"All things considered that's a wee bit unsettling," Starling replied, but still looked amused at the comparison. "What, are you spying on him too? Because if so, we need to work out a schedule."

Marcello laughed. "I hadn't started," he assured Starling. "I'm much better at the playing stupid in public bit. You can do your spying. I'm going to work on this from the political side. And the convincing Niabheara she doesn't have to be afraid of this ass."

Starling sighed heavily. "Best of luck. She's afraid of everything. I promise you, she wasn't always like this."

Marcello nodded. "When did it change?" he asked. "Do you remember?"

He shrugged. "Maybe two, three years. At least that's when I noticed. Then the demon-thing happened back last year and she got really strange. Mum says longer, but she would know better than me."

"Well, the demon thing was strange," Marcello agreed. "I can understand anyone being strange after that. Do you...do you remember something that might have begun it, or is that not the kind of thing she'd let you know?"

Starling gave the man a black look. "That's part of the problem. She stopped talking about anything that was wrong with her. You ask her what's the matter, she says nothing, that's about all you get."

"And she didn't used to do that?" Marcello asked. "It was two or three years ago?" He pressed his lips together. "I wish I knew."

"You and me both," he said, glum. He ticked his tongue. "Ach, you start tryin' to figure out Nialla, it'll turn into full-time work. I mean, these days if she's not flat-out miserable, I usually just humor her."

"Well, figuring her out is sort of my job at the moment," Marcello pointed out. "That's what you do when you marry someone, right?"