“I’m afraid evenyourclientele couldn’t afford me, H.”
She snorted.
“Fair enough, Vistarii. I do have a client coming around at sunset, so let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“Indeed. What do you have for me?”
“My sources say that the Elder Guard has started making more…officialalliances these days with the other territories, is that true?”
I nodded slowly, but didn’t divulge details. Holly had her own ulterior motives, often trying to subtly squeeze me for information while giving up her own.
“How’s the relationship with Vindyrst?” she purred.
“Why do you ask?”
“Curiosity. And it’s relevant, I swear. You see… I heard there has been a certain degree of unrest in the mountains these days. That perhaps, Kole Zephirin is not keeping a tight enough leash on his various earls and viscounts, and his merchants run amuck with overtaxing the poorest regions in the territory. There may be talk of riots to come… and some that have already taken place.”
Some that have already taken place?
That tracked with what we’d discovered at the town hall meeting in Pyrhhas, though—that tensions were rising in Vindyrst. But how could they have escalated so quickly without any warning? We’d heard nothing about this from the House of Gales.
If her information was good, and it almost always was, that could spell out some pretty major problems for the work we were trying to do with other territories.
“And where might these theoretical riots have taken place?” I asked her.
“The most noteworthy would be what took place in Squaller’s Peak. It might do you and your men well to dig around a little, particularly there. See how the miners of that area and their families are being treated by Joseph Jerricks and his ilk.”
I nodded.
Squaller’s Peak wasn’t a particularly large city in Vindyrst, but it was a noteworthy trade checkpoint between the House of Gales, the territories in Samhaven, and several trade routes between both Novos and Irros. If civil unrest was brewing there with such significance, it could cause all sorts of problems that would affect the rest of Atlas, too.
Sowhy the actual fuckhadn’t the Vindyrstian Guard informed us of this?
“Any idea on timings, here, H?”
“It’s been at least a week,” she replied, not looking at me. She sat down at a large vanity, focused on her own reflection as she applied kohl to her eyelids. “Maybe two.”
That was more than enough time for those windy bastards to have sent word of revolt. What were they trying to hide? This was… troubling, but extremely useful information, as Holly often provided.
“Good to know,” I murmured. “Anything else of note?”
“Depends on how heavy your pockets are feeling tonight, Captain.”
I tossed her the pouch that I had in my pockets, one with quite a bit more Lyra than I usually paid my informants. She was my most expensive human resource, by far.
As she picked up the cloth pouch and weighed it casually in one palm, she grinned.
“You do like to spoil me, don’t you?” Holly purred, unlocking the armoire beside her and placing the pouch surreptitiously underneath a pile of silks, where I could see a false bottom in the drawer.
I gave her a wink. I wasn’t particularly in the mood to flirt tonight, but she would get pouty if I didn’t play along. And Fates knew I was hardly in the mood to deal withthat.
“It could be that much of this is happening right under the nose of the Lord of Gales, while he remains blissfully unaware… and that much of what’s been covered up has been orchestrated by a certainLadyinstead.”
Fucking Cecelia.
Of course.
I pressed two fingers against the bridge of my nose, already irritated by the conversations to come, and who might have to get involved.