Chapter 25 Kasira #2
“It is my turn to handle Kalish duties, so I will confer with His Majesty’s aides regarding the incident, but I fear they might not be receptive.
” As they stood up, Talthari removed their spectacles, which left imprints in the dark skin of their sloping nose.
“I was informed this morning that Kalthos is refusing to send its tribute.”
A murmur went about the table, and even Kasira knew enough to be surprised by this.
In acknowledgment of the Library’s vital role, each country sent a yearly tribute with goods specific to their economy and a small tax.
Ayador shipped pouches of kyda crystals or bags of coffee beans; Jacara sent crates of cinderwood or barrels of mylak.
Riviair gave them rare herbs and seeds of edible plants, while Miraval shared its latest technological advances.
Kalthos only ever sent barrels of barley.
It was a meager offering, but the Library had accepted it for decades as a sign of peace. To deny that was to upset a status quo centuries in place, but Vera would do more than ruffle a few feathers if Kasira succeeded.
Allaster pressed a hand to his temple, his frustration palpable. He seemed to summon the words that came next from some deep, unending part of himself. “Set up a meeting with Ambassador Vera. Is there anything else from Kalthos?”
“There are reports the quakes have worsened, and another vylor mine has run dry.”
Allaster’s frustration gathered in the set of his jaw. “And Jacara?”
As the meeting progressed, each mage delivering their update—the Riviairens invited them to visit the coastal palace, Ambric requested Allaster to meet him in Spenshire—Kasira began to recognize the patterns of the conversation.
She had never been so embroiled in the world of politics as she was in this meeting, yet it was starkly familiar to her.
Like a con, politics relied on a delicate balance of perception, fed by facades, lies, and manipulations.
Ayador was mostly indifferent to beasts and so stayed neutral in the matter of the Kalish slaughter.
Therefore, if Kalthos thought Ayador was protecting the Library, Ayador would be drawn into a conflict the queendom had spent decades avoiding.
That meant the Ayadese would now be working to convince Kalthos of their lack of involvement, and the Library would have to find a means of pacifying Kalthos after the kingdom’s refusal to send tribute.
In contrast, Jacara deeply respected beasts and so had closed trade to Kalthos after long years of negotiation attempts failed to regulate the beast killings.
If the Library began entertaining Kalish interests regarding beasts, Jacara wouldn’t stay silent.
Allaster couldn’t give too much to appease Kalthos without increasing tensions with Jacara, but neither could Miraval ignore the Kalish position without risking further attack.
Meanwhile, Riviair relied on trading routes through Kalthos for Ayadese goods, since Jacara taxed foreign trade through its roads to such a degree that most Ayadese merchants refused to travel through there.
Automatically allying with the Library to prevent a Kalish attack would have ramifications for Riviair and Ayador.
It was a game of give and take where each party recalibrated with every minute revelation about their opponent. But with each piece of news the council gained about Kalthos, it became clearer and clearer that Allaster was losing.
EVERYONE FILED OUT of the council room at the end of the meeting save Elyae. She cornered Allaster, brandishing a slip of paper as she spoke in a furious whisper. Kasira slowed her steps, anticipation of what was to follow heightening her senses.
She had just reached the doorway when Allaster called, “Eirlana? A moment.”
There was some discomfort in his tone she hadn’t predicted. If anything, she had expected the same smugness currently framing Elyae’s expression, but he actually seemed … upset?
Kasira came back inside the room, affecting confusion. “Yes?”
“I knew you were no good.” Elyae all but thrust the paper in her face. “I told him.”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” Kasira replied evenly. “I’m not very good at a lot of things.”
Elyae slammed the paper down on the table. “I found your message.”
All is proceeding accordingly.
“I’m not sure I follow,” Kasira said, though she did so perfectly. “I didn’t write that.”
“I saw someone take a note out of a book one night, and I’ve seen you heading up to that same area more than once.” Elyae’s satisfaction grew with each word she spoke. “I’ve been trying to catch you since then.”
I know, Kasira thought. Which was why she had let Elyae follow her, let her discover the book she had been placing notes in, though she had long ago stopped using it for her real messages.
Summoning a quill, she rewrote the same four words beneath the original in Eirlana’s left-handed script.
All is proceeding accordingly.
