Django Wexler - The Shadow Throne

“Even easier. She’s so close to you on the Ohnlei side that it was inconceivable that she not be a party to the deception, though I didn’t understand the full extent of her involvement until she told me herself. I sent her a note, indicating what I knew and expressing a desire to help.”

“It was waiting for me when I got back to Ohnlei, after you ‘died,’” Sothe said. “I was frantic. I had to keep up appearances here, intercept Orlanko’s watchers, and figure out how to retrieve you at the same time. When I saw this. .” She shrugged.

“You just decided to trust him?” Raesinia was surprised. To say that Sothe was not a trusting person was a significant understatement of the facts.

“I went to talk to him,” Sothe said, “since he knew the secret. I thought that either he’d end up on our side or I’d have to kill him, and in the latter case I wanted to get it over with.”

There was a flash of surprise-not much, but definitely there-on Janus’ face. “Well,” he said after a moment, “I’m glad I was able to convince you.”

“So, what happens now?” Raesinia asked, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms.

“I think we’re almost through it,” Janus said. “The announcement has gone out that you’ve accepted the Deputies-General, and the mob is ecstatic. When they present their lists of demands, one of them is certain to be a new Minister of Information and the elimination of the Concordat. All we have to do is be ‘persuaded.’”

“Just like that?” Raesinia shook her head. “It’s too easy.”

“He has a fearsome reputation,” Janus said. “But I must say he’s proven to be only a mediocre opponent. He’s badly overplayed his hand, and now he’ll have to pay for it.”

“He won’t give up,” Sothe said. “Not Orlanko. If there’s a card left in his hand, he’ll play it, and be damned to the consequences.”

“That’s what worries me,” Janus agreed. “The Last Duke is finished. But now that he has nothing to lose. .” He trailed off, staring past Raesinia and Sothe into the middle distance, then shook his head. “We will have to take precautions.”

MARCUS

“The vice captain is here,” Staff Eisen said from outside the door to Marcus’ office.

“Send him in,” Marcus said. His desk was clear of paperwork. He looked below it, to make sure the stack of files from the archives were still there. Evidence, in case he needed it.

The door stuck, as usual, then shuddered open. Giforte pulled it shut behind him, turned, and saluted.

“Vice Captain,” Marcus said.

“Sir!” Giforte relaxed a fraction. “People have been trickling in, sir. We’re still well below strength, but I think by tomorrow morning I should have at least-”

“I have a question for you, Vice Captain,” Marcus said. “I want you to answer it honestly, if you can.”

“Sir?” Giforte’s face became a frozen mask.

He knows, Marcus thought. He knows that I know. Time to cut through all the secrets. He took a deep breath. “What is it that Duke Orlanko has over you?”

A long moment passed in total stillness. Marcus kept his eyes on Giforte, watching the man’s face. His control was good, but not perfect. If he tries to brazen it out. .

Then, all at once, his expression relaxed and his shoulders slumped. There was defeat there, but also relief, as though a great weight had been lifted.

I was right. Marcus had to restrain himself from pumping his fist in triumph. I wonder if this is how Janus feels all the time.

“I should have known I couldn’t hide it,” Giforte said. “I should have offered my resignation the day you took command.”

“Now, that would have been a disaster,” Marcus said. “It is the Last Duke, then?”

Giforte nodded, looking resigned. “He. . it was my wife, to begin with. You’ve met my daughter. My wife never really recovered from the birth. Our local surgeons threw up their hands, so I wrote to doctors from Hamvelt, the best there are. One man said he could help, but the price he asked. .” He shook his head. “I borrowed from a moneylender, but it was all for nothing. My Gwendolyn died before the doctor even arrived, and he refused to refund his fee. I was broken and penniless. I would have killed myself, if not for Abigail.”

“And then Orlanko offered to help with the debt,” Marcus guessed.

Giforte nodded. “I was too desperate to care what strings were attached. It wasn’t long before he started making. . requests. Certain investigations he wanted stopped, suspects he wanted released without further questions. Your family. . that was one of the first.”

“You didn’t know about it beforehand?” Marcus said. “You weren’t involved?”

The vice captain drew himself up. “Of course not! You. .” He paused, and sagged again. “You have no reason to believe me, of course. But I’m not a murderer. I would never have done anything like that, whatever Orlanko told me. All he wanted was. . no questions.” Giforte shook his head. “When I heard you had been named as captain, I came close to panic. None of the other captains ever paid much attention, but you. .”

Marcus exhaled slowly and leaned back in the squeaky old chair. “I went looking.” Though I might not have, if not for Adam Ionkovo.

Giforte straightened up again. “Sir. I will draft my letter of resignation immediately. If the Minister of Justice wishes to offer charges, I am at his disposal.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Sir?”

“I’ve been reading up on you,” Marcus said. “Your tenure with the Armsmen has been excellent. I don’t think there’s anyone else I would want for the post.”

“But. .” Giforte swallowed. “What about Orlanko? He holds my debts. If he comes calling, and I don’t obey-”

“The Minister of Justice will handle your debts,” Marcus said. They hadn’t discussed any such thing, but he was certain Janus would come up with a good solution. This is too good a man to lose. “And I don’t think the Last Duke will be a problem for much longer. In confidence, I can tell you that the new queen is not a friend of his.”

“She’s going to unseat him? The Last Duke?” Giforte shook his head. “That’s going to mean plenty of trouble. He’s had three decades to dig in.”

“That’s why I need you,” Marcus said. “We’ve got to get the Armsmen back together and providing some kind of order. And I suspect the Minister of Justice may have need of me, so a lot of that work is going to fall on you. I trust you’ll be up to it.”

Slowly, Giforte saluted, fighting a smile. “Sir. Absolutely, sir.”

“Good. You’d better get to it.”

And once this is over, Marcus thought, as Giforte saluted again and departed, once the Last Duke has fallen, I’m going to dig through the Cobweb until I find the truth. And then he’s going to pay for it.

WINTER

The sun was lighting the eastern horizon by the time Winter returned to the fortress, at least half-drunk and feeling more maudlin than ever. She’d fallen in with a mixed band of Docksiders and University students, who were passing several bottles of middling-to-awful wine around a circle and debating the significance of the fact that the deputies had been summoned to the Sworn Cathedral. One faction held this to be a bad sign, indicating that the queen intended to continue Orlanko’s policy of accommodation of the Sworn Church. Another group thought that it was a deliberate gesture in the opposite direction, a statement that the business of the Vordanai state was to be placed above the rights of Elysium and foreigners in general. Winter hadn’t taken a side, and limited her participation to a couple of swallows whenever a bottle went past. They hadn’t resolved the issue by the time she took her leave, and she suspected they’d be there until everyone involved had fallen out into a drunken stupor.