My step faltered a bit. "I'm sorry?"
"Well, clearly Queen Ilara ordered his death," she said, a mixture of innocent curiosity and strategy dawning on her face. "And your other best friend, Felix, is down in the dungeons by her orders. And yet…here you are."
My blood ran cold in my veins. "My duty to my adopted home is more important."
"Mm."
I turned away from her, uncomfortable. Ilara had never outright mentioned the oddity of me staying after Brynna supposedly died, and I'd just assumed she hadn't been bothered by it. But perhaps, like me, she was biding her time, sussing me out to see what my end goal was, and if it was in conflict with hers. Luisa, on the other hand, wasn't fooled. She was just as enigmatic as her queen.
"In any case, I'm sorry for your losses," Luisa said with a bowed head. "I couldn't imagine losing so many people so quickly."
Oh, but it was hard to hold my tongue. "Indeed," was the only thing I could force out.
"And your…Bea, you called her?"
"Beata."
"She has left as well?"
I licked my lips. "As I told the queen, only a small fight. She will be back soon, so I hope you aren't offended if our partnership is short-lived."
"Of course not," she said. "We're all waiting with bated breath for Lady Beata to return. In the meantime, I hope I will be an apt substitute."
I caught myself before I continued further down this path. It was understandable that I'd be upset about Beata leaving, but I decided to rein in the attitude. I chose my next words carefully. "So you traveled here to help me?" I asked. "That was very kind of Her Majesty."
"Oh, I don't believe that was the original reason," Luisa said, turning to face the front. "But just the Mother's good timing. It's as if She sent me here to help you in your hour of need."
"Then what role were you to take had Beata not left?"
"Confidante, perhaps, maybe even a friend," Luisa said. "Per Ilara's instructions, I have instilled a fiercely loyal contingent of councilors in Severia to guide the kingdom. But I daresay there aren't very many people left in our country. Most of them have moved into the eastern Forcadelian cities."
I didn't like the sound of that. Every Severian within our borders would have to be expelled—even the civilians. It seemed the more time passed, the more complicated regaining Forcadel became. I prayed Brynna would hurry.
"I look forward to getting to know you more," I said as we arrived back at my office. "But for now, I should get to work. Has Ilara given you a list of duties?"
"I've taken the liberty of making one for myself," she said, as if she were doing me a favor. "I saw that you hadn't had anyone clean your suites in some time."
"Ah, Beata preferred to clean herself," I said, clearing my throat. "And I can tidy after myself."
"Nonsense," Luisa said with a wave of her hand. "I've had the maids at work today, and your rooms shall be spotless when you return to them." She opened the door to my office, which had also been cleaned and tidied. A tray bearing a steaming kettle and teacup stood on the corner. "The maids here work quickly and invisibly. They told me you preferred to take an afternoon tea."
I forced a thin smile onto my face. "Thank you for the kindness."
"It is no kindness at all." She bowed. "It's my job."
And just like that, I was officially under Ilara's surveillance.
Chapter 11
"Beswick doesn't crush someone without a reason," I said, when we returned to the bell tower. "Blowing up the merchant's house was sending a message. The question is, what did the merchant do, and for whom was the message intended?"
"Unfortunately, he can't tell us," Jax said, picking his nails clean with his knife.
I ignored him, rubbing my chin as I thought. "I bet it had something to do with the ond being delivered. Ruby said more was coming. Goossen presumably had something to do with bringing it in."
"Well, as I said, he ain't around to tell us one way or another. Probably time to move on to something else. We picked up plenty of other threads last night. And we still got a few people left on the list."
I sat down in front of the various scraps of paper I'd laid out a few minutes before. One was marked Waldemar's Tenants, another Halbert's shipping manifests, and the third Goossen. Further out were the targets we hadn't had a chance to question the night before.
