Violet Shadows

6

Nicol was perched in his seat, face resting on muscles forearms that hinted at years of fighting. He did not discard his gloves when the mask came off, as with his denial. With the other hand, he was reading over Christine's contract. "I must say," He said, flipping a page. "I was surprised when the Head's daughter of House Ducal came to my business. For some time, I imagined you a dubious woman with a lover that lived here. Your first requests assured me that you were planning on discarding them using the canals."

Christine stifled the insult. The rumors of Roma Ducal were ghastly, most sinful and full of vile, if not true. It wasn't surprising that Nicol knew. In actuality, she expected the slander to extend towards House Rumiere. Clara learned about Roma's nature through them before ever meeting her. House Rumiere had a character of goodwill that withered down when the word 'Ducal' was mentioned. With that hatred, their stories weren't always false. But they weren't always true. It still didn't lessen the blow of Nicol's words, but Christine would have to ignore it. They were meant to be business partners, not friends.

Nicol set the contract on the table. "I never expected this. You want to act as an investor in my businesses?"

Yes. She'd taken a class on economics, only two, and those had been in high school, but felt as though she knew enough. She did accept, however, that she was nowhere confident in running a business alone. Nicol could handle the technicalities, she would merely fund it.

Christine tugged on the hem of her sleeve, reaching his steady eye. "As a noble, I would be able to loan you far more than any of the citizens around here could offer. Besides, I also know you don't want this sort of business becoming public knowledge. It will be far easier for me to hide your trail, and have more at stake if this becomes known." That was how it was described in the book, anyway, when he made nearly the same deal with other brokers, some aristocratic, some commoner, making use of Clara's position as a princess. He didn't want others involved. Not only because of his reputation soiled, but having other nobles interfere would be...meddlesome.

Nicol dared another glance at the contract. "Your help would be useful, but you haven't spent much time here, have you?" Christine went quiet. It had only been a month in this world, a little more. "These streets are far different from our respectable Houses. You'd have to help participate in acquiring the land, of course. As a condition to our agreement."

Christine furrowed her brow. She was already planning on funding it, what else would he need? "By doing what, exactly?"

Nicol smiled. "By fighting for it, exactly."

A pause.

He's being serious. Christine had managed to selfishly become accustomed to the nobility, but even then, she didn't consider how things operated beyond it. Even now, she assumed it would be the same as her home. Prices and purchases."Weren't you planning on buying it?"

"Some things cannot be bought." Was all he said with a coy smile.

She was plagued with questions. This was never explained in the book. "Aren't you going to tell me more?"

He was amusing himself at her lack of knowledge. "I do not want to reveal my hands to a stranger."

"A future investor, you mean." She glanced down at the contract that he'd been thoroughly reading over. Good that he did. A week was spent writing and rewriting it, drafting and scraping, another week in House Ducal's learning all the legalities of What Wish So Haunted's world. More laws abhorred her than made sense. She only had the Valltore king to blame. At least he died at the end in this bloody book.

Nicol tapped a finger on the contract. Once. Twice. "We will see."

"What do you have to lose?" She said, unimpressed. The contract had been drafted fairly, as even as possible. She knew better than to cheat him out of his coin, when she was really stealing his own idea. But when it came to money, his greed was the first thing that acted.