Den of Vipers #2
“With your mind-mucker’s help,” Kiren said with a shrug, propping up his head in his porcelain hand.
Kiren and Karin Korsts had been brought into Micrea by boat after a noble went over to their home country of Abros.
Kiren was missing a hand, Karin an eye. They were marked up, so they’d been marked down, costing just a scarf each.
That was twenty years ago. Now, they were the richest commoners in Amaris.
“Tagas does love to be of service,” Esme said.
Kiren nodded his head of dark locs at a chair across from him, and Esme dropped into it. Their office was sealed tight, with no windows and a magically locked door. There was no freewheeling, crazed Magic all the way up here to lure them into sin. Up here, it was all levelheaded business.
“Why do you slither into our humble home, serpent?” Karin asked. Each word in her accent was like the hiss of a snake. It wasn’t much off Esme’s own.
Karin shared her brother’s head of locs.
Her dark face was exceptionally pretty in the scattered candlelight.
She had one shrewd brown eye and one blue porcelain one.
Her bright blue heels clicked as she sauntered to her side of their shared giant desk, cluttered with paperwork.
Who knew there was such bureaucracy to debauchery?
“Turiel’s gone. Your previous agreement is over,” Esme said, surveying her nails. “But I’ve always had a soft spot for you two. I’d like to help you out.”
“How?” Kiren asked, leaning forward.
“Balthazar Joh’el. Heard of him?”
“Not a fan of our line of work, I’ve heard,” Karin said, bending over her desk to open a drawer and pull out a cigar.
“I’ve been hearing good things about the Lake boy, though.
Think I might bet on him.” She struck a match and lit her cigar before taking a deep breath.
The smoke hung in the air for a beat before a bit of magic sucked it away.
“I wouldn’t,” Esme said. “He’s bloody fucking off. Tried to murder the queen. Tried to murder himself, too.” She shook her head, pitiless but feigning it well. “He’ll surely make a mess of this little establishment if he sees the throne.”
“And your general won’t?” Kiren took a cigar, too, and lit it. The twins’ eyes moved from Esme to the last one left in the drawer.
“Not if I tell him not to,” Esme said.
“And what do you want in return? You have no heart and thusly cannot do things out of the kindness of it,” Karin said, and crossed one scarred leg over the other.
She had no glamour, and makeup rarely came in a color appropriate for people like the three of them, so she wore her scars plainly.
Her dress even had a split up the side, as if each brand and cut were a jewel deserving of showcasing. Esme was jealous of her acceptance.
“I need you to do what you’ve always done,” Esme said.
A shadow brought her the last cigar while another one lit a match.
She didn’t touch either, instead letting a hand of shadow bring the cigar to her lips.
She blew a circle of smoke up to the ceiling.
“Entertain the nobles. Spread a few valuable pieces of information out to them. And make sure they know who has their best interests in mind.”
“You, correct?” Karin’s eye swept over Esme from head to toe, then returned to her face.
“Balthazar, of course.”
“Should he not be here making this deal, then? Or are we too low to grace with his presence?”
“Do you really want to deal so directly with the monarchy?” Esme asked. “They are boring creatures. I am fun. And I can compromise.”
“And how are you so sure he’ll listen to you?” Kiren asked. “It’s been years since there was a snake in the royal bed. Has it slithered back in?” His eye was as bright as the flames outside of his home, and his stare nipped at Esme, just as burning.
“I heard that last time it was there, it got its little tail stomped,” Karin said with a snicker.
“Luckily, serpents are resourceful creatures,” Esme said, keeping her gaze level.
She took another pull on her cigar. “Far more resourceful than mice squatting in other people’s homes.
Mice are opportunists, but they are shortsighted.
They nibble through the foundation of a house and act shocked when it crashes down on them. ”
She stood and wandered around the office.
“You exist out of the kindness of my hollow chest,” she said.
“How have your books been doing these last few weeks? The madness of the city—it’s been good for you, hasn’t it?
” she asked, stopping at a shelf holding black-market-traded objects from their home country. “I can bring it all to an end.”
Karin shoved herself away from the desk. “What?”
“It’s Magic, mouse, and it’s very easy to get rid of, too.
All it would take is a night, and everything would be quiet for you.
These are new, aren’t they?” She picked up a sculpture of a woman bent over a bowl with a baby tucked to her side.
It made her think of her own mother, so she knew it would mean something to the twins, too.
“Would hate to see this sold off to a new home. But Micrea does love vulgar, exotic things. We both know.”
Kiren seemed a second from lunging at her, but his sister moved to the other side of her desk and took a seat heavily.
“Let’s negotiate,” Karin said. “What do you need us to spread?”
Esme beamed at her docile little mouse friends.
“I’m so glad you’re willing to listen to reason.
I so hate threats.” She returned to her seat and a shadow dropped her cigar into her hand.
“Janos is quite evil. It’s unfortunate, but true.
He tried to stab Isobel but was stopped just in time.
Because of the will, he cannot be punished, so our only hope is that Balthazar beats him in the Valosia.
Isobel favors him because Janos is her nephew, but she’s blind to his crimes.
Valos knows, I wouldn’t doubt if she was…
attached to him in an unholy way.” She shrugged.
“Worse yet, he hates this sort of thing—brothels, orgies, public fun. The Lake is a nightmare. And of course, the purity-obsessed prince hopes to bring that kind of torture here, to our free Amaris. He must be stopped.”
“And how much of this is truth?” Karin asked, taking down Esme’s story on a piece of paper.
“A bit too much for my comfort.”
“I didn’t know you had comfort,” Kiren murmured, looking up at Esme through his lashes. “How does this help your boy?”
“Well, the Valosia is the next trial. The heirs take turns fighting the competitors. The nobles vote on these match-ups,” Esme said.
“You want them to vote to give Janos all the strongest opponents?” Karin asked, puffing on her cigar.
“Of course not,” Esme said, and flattened a hand to her chest. “I simply want those with the power of a vote to make informed choices.” If Isobel was planning to use those magical animals, then the man matched up against them would surely perish. Esme would make sure that man was Janos.
“A paragon of fairness,” Karin drawled.
“Exactly.” Esme leaned back in her chair and took another drag on her smoke.
“I know this is a bit of a task. However, if it’s done right, I have a little place in North Amaris.
Not nearly as big as this one, but it’s got good bones.
The title is in my name, but I rarely use it.
” She regarded her silver nails. “You always wanted to open up shop up in the north, didn’t you? ”
The twin’s faces dropped.
“What else are you asking for that?” Karin asked.
“Nothing. I just want you to know that I value your work.” Esme rose from her chair. “I always help my friends, little mice. And I keep them much better paid than any royal ever could.”
A shadow worked into the crack of the door and popped it open, and Esme slithered out of the office, tossing away her cigar the second she was down the steps.
Work done. Now, she could have a bit of fun.