A Touch of Camelot by Delynn Royer Page B

misshapen skull was something akin to financial genius.
     "I still don't agree with how you handled this. When they left town, that should have been the end of it," Sidney said.
    Jasper's eyes gleamed like a pair of obsidian marbles, indicating to Sidney that the smile he wore now did not bode well. "But they could always come back, and that is a loose end we cannot afford to leave untied."
    Sidney rued the day he'd gotten involved with Jasper, but it was a little late for regrets. Sidney had been playing the Big Game for quite some time now. He had been born to play the Big Game. It was one of the reasons he would have left his brother, Silas, in the long run anyway. Silas had never thought big enough. He had never looked beyond the moment. Silas, unlike his ambitious younger brother, had been incapable of playing the Big Game.
    It was only a few years after Sidney had struck out on his own for the West Coast that he had been drawn to Virginia City. It was there that he met Jasper Barnes and they hit it off right away. Each had seen in the other a missing key to future success. Indeed, Jasper had recognized and articulated Sidney's special talents immediately. "There's something about you, Sidney, something rare and divine. Without being aware of it, people can smell it on you. They're attracted to you. They want to follow you. You've got charisma. We can use that, Sidney. We can use that in a big way."
    Jasper had used the right word to capture Sidney's attention. Big.
    Sidney hadn't realized then what high stakes the Big Game entailed. The big game was business. Politics. The cards were dealt: money, power, favors, graft, bribery, corruption, vice, even murder. Sidney had learned to close his eyes to the last.
    He pressed both palms down on the gleaming surface of his mahogany desk and leaned forward. "This is not a loose end. This is my niece and nephew. They're family. Can't you understand that?"
    "I understand that they're the offspring of a brother you despised and a woman who betrayed you." Jasper jabbed his cigar at Sidney. "You told me that story yourself, remember?"
    Oh, yes, Sidney remembered. He remembered all too well that night in New Orleans when he discovered his brother and the woman he loved in a passionate embrace. The sight had cut into him like a cold blade. Some men would have drawn a pistol in jealous rage, but Sidney was not one of them. He had chosen instead to turn his back. He had caught the first ship headed for California.
    Sidney looked down now at his hands, hands that had, without him noticing until now, grown old. The tiny web of skin between his little finger and ring finger had been a part of him since birth. For years, he had looked through it, barely realizing it was there. Now, the thin membrane flared before his eyes, reminding him that his own father had been afflicted with the same deformity.
    Family and blood, blood and family . How often had Sidney's father drilled it into both of his sons' heads? You never betray family. But Sidney had severed the last of his family ties when he'd left Silas in New Orleans. Now, because he had not foreseen Jasper's knee-jerk reaction to a bad situation, Sidney felt indirectly responsible for his own brother's murder.
    Jasper cut into his black thoughts. "Enough with the guilt. Your brother tried to blackmail you. He deserved the fate that was dealt him."
    "I told you I would take care of it. You panicked."
    "If he had exposed your past, you would have been ruined. We all would have suffered."
    "It was a mistake," Sidney insisted.
    "Well, that's all water over the dam. Now we have Mr. Ringo here to consider. He's been compromised. After so many years of faithful service, are we to just leave him to twist in the breeze?"
    Sidney observed the subject of Jasper's inquiry, the third party in the room who had remained typically silent. Mr. Ringo now perused the various pieces of medieval weaponry mounted on the wall opposite Sidney's desk. While they