by Randi Darren
Walking into the manse he was living and working out of, Alex immediately found Sylvia waiting for him.
“Welcome home,” she said, smiling at him. “The next meeting has yet to begin, but I thought it would be good to update you regarding your previous instructions.”
“Oh? Something happen?” Alex asked, looking around.
Rebekah and Nannie were off to one side, talking quietly with Aerin and Saoirse.
“Yes, and yet no,” Sylvia said. “Before you arrived, perhaps by a minute, a group of guards rushed the front door and promptly informed us that no messages would be allowed to be sent for the next forty-eight hours without being inspected first.
“Apparently it’s a security precaution.”
“Uh huh,” Alex said with a grin. Riley was still holding his hand, though Valeria had moved over to talk to the others. Along with Carla and Eleanor. “Of course it is.
“Which is why we sent those couriers to the emperor and the king yesterday. Oh well. That’ll just make it harder for Farig later when I write up this new development and send it to the emperor in a follow up, along with what happened.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Alex sighed. “Oh well. I suppose it is what it is.”
“I find it mildly disturbing that you predicted it so accurately,” Sylvia said.
“Really? Seems rather obvious to me. You were there when the princess explained it. Farig only had two options, be honest and do what I ask, or fight me. There’s really no in between. After that, it comes down to who can tell their story first to the emperor and who can prevent the other couriers from making it out.
“And speaking of that… I’m going to go see if our friend is back. You hear anything from her or her team?”
“No. I’m going to go get ready for the next meeting. We’re holding it in the servant bunk house in the back of the estate,” Sylvia said.
“Yeah, good work on that one by the way. I’m going to reward you. Heavily. Going to take all your control away. Every bit of it, and use you for my own needs,” Alex said. “So… prepare yourself for it.”
Sylvia blinked once and gave him a wide smile. “I look forward to it with bated breath and an eager heart.”
Nodding at her, Alex left and went to his bedroom. He was looking for Coffin, and he almost always knew where she would be if she was waiting for orders.
Walking over to his bed, he lifted the bed skirt.
Sure enough, the dark-eyed, black-haired woman was under there.
“Hey Coffin, can I join you?” Alex asked.
“No,” she said.
“Alright. Will you come out and join me then?” Alex asked instead.
“Yes,” said the assassin. Shifting to one side, she began to scoot out from under the bed and popped up on the far side of it.
“Grand,” Alex said, looking at her.
Her hair was cut short in a style similar to Carla’s now. She was also groomed and looking rather clean. In addition, she was wearing simple clothes that were clearly well made.
Most curious of all, he could see her face.
She was pretty for a crazy person. Her eyes never met his, her lips trembled often, and she tended to gyrate slightly from side to side.
Resting on her throat was a black choker, much the same as his Numbered. In the middle of it was a silver tag with what looked like an actual coffin.
“I’m Coffin. I’m your knife,” she said, her eyes slowly coming up to meet his own. “I’m going with you when we die.”
“Yes, to all of those,” Alex said with a smirk.
“I’m a Numbered. I’m Number Coffin,” Coffin said, reaching up to stroke the silver circle with a fingertip. Her eyes, amazingly, had continued to meet his own.
“You sure are, Coffin,” Alex said. “I have a job for you. I think it’s about time it was implemented. Do you have any of your people on hand?”
“Yes,” she said, staring hard at Alex. “More than enough.”
Unblinkingly.
“Great. I want everyone related to Saoirse and in line for the throne dead,” Alex said. “Kill ’em all. Make it look like accidents, or unrelated incidents, but I don’t care if that can’t happen.”
“They’ll all die,” Coffin said, shivering from head to toe. “I’m the knife. I’m Coffin.”
“That you are,” Alex said.
“I’m a knife,” muttered several voices from around the room.
“Next, I want you to kill anyone with a message heading for the emperor,” Alex said. “I think our ambassador is going to send some shortly.”
