We step into his cottage, and it’s as cluttered inside as it is outside. At least in here, there are boxes containing most of the junk overflow. There are old stereo parts, boxes of vacuum tubes, broken toys, and tons of other odds and ends. Some of the stuff looks like it was once pretty beautiful and worth something, but it’s all dusty and going to rust now.
“Come on in here,” Micah says, leading us into a kitchen area. I can’t help but wonder how the hell this man knows Julian, much less has a secret about him.
We sit down at a tiny little kitchen table and Hazel smiles at me.
“Would you like some tea, your highness?” Micah says.
“Please, just call me Nolan. And no, thank you.”
“I’d like some tea,” Hazel says, smiling sweetly. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
“Anything, anything at all, for such a pretty lady.” He winks at her and busies himself making her drink.
I sigh and glare at her. I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to be, but Hazel seems perfectly content to wait.
“Tell me, Micah, how long have you lived on this lovely property?” she asks him.
“Oh, years and years,” he says, and launches into a story about his family.
I’m pretty surprised that she gets him talking, but soon enough he’s sitting down across from us, sipping the tea he just made, and telling Hazel his whole life story.
As it turns out, Micah comes from the Hasselbeck family, which is a name I recognize. They were nobility until about ten years ago, around the time that I left court. They were disgraced and stripped of their title due to some shady foreign business deals or something like that. Micah is the third son of the family, which means he’s basically outcast by them. But that would explain how he knows Julian and how he ended up this way.
Finally, he finishes his story, which was about as boring as you’d guess.
“That’s an interesting story,” Hazel says, smiling huge. “Thanks for telling me. I find you so fascinating.”
“Well, what a polite young lady,” he says, clearly proud of himself.
I sigh and cut in. “Micah, you know why we’re here, right?”
He hesitates a second. “Yes, I know,” he says. “I talked with your man. What’s his face. TomTom.”
“Thomas,” Hazel corrects gently. “He said you have some information for us.”
“Yes, I have it,” Micah says. “But I need assurances.”
“We’ll pay,” I say simply.
Micah looks at me for a long moment. “Half a million,” he says.
“Fine,” I answer. “Now what do you know?”
“Lord Eder has been fucking my niece for two years now.”
I sit there, totally stunned. I can hardly believe my ears. Julian, cheating on his wife with the niece of a disgraced noble clan? That’s just too fucking good. Way too good.
“What’s her name?” Hazel asks gently.
“Renee,” he says. “And that fucker Lord Eder has been bribing me for years to keep my trap shut.”
“So why are you telling us now?” I ask him.
“Because I’m sick of that bastard. And he doesn’t pay me enough.” Micah leans back in his chair, arms crossed. “If you want her address, you better write a check.”
Hazel laughs and looks at me. “You heard the man, Prince Nolan,” she says.
I grumble and get out my checkbook. Ten minutes later, Micah is a rich man, and we have an address in a nearby town. We climb back into my car, I start the engine, and Hazel puts the address into the GPS.
“What do you think?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “He’s weird. But I believe him.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t seem like he has a reason to lie,” she says. “I doubt he’ll cash that check. And if he does, he won’t go anywhere.”
“How can you know that?” I ask her, a little surprised.
“I know men like him, from back home,” she says softly. “Men that lost what they once were and are too rooted into place to ever change back. No, he’ll always be there if we ever need to go back. I don’t think he’s lying at all.”
I nod my head and decide to trust her. As we drive, I can’t help but picture what’s waiting for us at this woman’s door. I picture a busty girl in her mid-twenties, prime and ripe and young enough for Julian to risk his career. He’s pretending to be this good family man, and yet here’s proof that he’s a piece of shit.
We just need this woman to talk. If she can tell us her story and give us any corroborating evidence, that’ll be enough for me to turn the opinion of many nobles. I think it might even be enough to turn my father’s opinion, if I’m being honest with myself.