The Lady Heiress (The Zero Enigma Book 8)

by Christopher G. Nuttall

  “I’ll have the same,” Kate said. “And a mug of tea.”

  She smiled as the waiter bowed and retreated. “I saw your name in the papers,” she said, once he was out of earshot. “You’re doing well for yourself.”

  “I wish it felt that way,” I said. Uncle Jalil had bought the ore, as I’d ordered, but the price had yet to rise. “I never realised just how easily a mansion could become a millstone around my neck.”

  Kate lifted her eyebrows. “Really? How come?”

  I shrugged. “Long story,” I said. I didn’t want to moan too much. “Let me just say that maintaining everything I’ve inherited is expensive.”

  “Dad says the same,” Kate said. “He can pay for basic maintenance now, at low cost, or replace his tools later at a much greater cost.”

  “But when you don’t have the money to pay for maintenance, you find yourself deferring it until it’s too late,” I said, sourly. “My father did that, I think. I had to shell out a lot of money just to arrest the decline.”

  Kate shot me a sharp look. She was far from stupid. Her family wasn’t wealthy enough to send her to Grayling’s without a scholarship. I was fairly sure she was smarter than pretty much everyone else in my year, perhaps even me. She’d certainly be clever enough to guess I had money problems. I wouldn’t be grumbling about the expense - it was a point of honour among the aristocracy never to look at the price tag - unless I really didn’t have the money to spare.

  “That’s basic economics,” Kate said, finally. “What did they teach you in school?”

  I stuck out my tongue, very maturely. “How to walk with a bucket on my head,” I said. It was true. “And how to sneak around without getting caught.”

  “I don’t think they’ll put that on your certificate,” Kate teased. “What about the rest of the lessons?”

  I blinked. “Lessons? There were lessons?”

  Kate started to say something, then stopped herself as the waiter returned and placed our food on the table. It looked simple, but better than anything I’d eaten at Grayling’s. I took a sniff, nodded in appreciation and tipped the waiter. His eyes lingered on me for a long moment before he turned away and vanished into the backroom. I grinned. He really had no idea who I was.

  “Welcome to adulthood,” Kate said. Her hair was hanging loose too. “How does it feel?”

  “Strange,” I admitted. “When did you become an adult?”

  “Dad said it was high time I earned my keep,” Kate said. “He removed my hairclip and that was that.”

  I frowned. “Nothing more?”

  “Dad wouldn’t have thrown a party for me,” Kate said. “Even if he’d had the money, he would have refused to do it.”

  “Yeah.” I flushed. Of course Kate wouldn’t have a Season. She was a commoner. And yet, I couldn’t help feeling her father had been a little neglectful. “I didn’t have time to have a Season.”

  “Which might be for the best,” Kate pointed out. “Right?”

  “Probably,” I agreed. High Society didn’t know I was - technically - engaged. “My father died before he could introduce me to society.”

  Kate took a bite of her food. “Is that good or bad?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I said. “It depends.”

  Kate looked down at her hands. “Dad’s been having problems at work,” she said. “He’s got several ideas for new Devices of Power, but ... he’s been unable to attract any interest from outside investors. He just doesn’t have the money to develop his ideas.”

  I frowned as a thought struck me. “He’s an artificer, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah.” Kate frowned. “But it’s very hard to convince anyone to take an interest.”

  Someone with money and contacts, I translated, mentally. There was a good chance Kate wanted me to take an interest. She thought I was wealthy ... maybe. She might have guessed, from what I’d told her, that money was in short supply. I wondered why she hadn’t come out and asked me. And what does he actually need?

  My mind raced. The Great Houses had entire armies of artificers, charmsmiths and forgers. They didn’t need outsiders, particularly outsiders who couldn’t or wouldn’t marry into the family. Kate's father would be unable to attract any real interest unless he came up with something really new. Or old, if he found a way to produce Objects of Power. There were artificers who devised workarounds, tricks to produce Devices of Power that mimicked Objects of Power, but they rarely lasted long. The Great Houses certainly didn’t need an upstart artificer to produce them. They had more than enough artificers of their own.

  But was that actually true? I recalled Albrecht Rubén, complaining he couldn’t get the components he needed. It was odd to think House Rubén might be having problems ... their Heir Primus was on the verge of marrying the one and only Zero. Their marriage was practically a licence to coin money. If Albrecht Rubén was having problems ... I leaned forward, an idea slowly forming. I might just be able to turn the situation to my advantage.

  “We need to talk bluntly,” I said, casting a privacy ward. “Can we?”

  “You’re the one who got me out of a bad match,” Kate said. “What can you say to me now that’s worse than what you said then?”

  I smiled, even though I knew it wasn’t funny. “I can’t afford to invest in your father’s workshop,” I said. The words hung in the air for a long, chilling moment. “Not now. But I do know someone who might be interested, depending on what you’re offering. There’s no guarantee of anything, but I could try.”

  Kate met my eyes. “And what would you want in return?”

