Page 97 of The Thief and the Traitor Bride

“… left this one unlocked,” a voice said. Gail’s voice said. “He’s been very useful so far.”

“Glad to hear it,” a second voice said, one Nore didn’t know. Raspier, with an accent like Gail’s.

The door shut. There was a shuffle, a cough. “You said she’d be here,” Gail said.

“I said she was meant to. I don’t control her.”

“A convenient excuse.” There was a pause, another shuffle. “Were you there for the business with Aurelian?”

“No, but I spoke to Loren after. It did not go well.” A pause. “Epras is displeased, to say the least.”

“I suppose that works in our favor.” A deep sigh. Nore’s thoughts spun, still sluggish with desire. Gail said, “My informants have brought me the suitors for Eprain and Luthar, but I’ve heard nothing of Cleoc’s choice, nor Scaelas’s. I have reason to believe they’ve not sent anyone.”

Nore’s stomach dropped. She knew, of course, that the information she handed over was used—that the information she gave Gail would go somewhere. But she never had to be further involved in it than the collection. Anything past that had always been Celestine’s job.

“He didn’t—and Cleoc didn’t send anyone, either.” A pause, the sound of something heavy being moved—an object on the bookshelf, maybe? Then, “Though, neither Scaelas nor Cleoc are here. Cleoc kept her daughter behind, too—you know the girl is Locke’s whelp.”

“Hmm.” There was a creak from the wood above. Gail, leaning against the desk, Nore thought. Caspian’s hand tightened on hers. “Could they be angry, do you think? That she’s entertaining this?”

“Or,” the other voice said, “they know something we don’t. That there’s some other sort of farce.”

“Maybe,” Gail agreed, sounding unconvinced. “But it would be more beneficial to us if their alliance is falling apart. If they see the position she is in and know that they cannot free her from it.”

A scoff. “Unfortunately, what is beneficial is not always reality.”

“Unfortunate indeed,” Gail agreed. “And her inner circle? Have any of them given any suggestion of interest in anyone at all?”

“No,” the first voice said again. “Despite concentrated efforts to seduce both the commander and Master Wyvern or pry information from the Hand commander, we’ve been unsuccessful.”

Nore felt slightly better about also being unable to pry information from the Hand commander.

But: Gail had other spies here. Other spies, acting on his agenda, who also seemed to be failing to get close enough to the High Lady for their purposes.

She needed to know what operation Gail was running—and why.

“She has to take one of the suitors. She cannot keep delaying,” Gail said, obviously frustrated. “We need a solution by Wintertide, or else the United Council will force one, and she is too unreliable to leave it up to chance. We cannot afford another war. Do you understand?”

Another sigh, a low word, which Nore was pretty sure was something profane in Idistran that she hadn’t yet learned. She let herself go fully limp against Caspian’s body, made herself fluid, and focused. His grip eased ever so slightly. “Do you believe the rumors?”

“About whom? The doctor? The commander? There are so many.”

“Or anyone. There has to be someone. Some reason she’s turning them down.”

“Or perhaps she doesn’t want to. I trust my reports from the fortress. If anything was ever happening between her and anyone else, it’s over now. I have one of Locke’s attendants in my pocket—even she and the doctor are never alone together; she always takes the Hand commander or another attendant.”

“She’s never alone.”

A sigh. The sound of a flame, then the smell of some sort of smoke. An inhalation, long and deep, and Nore found herself thinking of Tern’s hand-rolled cigarettes, even though the unknown voice didn’t belong to Tern.

She desperately wanted to know whom the second voice belonged to.

She shifted, pulling gently out of Caspian’s grasp. He aimed a threatening look in her direction, but she shook her head—but then Caspian’s grip tightened, holding her back. She bit his hand, but he did not waver.

“There’s no way they’ll trust you with anything,” Gail sighed. “No way any of us will uncover something. I’m working it from another angle… I have a new acquisition looking into Locke’s favor, but I think there’s too much background for her to learn before she’s fully effective, and not nearly enough time.” Gail sighed. “We shall see.”

He was talking, Nore realized, about her.

“Should we start on the secondary plan?”