“They’ll die, too,” Coffin said, her gaze heavy and unending.
“Great. That’s all I need,” Alex said. “Do you need anything, Coffin? Are you happy?”
Coffin quivered, and then she began to tremble uncontrollably.
“I’m so happy. I’m your knife. I have all I want,” Coffin said in a whisper. “You freed my soul. My soul is yours. I gave it. She answered and told me I’m going with you. For all time. My soul is yours.
“Yours, Master Soulshackle Alex. Master Soulshackle. I am happy.”
“Uh huh. Let me know if you need anything, okay?” Alex said, smiling at her.
Coffin was unquestionably insane. Absolutely, beyond a doubt, cracked and broken.
But she was his. His in a way that probably no one could understand, least of all Alex. He only knew that she’d developed a strange affection for him and wanted only to serve him.
“Yes, Master Soulshackle. Yes. Yes. Can I wake you if I’m unhappy?” Coffin asked. “Nights are long. The shadows whisper at me.”
“Sure, you can wake me up. Just try not to wake whoever I’m with, alright?” Alex asked.
“I can do that. I’m… going to go. I’m your knife. Work to do,” Coffin said, her shaking slowly going away.
“Alright. Thanks Coffin,” Alex said.
“Yes, yes. I’ll take myself and be your knife,” Coffin said, leaving the room. Her gait was oddly broken and mismatched, like she couldn’t decide where to put her feet.
“And that’s that,” Alex said with a sigh. “Hopefully the princess is pregnant, Glint will lose all his family in line for the throne, and I can supplant his entire dynasty in a single year.
“Well. After I break his country over my knee like a rotten stick.”
With a nod of his head, Alex walked out of his bedroom and back to the Numbered.
Everyone was there but Sylvia and Nannie. He imagined they were waiting for the meeting. At which point it’d be time for Alex to put on his actor’s mask.
He needed to bind up the local underlord in an oath, get them to work with him, and manage to do it all without alerting the city guards or the regent.
It was a tall order, but he thought he could do it. It’d just take some money and a few promises, he imagined.
Chapter 30
Sylvia walked into the room and caught Alex with her eyes.
He immediately knew she’d gotten whoever it was to the point where they needed Alex to step in.
Whether to make promises, schmooze, or pay someone off, he wasn’t sure yet.
“Ready, Alex,” Sylvia said, walking over to him with a grim look on her face. “And unless I miss my guess, this man won’t be working with us. I’ve dealt with enough men of his ilk. He took this as a compliment, showed up just to enhance his image, and won’t want anything to do with us.”
“Oh?” Alex asked. Turning his head, he looked at Carla.
The tall once-bandit had been watching him this entire time.
“Looks like I might need my bad girl,” Alex said, smiling at said woman.
Carla sniffed once and then stood up. Lifting her battle mace out of its ring, she let it slip back into place.
“Just give the word,” Carla said, walking over to stand next to Alex and Sylvia.
“It’ll be rather simple. I’ll just ask him if that’s really how it’s going to be, and that’ll be that,” Alex said.
<
br /> Carla grunted at that and looked at Sylvia. “Bodyguards?”
“Not really,” Sylvia said. “He has several men with him who you could probably consider as working for him, but not bodyguards. I think they’d likely serve themselves before they’d be willing to die for him.”
Carla seemed unsurprised. “Saw a lot of that when I was in the same world. Did it myself often enough.”
“Right,” Alex said, then shrugged his shoulders. “Well, let’s go get this taken care of. The sooner we have our cut-out, the better.”
With a gesture to Sylvia, Alex waited for her to take the lead.
Following along behind her once she got moving, Alex arranged his thoughts.
He’d offer the man a good deal to operate as his intermediary on purchases, buyouts, and bribes.
If he refused, Alex would kill him.
Then he would make the offer to the second-in-command, or another gang.
Eventually, he’d find what he wanted. It would just be a matter of time.
Walking out into the attached building, Alex realized it was actually an enclosed space.