  I tried not to feel a pang of guilt. Favour-trading was common amongst the aristocracy. The entire patron-client system was nothing more than favour-trading on a colossal scale. And we’d traded favours at school, learning the ropes as we swapped positions and punishments until everyone was reasonably happy. And yet ... Kate was my friend. I felt guilty even treating her like a potential client. She wasn’t someone who’d do an essay for me in exchange for me taking the watch after Lights Out.

  “A share in the profits,” I said. “I’ll make the introductions. I’ll ensure the contracts are drawn up by aristocratic lawyers, who understand how to manipulate the system to best advantage. And, in exchange, you give me twenty percent of the profits.”

  “Five percent,” Kate said. Her voice was light, but I knew her well enough to hear the discomfort under her words. She was an adult now, just like me. She could land herself in hot water very easily. “And you actually have to work. You’re not allowed to just perform introductions and vanish.”

  “Introductions are work,” I said, although I knew she wouldn’t believe me. My name might convince Albrecht Rubén to give us a hearing, or it might not. “And you’ll have to make a case. I don’t know what’ll convince him.”

  Kate frowned. “Are you sure he - whoever he is - will listen?”

  “No.” I shook my head. There was something about the whole affair I didn’t understand. Why did Albrecht Rubén need more artificers in the first place? I was missing something, but what? “You’ll have to make a good case.”

  “Which isn’t going to be easy, seeing we know so little about the affair,” Kate said. She took a sip of her drink. “We might be wasting our time.”

  “I’ll be wasting mine too,” I said. “Tell me about your father. What does he do?”

  “He runs a workshop,” Kate explained. I listened carefully as she outlined how her father’s business actually worked. It was a very simple model, I had to admit. He’d hired a handful of artificers and set them to work crafting components that could be assembled, with an infusion of magic, into Devices of Power. There was little room for expansion, without outside investment, but it should bring in a solid profit. “What do you think?”

  “I think your father needs some investment,” I said. The workshop lacked the finesse of a forgery, and there was something crude about her description that irritated me, but it hardly needed to loo
k good as long as it turned a profit. “How far is he prepared to go?”

  “I’ll have to ask him,” Kate said. “He’s got me working in the shop as an alchemist.”

  I grinned. “Try not to blow up the cauldron again.”

  Kate coloured. “That was because Marlene threw tree-of-life into my brew,” she said. “And she got away with it.”

  Only because no one ratted her out, I thought. It was the schoolgirl code. Better to get in trouble than to tattle, even if the person being tattled on thoroughly deserved it. In hindsight, it sounded rather stupid. There was a difference between tattling out of spite and tattling because someone was deliberately putting lives in danger. She would have been in real trouble if the tutor had known who to blame.

  “You don’t have to worry about her any longer,” I said. “How are the other apprentices?”

  “A couple are quite handsome,” Kate said. “And they even asked me out.”

  I grinned. “What did your father say?”

  “Nothing, yet,” Kate said. “I haven’t decided if I want to walk out with them.”

  “I suppose it could be awkward,” I said. Relationships between apprentices and masters were strongly discouraged, but what about relationships between apprentices and the master’s daughter? “Don’t get yourself in trouble.”

  “I’ll try.” Kate grinned. “And what about yourself?”

  “I ...” I hesitated, unsure how much to say. “Have you ever heard of Gary Prestwick?”

  “No.” Kate sounded bemused, as if the sudden change in subject had caught her by surprise. “Related to Danny Prestwick?”

  “He’s Danny’s son,” I said. “Have you heard of him?”

  “No.” Kate snorted. “Danny Prestwick is a landlord. His reputation is ... somewhat mixed.”

  I frowned, feeling a flicker of alarm. “How so?”

  Kate stroked her chin. She knew I had a reason for asking beyond simple curiosity, even if she didn’t know what it was. There was no logical reason for me to have heard of Danny or Gary Prestwick. The only reason I knew Kate was that we’d gone to school together. There might be male aristocrats who bragged of roguish dealings in Water Shallot, in hopes of making the ladies blush, but I was fairly sure most of them were talking nonsense. Aristos didn’t go to Water Shallot for diversion unless they were desperate or stupid or had tastes forbidden even to them.

  “He buys up old buildings and renovates them,” she said, finally. She sounded as if she was choosing her words with great care. “He does good work. He takes crappy tenements on the verge of falling down and turns them into upper-class properties, then he sells or rents as the fancy suits him. But he’s also driving prices up. Five years ago, riverside property was relatively cheap. Now, whole neighbourhoods are becoming too expensive and the poor are being priced out. They’re having to move, because they can’t afford to live there any longer.”

  She grimaced. “Even if they own their property, Lucy, they still have to buy food and everything else they need. Those prices are going up too.”

  “I see,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “I’m surprised you asked,” Kate said. “Why?”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer. She was my friend. I wanted to tell her the truth. And she already knew - or suspected - I had money problems. There was certainly no other reason an aristocrat would consider Gary Prestwick a suitable husband. I liked him - he was a decent person, from what I’d gathered - but romance couldn’t be allowed to play any role in my decision. I had to marry for the good of the family.

  “I might be marrying Gary Prestwick,” I said, finally. “And I wanted to know if you’d met him.”