Jax made a noise, as if he were growing tired of me. "Look, if you ask me, you gotta follow the money. Beswick's whole enterprise went up in flames when Ilara attacked. And yet, he's still paying people to do his dirty work. Where's that money coming from?"
"The tenants," I said, tapping on the paper.
"Probably some of it," he said. "You can have the kid go do recon. Find out who these tenants are and what they know."
"I can do that!" Elisha said. "I can go right now."
"Everyone's asleep," I said with a wave of my hand. "You can go at sunup."
She made a face and laid back down on her makeshift bed.
"And what about you?" I asked.
"I'm sleeping."
"Not tomorrow you aren't," I said, picking up the Goossen paper. "I'm not convinced there isn't a thread there. Go back to his house and talk to his neighbors. Find out who his business partners were in town, too."
"Me and the Severians will get right on that."
"I doubt Ilara will busy herself with that," I said. "But if she does, just stay out of their way."
"And what will you do?" Jax asked.
I swiped the third paper from the ground. "I'm going to take a look at this shipping manifest and see if anything looks familiar. I had a list of ships in my journal, too. It's boring work that will require me to sit here and not leave the bell tower." I flashed him a smile. "See? We've all got things to do."
It took me nearly the entire morning to go through the list, comparing each name with the notes in my book. A few matches, but not enough to draw any conclusions from. Even worse, the dates ended about two months prior, so I had no clue what he'd done to tip off Beswick. It was a dead end for now.
As the shadows grew taller outside, Elisha returned with a satchel of food.
"I used the spoon, like you said," she said with a proud grin.
"Okay, but you should've traded the spoon for gold first," I said with something of a grimace.
"Well, of course I did that," she said, rolling her eyes and handing me a coin purse. "I'm not stupid."
I blushed. "Good, I'm glad to hear it."
She settled on the ground and munched on an apple, looking exceptionally pleased with herself.
"What did you find out about the tenants?" I asked.
"I could only get to five of them today," she said, her mouth full. "But all of them seem on the up and up, you know? Just lawyers and businessmen in their offices." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "But I'll go back tomorrow."
"Good," I said as Jax made his appearance.
Jax fell onto his makeshift bed. "I'm beat. Can we take a breather tonight?"
"No can do," I said. "We've still got one more name in my journal we missed last night."
"And it has to be done tonight?"
I pulled my slingbag on. "Let's go."
We set out, Jax grumbling the whole way. The final few names on the list were on the eastern side of the city in Mariner's Row. In this part of the city, most of those who could afford to move had done so, heading to Kulka and Niemen and cities outside Ilara's purview. The Severians had taken their empty houses for themselves —with Ilara's blessing, of course—but since there didn't seem to be much in the way of activity, the patrols were lighter here.
Clearly, our target was enjoying the perception of safety, because she was at home with no guards out front. Jax and I hovered in the alley across the street, watching through her open windows as she worked.
"I'm going in," I said, cracking my knuckles. "See if she can't tell us what we want to know."
"You think you're intimidating, but you
really aren't," he said. "You're about as terrifying as a flea."
"Well, if she's not scared, I'll just break her arm. That seemed to do the trick with you."
I crossed the street between patrols and jimmied the window open, hopping inside and closing the window behind me. My footfalls were quiet on the floor as I walked down the dark hallway. My foot pressed on the wood and it creaked loudly.
"Who's there?" came the woman's terrified voice. "I have a weapon."
I waited, wanting to draw her out and see this supposed weapon before I approached her. After a long, pregnant pause, the scratching of her pen to paper resumed, and I continued my prowl.
I reached her office and peered inside. She was facing the window, a small knife by her left hand. Her gray hair was twirled in a bun, and she was hunched over her desk, writing furiously. A candelabra gave off a halo of light, but other than that, the room was dark.
I pulled my crossbow from the slingbag and added an arrow, pointing at the light and firing. The arrow knocked over the candelabra, sending it crashing to the floor.
