Sly

Chapter Forty Five

Two weeks of bed rest. That was the longest the palace physician would order so I could avoid my sudden visit requests. Putrid gut worms to whoever thought being a lady was a good idea.

After a night of tears and celebration with Jexa, Dirk, Bricker, and Graham, my new reality set in. Bricker, somehow more of a local gossip now than the actual locals, filled me in on what had transpired while I was out. The king immediately stripped the council of their powers and reclaimed his throne. Good. Girault was officially exiled, though no one believed him to still be within the kingdom anyway. The council of regents was being replaced with an entirely new set of nobles and a law was being crafted to allow the king to leave a direct family member as regent in his absence. There were even whispers that the districts would be nominating which nobles lived within their borders for their representative seat, though I wasn't about to hold my breath waiting for such a feat to unfold. I had to tell and retell my fight with Grethan, of course. From the way he held back a massive grin as I finished the parts I could remember, Jexa was probably the one to finish him off. I wish I could have seen it.

A food shipment from Lolathia had already arrived and several noble families had generously 'donated' to the food stock for the city to keep in good terms with the crown. I'm sure they'd kiss the royal underclothes if they thought it would gain them favor. Leeches.

The king overtook the buildings owned by Lord Girault and put them up for sale. A proper one, with a foreign auction house that would come up from Lolathia with the first food shipments and settle things with no bias. In the meantime, city clerks would run them as low-rent housing for the influx of returning soldiers. Within a day the other overpriced lodgings dropped to match.

All in all, I had visitors in and out until dawn. They finally left me to sleep as breakfast arrived, and I couldn't stay awake enough to eat it. Jexa graciously helped me clean the plate as I drifted off.

And then, the invitations began. Lady this, count that, so-and-so from Green district, all wanted to meet me. Teas, picnics, even an offer to join someone's theatre box, whatever that meant, came flooding in. All, I'm sure, in a measure to get in the good graces with the king's savior. They could all shove it down the wrong pipe as far as I was concerned. Chances are I'd lifted at least a pocket of copper off of at least one of them before anyway.

And at the end of my two-week window of safety, I was on my feet with minimal bandages remaining and one arm in a sling. New clothing, so as not to stand out in the palace, and a short walk to a very specific library where I found myself slipping between the shelves.

I opened the hidden door to Rorik's library room. Rorik himself was behind his desk, back to the room and looking out the window. We were both dressed far better than normal for the king's banquet which was kept small so as not to dip into more food stores than necessary. The one, singular blessing on my side at this obnoxious celebration was that since I had avoided all invitations thus far, no one yet recognized me to approach during the celebration. Rorik helped me convince the king that I wanted a quiet seat to the side when he originally wanted me at the head table.

No. Absolutely not.

But with the festivities over, I arrived back to my room only to find a message from Rorik. And so, I came.

    "You wanted to see me?" I asked.

    "Yes." He turned to face the doorway where I was coming in. "Come in, have a seat. Do you have enough poppy tea? Does it hurt after sitting at the feast all night?"

"No, thank you. If anything I feel more relaxed now that I'm in a hidden room than I did at dinner."

His mouth tugged up at one side and we both took a seat at the desk. Rorik folded his hands on the wood surface in front of him and sighed. "Well, Lady Aylward. What do you plan to do with yourself now?"

    "I don't know. I haven't thought about it too much. I'm a Lady now so I don't suppose I can go around as I have been." I shrugged my good shoulder half-heartedly. "I guess we managed to stop the mess Girault wanted."

    "Yes, that we did." He paused, then smiled. "I knew you wouldn't accept a family sum from Father, I am actually very glad you at least accepted the rooms."

I gave him a sheepish look. "Better than the floor, I guess."

He snorted. "I should hope so. But, that's not what I called you here to talk about. Sly, how have you liked working for a cause with me? Would you consider continuing to do so?"

I blinked, processing his words. "What would you need me for? The king is back, the council is usurped, and the people are finally being looked after. Grethan is dead, and Girault is gone. "

He nodded slowly. "Now that you mention Girault being gone, I'd like to talk to you about that. What do you suppose we have been missing since he left?"

What were we missing? Girault was a noble, so I suppose his domain would fall to someone else. He was on the council, but that was being handled already. Oh.

"A Master of Secrets?"

He nodded again, this time with a sly smile creeping onto his face. "The position is open, and the unneeded third prince has a lot of time on his hands."

"Rorik, you?" I was excited for a moment, but then something popped to mind. "What about his second? Couldn't he have taken over?"

    "His second in command was a bumbling idiot. He never once figured out anything Girault had been up to despite working so closely with him. We have to start the office from scratch, but it will be worth it to know it is secure."

    "You will be fantastic at it," I said. And I believed it, after all we had just gone through.

    "Thank you, and I want you at my side again. You and Arden. I still want to keep myself a secret, at least as long as I can. A hidden spymaster if you will. If you and the good captain can carry out my orders through anyone you two trust, I think we can keep this kingdom safe. We will need this work more than ever now that our old spymaster is off who knows where selling our secrets."

I cringed. "Oh gods . . ."

"Exactly. And I need to spend all my time countering it, and trying to find where the bastard ran off to. There's no way he's done with Unays, not after all that."

I nodded. "And I'm with you, just tell me what you need from me."

He sighed, glancing out the window. "Good. I'm sure we have our work cut out for us."