“You knew? Tonight?”
“I didn’t feel it imperative to handle it sooner, and certainly not before speaking to you. We dock in the morning, and it needs to be over before then. Before his new friend can pass on the information he’s bought.”
“But you already knew about it?” I demanded again, so fiercely my foot almost stamped on the deck of the ship. “You’ve investigated my scribe and the friend?”
“Only for a few days. Since the mage’s storm broke.”
“And?”
He shrugged. “They spoke in whispers, but the air at sea sometimes carries voices to those nearby. Sometimes the walls on ships are thin enough to hear through.”
That was all a lie. He’d managed to sneak within hearing range in some manner and listened to their conversation. “What was said?”
“Soren told a lone ‘businessman’ from Kondor everything you discussed in the treaty. In detail. What you stressed, what you were willing to give up, and the rest. Then he accepted a purse filled to overflowing with coins. The businessman will relay that information to the Council of Nine as soon as the ship docks and your efforts to negotiate a fair treaty will fail—if they have their way. Which they will not.”
I felt the heat rise my neck and reach my face. My flush must have been evident all the way from the bow of the Gallant. My fingers curled into fists. “A traitor? Soren? He sold information to harm Dire?”
“Your father will be disappointed to hear of his untimely death at sea.”
My reaction was to charge into the passenger’s lounge and confront Soren. If he’d done what Will said, I’d be willing to throw him over the railing of the ship and watch him swim. Will’s flat statement that he was going to kill Soren chilled the heat I’d felt a moments ago. My lips wanted to tell Will he couldn’t kill Soren. Not Soren. I’d seen him in the halls and workshops of Crestfallen since I was a child. He was a senior scribe and respected enough that my father personally selected him for this voyage. My mind juggled all the contrasting components as I considered the situation in shock. Then any feelings of fondness for the man moved on.
Soren’s actions endangered me, Damon, Kendra, my father, and every citizen of Dire. My anger at his betrayal grew. I turned to tell Will I agreed with his assessment to kill Soren but found he had already departed and wasn’t in sight. His mind was made up.
I don’t know how long I’d been standing at the rail, but Will had moved like an apparition, like the Blue Lady. It seemed his feet barely touched the deck. He could disappear while I looked at him, but it was skill, not magic he used. The next time he was near me, I’d place a hand on his arm to find out if he was real and to hold him near until I was ready to release him. Being enclosed in my cabin, alone, didn’t appeal, so I remained at the rail and watched the endless roll of the sea.
A young man I didn’t know, but who had caught my eye a few times, came up behind me and asked, “May I join you?”
He was from Kondor, his features were much like Damon’s, and I missed my friend, so found myself saying, “Please.”
He reached out to take my hand in formal greeting. “Frisian. An old name meaning ‘beautiful sunrise.’ I’ve never forgiven my mother for choosing it.”
“I am . . . Elizabeth.”
“Princess Elizabeth of Dire, so I’m told. I’ve never spoken to royalty.”
“You seem to be doing well at it, today.”
“I have heard you wish to know more about my homeland and am offering my help.”
Was Frisian the businessman who paid my clerk to betray me? A knot formed in my stomach. “Your occupation?”
“I’m a trader.”
He said, trader, not a traitor, as I’d thought I heard at first. Still, a trader is a businessman. There were not that many passengers from Kondor who were businessmen on the ship. I glanced around and found Will innocently passing by. He shook his head before I could ask the question.
I couldn’t help myself. “Do you know anyone on the Council of Nine?”
He clenched his teeth so hard the muscles of his cheeks flexed. “No.”
“Are you a supporter of the council?”
He answered stiffly, a political answer. “I am in favor of what is best for the people of Kondor.”
“Would you join me for dinner, Frisian? I do have a lot of questions.”
His smile sparkled in the late afternoon light. We went to the tiny dining room and selected our meals from the meager, cold offerings. A hot meal had become a distant memory. The salted crackers, a selection of three kinds of cheese, and smoked slivers of meat were more than enough when washed down with white wine and good conversation.
I found Frisian understandably reluctant to talk about anything negative concerning the present government of Kondor, but inferences were easy to draw. He favored the rule of the king when he’d earned most of a fortune. For the last few years, he’d been hoarding his profits in Dire, planning to remain there on one of his trips. It all had to be arraigned in secret because he wanted to sail there with two sisters, their husbands, and a nephew. He tried once, but a family member hadn’t understood the wrath of the Council of Nine, and he’d barely escaped with his life.
The story had come out in blips and pieces. He hadn’t said much of it directly but hinted. I thought more of him for not speaking out of turn, even if he was talking to a princess. I did learn that the Council of Nine was often called the Council of None because they were never all seen together. The feeling of the citizens was unfavorable, but those few who spoke against the new rulers were often discovered dead, their homes burned.
He believed at least three of the council were women. It was unusual to find women rulers unless born to it. I hesitated to ask if they were sorceresses, but believe I knew the answer beforehand so withheld asking.
Frisian was an interesting speaker and versed in a variety of subjects. He traded pearls, garnets, opals, and quality iron needles that were strong and sharp. In short, he said he traded, bought, or sold almost anything he could sell for a profit in another land—if he could put it in his pocket instead of packing it in crates or transporting it in caravans.
“Don’t you ever buy something and find you cannot sell it in the next port?”
“Of course,” he exclaimed with a smile I found hard to ignore. “But the port after that might buy it. Ladies, wealthy ones in any land, cannot resist pretty baubles of a kind their friends don’t have and can’t get.”
The time slipped away until well after dark. Finally, Frisian escorted me to my cabin. As I entered, a single candle glowed from a scone mounted on the wall, one I had not left lighted. I latched the door and noticed a small cloth bag in the center of my bed. I picked it up and felt the weight and heard the jingle of coins. The smile I had worn with Frisian slipped away as I realized the bag was filled with coins paid to Soren for betraying me—and Soren no longer belonged to this world. His new friend had ended his life today, also. I had no doubt.
The coin purse was Will’s way of letting me know that while I dined with my new friend, my traitor had died. Probably fell overboard, but not necessarily so. Their deaths may have been staged as a robbery gone bad, or something else.
I spilled the coins on my bed, not because I wanted them, but I wanted to see how much my life, my father’s life, and my kingdom was worth.
I looked at those coins for a long time. There was also a sheet of folded paper. I opened it, knowing what it contained. There was a neatly printed list in Soren’s hand of my demands to be added to the treaty. All of them, but the few new ones, I’d added this afternoon that he hadn’t known about. I looked to be certain. The penmanship was Soren’s. There was no doubt.