Edward gave the Spiritualist a disgusted look. Still, the man did have a point, and it had been a while since he’d dipped into the Spirit Court management part of Gaol’s budget. “You’re sure that ten thousand will buy the result you’re after?”
“Certain.” Hern leaned forward. “Miranda Lyonette was one of Banage’s key pillars within the Court. It’s no secret he’s been grooming her to be his successor. Crushing her is the closest we can come to striking a direct blow at Etmon himself. Even though she managed to flee Zarin before her sentence could be carried out, the deed is done.”
“She escaped?” The duke arched his dark eyebrows. “That was careless of you, Hern.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Hern said, shaking his head. “She can’t run forever, and in any case, her reputation is ruined. She’ll never work as a Spiritualist again, and Banage is left alone and bereft, robbed of the apprentice he loved like a daughter. The old man is weakening, a bit at a time. Soon, with enough money and pressure, the damage will be irreversible. We’ll rip Banage’s control of the Court wide open, and then all I have to do is be in the right place at the right time with the right incentives and the Spirit Court will be mine, and, through reasonable extension, yours.”
He finished with a smile the duke found discomfortingly overconfident. Using money to sway circumstance in your favor was one thing, but when you started outright buying people to act against their conscience, a situation could quickly slide out of control. Still, he’d requested Hern as his Tower Keeper exactly because the man knew how to play the Spirit Court. If he couldn’t trust him now he’d have lost a lot more than ten thousand gold.
“One more question,” the duke said carefully. “This Miranda Lyonette, she’s the one the Court sent to Mellinor after Monpress, correct?”
“Yes,” Hern said. “Her failure there was what got her into this mess.”
The duke nodded. “And do you think the Spirit Court will be sending anyone else after Eli while this is going on?”
“No,” Hern said. “I think the Court has had quite enough of Monpress for a while.”
Duke Edward nodded absently, staring down at his maps. “How fortuitous.” He looked back at Hern. “I’ll send a notice for the ten thousand to your house after I’ve warned my exchequer. He’ll assist you as usual in collecting the money from my accounts in Zarin. And if you need more, Hern, don’t bother coming over. Just send a letter with a documented list as to why. All of this beating around the issue is inefficient.”
Hern’s eye’s widened at that, but his smile never flickered. “Lovely chatting with you too, my lord,” he said, standing up with a graceful swirl of his coat.
“Send in the page on your way out,” the duke said, reaching across the table to grab a sheaf of blank stationery and an ink pot from his desk.
Hern shot him a dirty look, but the duke was already absorbed in whatever he was writing, his pen scratching in neat, efficient strokes across the paper. With a sneer at being treated like a valet, Hern left the duke’s room in a huff, grabbing the first page he saw and literally shoving the boy toward the duke’s door before it had even finished closing.
The boy stumbled into the duke’s parlor, blinking in confusion for a few moments before recovering enough to drop the customary bow.
“You,” the duke said without looking up from his note, which he was folding into thirds. “Take this to the printing office on Little Shambles Street. Give it to Master Scribe Phelps, and only Master Scribe Phelps. Tell him that fortuitous circumstances have necessitated an acceleration of my order, and he is to have the numbers outlined on that note ready for distribution at the points written beside them by tomorrow morning. Repeat that.”
“Printing office, Little Shambles Street, Master Scribe Phelps,” the boy repeated with the practiced memory of a trained page who got this sort of request quite often. “I am to tell him that fortuitous circumstances have necessitated an acceleration of your order, and he is to have these numbers ready for distribution at the points written beside them by tomorrow morning.”
The duke handed him the folded note without a word of thanks, and the boy shuffled out, wishing that, just once, the duke would bother to tip for such feats of memory. He never did, but that was part of why Merchant Prince Whitefall charged the old cheapskate double for his rooms.
When the page was gone the duke stood alone at his table going over his plans step by step in his head. He did this often, for it gave him great pleasure to be thorough. Phelps would balk at having to print thousands of detailed posters and have them packed for distribution in one night, but a successful man seized opportunity when it arrived. The Court’s interest in Monpress had been the last uncontrollable element. If they were putting off their investigation thanks to this business in Mellinor, now was the time to strike. Accelerating the pace made him nervous, but he fought the feeling down. Surely this apprehension was merely a product of being in Zarin, where things were messy and chaotic. In a week, all his business here would be done and he’d be on his way back to Gaol, where everything was orderly, controlled, and perfect.