CASPIAN
I shove aside the anger I feel towards Aldric as I head deeper into the bowels of the castle.
I had planned to leave the dinner early anyway—when an event like this is going on, it’s the perfect opportunity to make a run on the treasury.
The hallways grow narrow and dank as I descend.
An older man with thick grey hair and a neatly trimmed beard to match, materializes out of the shadows and falls into step with me.
“Heard your brother was an ass tonight.”.
“You say that like it’s not his default personality, Thaddeus,” I mutter.
The old General chuckles in agreement. He practically raised me growing up and after the scandal , when he caught me in a rage about the injustice of it all, he looked me dead in the eye and asked what I was going to do about it.
I’m convinced he’s really the only reason why I’ve been able to avoid detection for this long.
His network runs far deeper than mine and has far more nefarious goals than just to save displaced citizens.
What those goals are, he won’t tell me—which, for now, I’m perfectly happy being in the dark about.
We reach the doors to the treasury. They’re small, nondescript and old.
Not at all what you’d expect standing between oneself and the entirety of the kingdom’s wealth.
The two guards standing watch bow deeply to me and salute Thaddeus smartly before they immediately fade off into one of the side hallways where the guard house sits.
We enter the treasury unhindered where several men are already busy loading crates and funneling them into the back tunnels for extraction to a secondary location.
My quartermaster, Van, breaks off and walks up to us, wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
“Captain,” he nods to me. “General.” He’s around my age, a few inches shorter and not as filled out, often looking more scholar than seafarer. He gestures to the crates behind him.
“These are the last of them. We’ll be done in under thirty,” he says, but he still looks concerned. “We’re reaching a point where we’ll be making a real dent in here if we continue at this volume.”
I nod, seeing for myself the sparseness of the space. This entire cavernous room used to be brimming full of gold, jewels and treasure from all over the Seven Landings.
“We’ll need to start skimming off the tax collections then,” Thaddeus says. “I’ll see to it. After next month’s haul, my men will have the tax withholdings delivered to your warehouse. This was always a temporary solution, not to mention risky.”
The number of times we’d nearly been caught is too numerous to count, so I’m looking forward to skimming off the top of the wealth before it hits this place. Plus there’s a certain kind of poetic justice in having the forcefully collected tax money go back to helping the people it was taken from.
“When do you sail next?” Thaddeus asks.
“Tomorrow night.”
“The ship and crew will be ready, Captain,” Van supplies. “However, there was an issue with the Seraphine . She was attacked—”
Thaddeus runs a hand over his face. I grind my teeth in irritation, already anticipating what’s coming—
“They say it was Blackwell,” Van continues. “She was empty but he didn’t believe the Captain when he insisted he wasn’t a slaver. Said since it was a De’Vero vessel it didn’t much matter.”
“That man sure gets around,” I mutter.
Thaddeus frowns. “If he’s going after De’Vero ships we could have a problem. Did he sink her?”
“Aye,” Van says grimly. “Left the Captain tied to the mast while he burned the ship. Luckily they were right off the coast of Basroy and the survivors made it to shore.”
“The men didn’t fight back?”
Van raises his eyebrows as he looks at me incredulously. “You want them to fight the Stormbreaker?”
“Well, I want them to do something ,” I say sourly. “Instead of just sacrificing a ship to him without at least some resistance. Jesus—he’s not a god. ”
“His reputation—”
“Yeah, I know his reputation, I just had to sit through dinner where his name was dropped there too,” I interrupt. “Following orders didn’t seem to work out too well for the Captain anyway, did it?”
Van makes a sound of agreement. “Even so, having fewer merchants and more soldiers might help.”
I look to Thaddeus in exasperation.
“I can supply a few extra men on each ship,” he says. “It won’t look suspicious with Blackwell prowling around our trade lines more frequently.”
“Do it,” I demand. “The last thing I need is to be harassed by a glorified vigilante—I thought he was supposed to be a pirate, not some savior for the downtrodden.”
“You know the rumors,” Thaddeus shrugs. “De’Vero is the reason he’s a pirate, apparently. I’d be careful, your highness, no telling what he’ll do if he stumbles upon an actual prince of the House De’Vero.”
A rub my hand over my face, disappointed to discover my wine buzz is fading rapidly.
“He’d kill me, Thaddeus,” I say in annoyance. “That’s what he’d do.”
Concern creases Thaddeus’ forehead and his lips purse at my nonchalance. “Maybe you shouldn’t sail with the ships anymore.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t suggest that,” I sigh. “Just give me a few more soldiers, I’ll be fine.”
“Good thing we fly the Black,” Van supplies. “Maybe it will deter him?”
“He kills first and asks questions later,” I shrug. “Either way we’re fucked if we run into him so let’s hope we don’t.”