  Kate frowned. “I can’t imagine your family being happy with that,” she said, finally. Her commoner roots had caused her enough problems when she’d been a schoolgirl. It would be a great deal harder for a commoner who married into the aristocracy. “Are they desperate?”

  “I’m desperate,” I admitted. “We don’t have much else to use.”

  “Which is why you’re offering to perform introductions,” Kate said. “And why you want a share of the profits.”

  “Yes,” I said. There was no point in trying to deny it. I just had to hope she wouldn’t take advantage of me. I trusted Kate - and I was fairly sure she wouldn’t try to cheat me - but I barely knew her father. He’d only visited the school once. “Like I said, we don’t have much else right now.”

  “I see,” Kate said. “Lucy ... if you can get us some investment, we’ll happily share the profits.”

  I met her eyes. “Will your father agree?”

  “I think so,” Lucy said. “But I can’t make any binding promises.”

  The waiter returned, carrying the bill. I paid, trying not to wince at the price. It was very low, compared to restaurants in North Shallot, but I simply didn’t have much free cash. The waiter’s eyes followed us as we stood and headed outside, breathing in the warm summer air. I guessed he hadn’t been able to work up the nerve to ask either or both of us out.

  “There’s been some unrest here recently,” Kate said, as we walked along the riverside. The waters looked muddy brown as they carried silt from upstream down to the sea. “And all the gentrification doesn’t help.”

  I glanced at her. “Because people are having to move out?”

  “Yeah.” Kate ran her hand through her hair. “And because the price of everything is going up.”

  I said nothing as we walked past a row of shops. They looked dark and dingy compared to the shops on the other side of the river, and I couldn’t help noticing the layers of protective spells woven into the storefronts, but they looked to be doing a roaring trade. I rolled my eyes as we passed a fishmonger, trying not to gag at the smell. Prices were lower here, I noted. And yet, it was the same fish ... perhaps I should encourage the cooks to shop on this side of the river. Or would it simply drive prices up for everyone?

  “I’ll do what I can,” I promised, as we reached the bridge. “And I’ll get in touch.”

  “Please.” Kate smiled, rather wanly. “And good luck with the marriage.”

  “If it ever happens,” I said. I knew how High Society would react. They’d accept my children - they’d have to - but they wouldn’t be very welcoming to my new in-laws. “I don’t know how things are going to go.”

  Kate gave me a hug. “Me neither,” she said. “Hey, maybe you could tell Marlene. I’m sure she’d have a heart attack.”

  I shrugged. “Marlene’s been acting oddly,” I said. “Perhaps some dark secret is preying on her mind.”

  “Or perhaps she just has a hangover after drinking too much of her own potions,” Kate countered. “It could be something as simple as that, you know.”

  “I know.” I grinned, then sobered. Marlene had been thoroughly unpleasant to me, my friends and everyone else she didn’t consider her social equal. Her problems were not my problems. I had quite enough of my own. “I’ll try not to think about her.”

  “Good idea,” Kate agreed. “Good luck!”

  She raised a hand in salute, then turned and left. I waved at her back before walking over the bridge and into North Shallot. There were a handful of armsmen from a dozen different families manning the guard post at the far side. They eyed me curiously, but said nothing before waving me on. I frowned, inwardly. It looked as though they were preparing for war.

  I shrugged as I continued walking, enjoying the fresh summer air. I’d have to start researching, as soon as I got back to the hall. I’d have to figure out what Albrecht Rubén really wanted and how to give it to him, in a manner that ensured I’d get some profit. Kate didn’t understand, not really, how weak my hand truly was. I didn’t have anything like enough influence to balance House Rubén, if things went badly. They could simply twist arms until they got what they wanted ...

  I’d better make sure nothing goes wrong, I told myself. I can’t even afford one mistake.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I couldn’t he
lp feeling a flicker of envy, pure unadulterated envy, as the open-topped carriage passed through the gatehouse and drove towards Rubén Hall. The mansion was colossal, easily large enough to swallow Lamplighter Hall in a single gulp. I sensed powerful wards crackling through the air as the driver brought us to a halt outside the main entrance, a perfectly turned out butler already waiting. House Rubén had money to burn and it showed. I felt sick as the butler assisted Kate to scramble down, then stepped back to allow her father to descend. If my family had been as rich ...

  “Welcome to Rubén Hall,” the butler said. “Lord Rubén awaits you in his office.”

  I took a breath as he escorted us through a pair of massive doors and into a giant entrance hall. A maid took our coats and cloaks as we looked around, Kate and her father trying not to gape openly. I found it hard not to stare as well. A portrait of Akin Rubén and Caitlyn Aguirre stared down at me, their features so idealised I wouldn’t have been sure it was them if Caitlyn hadn’t been wearing an Object of Power. Another portrait, black-edged, showed a young man a year or two younger than me. I guessed the family was still in mourning, in line with the old traditions. House Rubén honoured traditions everyone else had forgotten long ago. Akin had a twin - Isabella - but there were no visible portraits of her anywhere. Isabella had been banished from the city years ago. I doubted she’d ever be allowed to return.