"Wh-who's there?" Claudette jumped to her feet, waving her knife around and ignoring the small fire that had lit on the rug.
I walked into the low light, the flames from the rug casting an orange glow around the room. "Where is Johann Beswick?" I purred.
Claudette dropped her pen and spun around, her green eyes wide. "W-who are you?" She shook her head. "There's no way. Llobrega was arrested."
"Do I look like Llobrega?" I snarled. "Tell me what I want to know."
"He'll kill me," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "Or he'll kill my daughter and send me her severed head."
I swallowed my disgust. "He doesn't have to know that you told me anything," I said softly. "You can fill in some gaps for me. I promise no word of this conversation will come to Beswick."
She nodded nervously. "I'll do what I can."
"Last night, Goossen was killed in his home," I said. "Do you know why?"
She shook her head. "I didn't even know he was involved in this. Isn't he an ore trader?" She licked her lips. "I bet he's the one Beswick was having trouble with."
"Trouble?"
"His first shipment of ond, the same that was used in the attack a few weeks ago, well, that came pretty easy."
"Who brought it in?" I said.
"I don't know the specifics," she said, although her wide eyes said she knew the name. "But there was supposed to be a second shipment shortly thereafter, and it never arrived. Apparently…well, apparently, it never left Niemen."
"Stopped at the border?" I asked.
"I have no idea," she said. "All I know is that Beswick's usual avenues are closed, so his man came to me last week and said that I was now his main ond supplier." She swallowed. "I don't know if that's true, but that's what he told me."
I waved her off. "When's the next shipment supposed to come in?"
"I'm not… Please, I'm the only one who knows…" She shook her head wildly. "He'll know I spoke with you if you get it."
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Is there anything else you can tell me about your shipment? Something I might've come across on my own, that wouldn't necessarily point the guilty finger at you?"
"The ond is…" She licked her lips, thinking. "There's always a copy of the shipping manifests at the dock master's office. I submitted the papers for the shipment this afternoon." She chewed her lip, now red with worry. "Just make it look like he's been robbed."
"I will," I said.
"To be honest…" She swallowed. "I don't like what he's doing in the city. The ond attacks a few weeks ago killed one of my very dear friends. But I'm in too deep with him. If I don't do what he says—"
"I understand," I said. "And you have my word that your involvement will remain a secret."
"Just please try not to destroy the ship," she said. "It's one of my fastest, and it would be such a burden to find another that fast. You do have a reputation, you know."
I stopped and looked behind me, pondering all the things that could go wrong. Not for me, but for this merchant. Especially after seeing Goossen dead.
"You should leave," I said. "Tonight. Take nothing but what you need to survive somewhere far away from here."
Her eyes widened. "But I can't…I can't just leave. I have a business, a life here."
"You don't have it anymore," I said. "Unless you want to end up like Goossen. At least if you leave now, you'll have your life." I went to the window. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"And you're sure she wasn't lying?" Jax asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," I snapped for what felt like the hundredth time. "We just have to be patient."
Two nights ago, I'd found the pre-arrival paperwork for Claudette's ship still on the dockmaster's desk. The shipment, whatever it was, had been scheduled to arrive tonight. Though just to be sure, I'd made Jax skulk around the docks.
Tonight, I had a feeling we'd get lucky. After waiting for a pair of Severian guards to pass, we crossed the street onto the wooden docks, the decks creaking under our weight. In Forcadel, the docks were a maze of slips and wooden pathways, allowing for hundreds of ships to be in port at one time. Now, most of them sat empty.
"Take the closer-in routes," I said. "Whistle if you see anyone."
He grunted and disappeared into the shadows, not bothering to soften his footsteps. Clearly, he wasn't a fan of this new plan. But besides his grumbling, he really hadn't vetoed any of my plans thus far. Was he biding his time, or did he trust me? Perhaps a little bit of both.