It was rather private, as secluded as he could hope for. At least for a deal like this.
There were a table and two chairs. As shady as it could be without meeting in the sewers themselves, Alex supposed.
Except that was exactly what Alex needed right now.
Especially if I have to make a corpse tonight.
Disposing of a body always seems to cost too much to get it done right.
Immediately across from Alex were five men. One was seated at the table, and the other four were spread out behind him.
“Hello,” Alex said, looking at the man. He couldn’t really see him. Most of the whole area was shrouded in darkness and shade.
“Hoi,” said the man.
Strange greeting.
“Yes, right. I’m looking to have someone work as an intermediary for me,” Alex said. “Someone to make purchases, payments, bribes, and other various tasks. All without my name being spoken, and for a percentage of each deal. Paid in silver.”
“Is that it? You need a thug for hire? A patsy to take the blame?” asked the man. His tone was strange.
“No,” Alex said smoothly, even though that was exactly what he needed. “I need a partner who can work from the shadows with the money I supply. I can’t dip my finger into anything local without sending the entire nobility scurrying to end whatever deal I’m looking to make.”
“That so?” asked the man.
“Indeed,” Alex said.
“That why you sent out the girl first?” asked the man.
“I sent her out first because I trust her to make sure we’re talking to the right person,” Alex said.
“Lousy lying fuckin’ mousy little prick. You send your slut out to talk to me and expect me to believe any of that,” said the man, sounding angry. “I already wasn’t going to do fuck all for ya, but now I’m going to—”
Alex shook his head and gave up.
The man was about to be made a corpse.
Opening his mouth to say the command, Alex was surprised when he didn’t have to.
Carla stepped up and whipped her mace around.
It smashed into the man’s forehead and collapsed his skull inward.
His eyes popped out of their orbits with the sheer force of the blow.
Pitching backward, the man fell onto his back. His feet stuck straight up into the air, his knees locked. Little more than gurgling noises could be heard.
Winding her mace back, Carla brought it down into the man’s skull for a second time. There was a wet squish and the man’s feet twitched, his boots looking like they might curl right off his feet.
Reaching down, Carla grabbed the man and dragged him off to a hay pile in the corner.
Walking back, she pointed the mace at the remaining four men and righted the upended chair.
“Which of you is taking his place?” Carla growled. “Or are you all about as useful as food for the wolves?”
A man stepped forward, though Alex still couldn’t make out details.
“I-I am!” said the man. I’m the second-in-comman’.”
“Sit in the chair,” Carla said, pointing the bloody, dripping mace at the seat in question.
Scurrying forward, the man dropped into the chair and folded his hands in front of him on the table.
“So, with that being said,” Alex said, as if he hadn’t just changed who he’d been speaking to. “I’d like to move to the pay part of the discussion.
“For every deal you commit to for me, I’ll pay you two percent of the final payment as your fee.”
“That, uh… that sounds pretty fai’,” said the man.
“Grand,” Alex said. “Then all we have to do is move to you swearing your life and soul to Leah to protect my secrets, never betray me, and operate per our arrangements.
“Oh, and you should know, this is non-negotiable. Anyone who isn’t willing to swear won’t be leaving.”
There was a hiss of steel as Nannie’s blades were pulled from their sheaths.
“Now, shall we?” Alex asked.
***
Looking down at the paperwork, Alex frowned. It was a pretty piece of frippery, but it certainly wasn’t worth much more than the paper it was printed on.
“…declare that the right… right… right ee us…” Nannie paused, staring at the word. “Oh, righteous.”
“Uh huh,” Alex said, leaning back in his chair.
It’d only been a day since he’d sealed his pact with the underworld of Hefen. In that short period of time, he’d seen a flurry of documents, sealed statements, and paperwork all detailing the noble cause of war.
They’d all ended up proclaiming almost nothing at all.
“…sub… sub… subjugate… subjugate?” Nannie asked.