Then she turned the page about to face them. “My handwriting looks nothing like that.” Where hers flourished and spun, the writing on the note was short and choppy. Kasira’s gaze dropped to the small journal in Elyae’s pocket that she carried everywhere. “What about yours?
Elyae recoiled. “What?”
“You’ve been out to get me since I arrived here.” Kasira wove a light tone of exasperation into her voice. “At every step you’ve tried to undermine me, to make sure no one trusts me. Why are you so determined to make it look like I’m the enemy?”
“Because you are!” Elyae turned pleadingly to Allaster, whose expression hadn’t changed. “Listen to me, please. She isn’t to be trusted!”
Allaster studied them both. There came a point in every con where a mark made what Thane had called the cardinal choice.
The point at which the mark walked away, toppling the house of cards you had built your ruse around, or committed themselves fully.
She hadn’t known for certain when Elyae would accuse her, but the mage was always going to be the question she posed to Allaster.
Finally, Allaster asked, “May I see your journal, Elyae?” She stared at his outstretched hand. He waved it, and the journal materialized in his palm. He flicked it open despite her choked sound of protest, but he only lined up the note alongside the journal.
The handwriting matched perfectly.
Kasira had made sure it would. It helped that there was nothing particularly unordinary about the girl’s writing, or else she might have questioned why a note written in her own hand had been shoved into a random book.
She probably hadn’t even stopped to consider it, knowing as Kasira did that she hadn’t put it there.
“I didn’t—that’s not—” Elyae spluttered, staring at the two sets of writing.
Allaster scrubbed a hand along his jaw. “Give us a moment, Elyae.”
“Please, I—” She broke off at a look from Allaster, and in that instant, she seemed so incredibly young. Young enough that Kasira felt a tug of remorse for tricking her this way, for showing her that truth and earnestness were not enough to survive in this game.
How else will she learn? came Loraya’s voice, but the words only made Kasira sicker, because this was not a lesson she wanted to teach.
Elyae retreated a step, her horror melting into an unbridled fury that she thrust at Kasira. “This isn’t over,” she warned, grabbed her journal, and stormed from the room.
“Are we back to this again?” Kasira asked with a sigh. “I told you there was a spy in your midst.”
“And I believed you,” Allaster replied coolly. The energy from the coffee seemed to have left him, and he looked as though he wanted to collapse into his chair. “What I am about to tell you does not leave this room.”
Kasira let her mask of indignation break, replacing it with uncertainty. “What is it?”
With a wave of his hand, a thin silver bracelet materialized atop the note—the one Kasira had placed in the feed shed.
“Fen found Elyae’s bracelet in the feed shed, near the grain mix for Benlo.
Elyae doesn’t have any feeding responsibilities, so there’s no reason for her to have been in there, unless—”
“Unless she poisoned Benlo,” Kasira finished for him. “She was trying to frame me, just like she tried to instigate me into fighting in the arena, and just like she’s trying to do now.”
It was as if hearing her voice his suspicions finally made them real. Allaster gave a pained grimace, and though she knew she shouldn’t let up, that this was the moment she had carefully orchestrated, the look on his face made her hesitate, if only for a moment.
Then reality came crashing back, and she followed through. “I told you I was the distraction. When you started to trust me, it made sense the real spy would want to cast doubt on me. The more time you wasted trying to prove I was your enemy, the less you would see the real thing.”
“Elyae is not a spy,” he rasped, tearing his hands through his hair until the ends stood up like errant feathers. “She can’t be. She’s as dedicated to the Library as any mage. More so.”
“You don’t know what they promised her,” she insisted gently. “For all you know, she’ll be the next Librarian if she helps them.”
The line landed exactly as she hoped. She wasn’t the only one who had noticed Elyae’s yearning for more responsibility, but Kasira had pressed far enough. The rest was up to Allaster.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” he said at last. “But I won’t believe this until I have proof of it.”
It was better than nothing. Elyae might still be here, but she had effectively been neutralized. Allaster wouldn’t believe a thing she said now. But more importantly, this had been the last test of Allaster’s newfound trust. He’d chosen Kasira, believed her.
It had taken two near-death experiences and nearly as many months, but Allaster St. Archer, Librarian of Amorlin, trusted her.
That should have satisfied her, should have been nothing more than another step closer to her goal, to her new life.
It should not have left her feeling as if she had carved a gaping hole in her chest.
For earning Allaster’s trust meant only one thing: It was time to move on to the next stage of her plan.