Chapter 6Raoul, January–April 1980
Gavin turned off the dorm lounge TV. There had been nothing but Theodore III and the funeral and imperial tradition and mourning for the past sixteen days. Now that the man was finally in the ground, it looked like the news commentators were going to discuss Robert III with the same amount of excruciating detail. Enough. As for the rumors of liberalization—Gavin shook his head. Only rumors, and dangerous rumors at that. He’d believe when he saw it
“Hey, why’d you turn it off? I want to hear about the new man in the White Palace.”
Gavin jerked around, startled. “Where’d you come from? I thought I was here by myself.”
“Blew in a minute ago,” the other guy said, from his relaxed position on the lumpy brown overstuffed couch next to Gavin’s arm chair. The