“What Alex likes to do with me,” Valeria offered helpfully. “He subjugates me and then does what he will.”
“Oh. Okay. Shit,” Nannie said. “So many words.”
“The regent is rather flowery, yes,” Valeria said. “But it all amounts to the same thing. A lot of statements without any point to them. It’s more than likely enough to buy him time till Glint can give him something else, though.”
“If Master hadn’t sent all those couriers,” Aerin said, standing behind Alex’s left shoulder, “that is.”
All around him, his Numbered were in various states of boredom. Saoirse was reading a book in the corner, mostly uninterested in the whole thing.
“Indeed,” Valeria said, sliding her fingers through Alex’s hair. “Alex has already outmaneuvered the poor man to the point that all this silly paperwork will just look infinitely worse.”
“A valid point,” Aerin murmured. “I can’t imagine the emperor will be rather pleased when he reads all of this. It’ll be rather obvious, won’t it?”
“He won’t mind too much,” Saoirse said from her corner. “Father sent the emperor a truly massive bribe. Perhaps ten times the annual taxes.”
Alex sighed and shook his head. “That’ll give me casus belli on the emperor, I suppose, though I’m not sure what good that’ll do me.”
“Oooh, baby, I wanna be an empress,” Rebekah said, coming up behind him and pulling the back of his head into her bosom. “Give me the empire? I’d make it so worth your while.
“We all know you could pull it off. Just think… how nice an empire it’d be if you were ruling over it.”
Alex blinked and thought on that.
If I really wanted to make a difference, that’d be how I could do it. Wouldn’t it?
I mean—
No, no, no. No.
Already too much going on.
“Baby,” Rebekah purred into his ear, nibbling at it. “Make me an empress. I’ll do all the nasty and wonderful things I do now, but once we’re at the top, I could do them all day long. All. Day. Long.”
I mean… maybe I could—
�
�No,” Alex said, though with much less firmness than he’d intended. “No. I just want to be a count. So you’ll have to settle on that. Once we get all this squared away, we can hunker down and… just live. Have a life.”
“Poo, I’d be such a good empress,” Rebekah said with a sigh, then hugged him tightly. “I think I’ll talk you into it later. But even if I don’t, I’ll be happy with whatever you give me. Right now, though, I have some things to give you.”
Rebekah began to materialize rings, gems, bracelets, necklaces, and even some earrings. They began to make a shining, sparkling pile in front of him.
“Oh, and this. I know you prefer these comparatively to my shiny treasures, even if I don’t. I have such a lovely collection of rings and things now, though,” Rebekah said, and then she began laying out small pieces of parchment, one atop the other.
“The shit?” Nannie said, poking a finger through the pile. “I think I was in the wrong part of being a criminal.”
“Me too,” Carla grumbled on the other side of Nannie.
“Oh, pish posh,” Rebekah said with a laugh. “This is smalltime, but also only because I’m Alex’s. They all look at me like a big-boobed, empty-headed idiot. I can do as I please because of that.
“A bump here, a shoulder pat there, and everyone ends up losing something. Though it won’t last. I can only really steal jewelry and the like once or twice. Coins are much easier, of course. Papers are a cinch since no one would ever think I have a use for them.”
Valeria and Sylvia had already collected the pile of papers and were moving them elsewhere to work through them.
“Good job, Seven,” Alex said, looking back to his thief with a smile.
“Of course, baby. I’m all for your comfort in whatever way I can give it,” Rebekah said, then laid a kiss on him that made him want to pull her in for more. A kiss that ended far too quickly. “I have to take care of you, after all, in a way befitting how you care for me. Now, I’m going to go take a nap. You’re welcome to bother me if you’re feeling fun; just take it slow. I’ll be rather sleepy.”
Patting his shoulder, Rebekah sauntered off to his bedroom.
“Don’t like being envious,” Nannie grumbled, using the word as if she wasn’t sure whether she’d said it right.
