Cosmo looked startled. "You're a blood-thirsty little devil." He grinned suddenly. "What I've been saying must have buzzed in one ear and out the other."
Mia said: "He murdered father."
Cosmo regarded her in surprise. "Great guns, Mia, where did you get that idea?"
"Hal Bemmelman told me. He found father down in the tara field where...." Her voice faltered, but she recovered herself, went on. "Where the serfs had hacked him to pieces with grass knives. They were the Renegade's men."
"Did he? Did he indeed?" Cosmo's voice was grim. "What was Bemmelman doing there?"
Mia frowned. "He was trailing a runaway serf. Why?"
"Of course he was." Her gray eyes widened. She stared at him. "Surely you aren't accusing Bemmelman of murdering father. Why he's the most influential member of the Council of Land Owners. He's...."
"Did you ever hear of the Blue Venus?" he interrupted.
"The Blue Venus? What's that?"