer this instant. This is why you're here. Experience everything you can and you want, then take your time and decide.

Wow, second time I've had that proposal in a month.

'Okay, she said shakily. 'I'll do that.

'You mean it? You're not just saying that?

'No. I mean it.

Araminta didn't wear her own clothes for dinner. That was the first thing she learned about what membership of the harem would be like. A stylist called Helenna was waiting in her bedroom when it collected her from Likan's airy office. A jovial woman, close to rejuvenation, whose age meant she'd piled on a lot of weight in recent years. Genuinely friendly, she was keen to confide household gossip, most of which made no sense to Araminta, although there was a lot of it. She'd been with Likan for fifty years. 'So I know it all, honey, seen even more. I don't judge anyone, and nothing you do here is going to surprise me. You want anything special for tonight, you just ask me for it. Araminta wasn't sure what counted as that special. It was tempting to ask what other girls had requested. One thing Helenna was sure of was that, 'Likan likes his woman elegant. So we've got to get you spruced up, ready to stand your own ground against the others.

That took hours. Her bedroom bounded all over the ovoid house to link up with various other specialist rooms. The sauna to start with, clearing her pores. Massage, by a man called Nifran, who was as brutal as he was skilful; afterwards she just sort of poured herself off the table with loose floppy limbs. The fitting room. A house that has a fitting room? Where she was measured up for her evening dress.

Spiralling dawn to the salon, where Helenna was finally exposed as a sorceress. Layers of cosmetic membrane were applied, yet when Araminta looked in the mirror there was no sign of them. Instead her nineteen-year-old self looked back at her. A nineteen that she'd never known but always wanted, with sharp cheekbones, absolutely no excess flesh, soft long eyelashes, perfectly clear skin, eyes that sparkled. Another hour saw her hair repaired, as Helenna disapprovingly termed the first procedure. Then extended, thickened, softened, waved, and styled.

Clemance had the chair next to her as it was being done. Another member of the harem, Alsena, took the other side. They chatted comfortably enough, which was an insight into the kind of sisterhood the women had. She was given a rundown of Likan's genealogy with emphasis on the wayward children, a saga for which she needed to open a new file in a storage lacuna to keep track of.

For all their friendliness, the girls weren't quite engaged with the real world. Which was a pretty bitchy observation, but one Araminta felt applied. If Likan wanted women like her, what was he doing with the others? They certainly didn't aspire to run sections of his corporate empire.