The warmth of Number 10 was one of those "small things" that can make one's day for the Turk. His umbrella was already drying in the lobby and he was having tea with the prime minister. She had just brought the tray with two beverages that she had prepared on her own -- being the self-made person she was -- and the tea was still too hot to drink, but Selim enjoyed using it to warm the tanned skin of his hands. Certainly better than Volgograd, but New London was hardly a match for the climate of Gran Canaria and especially Carlisle, the two worlds where Selim was recently able to recover his natural complexion.

"I may have been harsh to you. Or her successor can mean many things. Do you think there is a conspiracy against me under way? Is that why you've come?"