Without a moon overhead, it was hard to see where the dock ended and the water began. What was clear, however, was that most of the slips were empty. I moved slowly, touching each post and setting my feet before walking. All the while, I kept my ears open for the sound of conversation.
"Our agreement was twenty coins for the journey."
I froze, then carefully moved toward the sound. A boat—smaller than the usual vessels docked out here—was moored in one of the last slips. Two figures stood talking nearby, and so far, they'dd been too focused on each other to notice me. I crouched and kept low as I moved closer.
"I'm not paying you forty. We had an agreement."
"Things got harried up north," came the response. "Cost more than I thought to get past Neveri, and cost three times what I thought to get in port. It took us an extra three days to even get here. The price has gone up."
"I don't think our mutual friend will like that very much." I didn't recognize the other voice, but Beswick had hundreds of lieutenants and seconds at his disposal. "I have twenty in hand now, so you'll get that. If you need more, you can take it up with him."
"Or I'll just take the twenty now, keep the stuff, and when you have the rest of it, you can come back."
There was the unmistakable sound of metal being drawn and I instinctively went for my knives. This wasn't my fight; if they killed one another, it wouldn't mean anything to me other than a dead lead to Beswick.
The boat captain clearly thought better of his price gouging. "Fine."
He disappeared beneath the hull with his coin then reappeared holding a small bag. Ond, I would've bet my life on it.
"Take it. But tell your boss the price has gone up for the next shipment."
A new idea sprang to mind. Perhaps I couldn't find Beswick in this city, but maybe I didn't need to. If I took his precious ond, he might find it beneficial to come to me.
I reached into my slingbag, finding it empty, save a few arrows for my crossbow. As much as I would've preferred to do this with knockout powder, perhaps I'd have to do it the old-fashioned way.
I aimed my crossbow and fired. The weapon whizzed, then the man on the left cried out in pain before falling backward. He hit the water with a loud splash.
"What the—"
I reached in my bag, but there were no more arrows. So I stashed the crossbow in the bag and rose to my feet, walking into the dim light and making myself known.
"I could be a friend," I said, putting my hands on my hips. "Be sure to tell your boss that when you swim back to him."
"When I—"
I dropped to my hands, swinging my leg around and knocking him into the water. Once he was out of my way, I ran onto the ship where they'd been conversing, grabbed the small, metallic-smelling bag, and hurried off into the lightening city.
Chapter 12
"Beswick noticed you took his powder," Jax said, walking into the bell tower. "Four bodies washed up on shore this morning."
My jaw dropped. "Four?"
"All with their throats slashed. Including your merchant Claudette and someone who looks like her daughter."
It had been days since I'd taken the ond from Beswick. I wasn't sure what I'd expected, considering we were both supposedly dead people in a city under siege, but maybe my great idea hadn't been so clever after all. I'd sent Elisha and Jax to sniff around some of his usual haunts, but we hadn't seen hide nor hair of him.
Until now. "We can't let it deter us. We still have the ond hidden in the city, and Beswick's going to want it sooner or later."
"Or he's just going to bring more in," Jax said. "I mean, it's not like he hasn't found a way to do it before. Maybe he already has."
I picked up the book of Beswick's contacts. "Then we'll just have to pay a visit to all the others on this list. Maybe go back to Claudette's house and see when her next shipments are. Or we can start canvassing all the places he might be hiding—"
"You could just leave it be," Jax said. "It's been a few weeks since we've seen your little soldiers. I bet they miss you."
I gave him a sidelong look. "I'm sure they're fine. We need to take care of Beswick first."
"I just don't see the value in focusing all your energy on this one person when you have so many larger fish to catch. Isn't that what got you stabbed?"
"Because if I don't get Beswick on my side or out of the way, there is no next step," I said. "You see how big his operation is. Even with Niemen and Kulka, I will lose if I have to go against Beswick and Ilara in these city walls. So even if it takes me a month, this must happen before anything else can."
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