Chapter 11 #2
Valerius studied her. Not panic. Calculation. A woman who had built a career on knowing when to hold leverage and when to spend it.
The light magic pulsed. Her hands twitched once against the table.
"You will tell me what I need to know," Valerius said. "The only question is whether you do it quickly enough to matter."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I take what Crosse gave me and build the case without you. You become irrelevant." He leaned forward. "Irrelevant people do not receive consideration."
The light brightened. Merrin flinched despite herself.
She was silent for a long moment.
“What do you want to know?”
"Everything."
◆◆◆
By the time Valerius left Merrin Vey's interrogation, the evening had deepened into night. She had confirmed Crosse's account and added details he had not known—secondary contacts, payment structures, the timeline of when Montrose had first approached the network.
She had also, reluctantly, given up the name of the man who had coordinated the western routing after Montrose left Ambervale.
A merchant factor named Alden Rook. Based in a trade town two days west of the city.
Not a final destination. But a waypoint. A place where sealed trunks could be transferred, routes adjusted, and a fleeing nobleman could disappear into the broader flow of western commerce.
It was more than they had that morning.
Valerius found Leon waiting in the corridor outside the holding rooms. Edric stood near the stairwell, expression unreadable.
"The third clerk," Valerius said. "Osric Thane. Is he ready?"
Leon's expression shifted. "There's been a complication."
Valerius went still. "What kind?"
"He tried to run."
Of course he did.
Leon continued. "Word reached him that Crosse and Vey had been detained. He attempted to leave through the clerk entrance twenty minutes ago. Edric intercepted him before he reached the street."
Edric nodded once. "He's secured now. Lower holding room three."
Valerius exhaled slowly. "Injury?"
"Minor. He resisted." Edric's tone was flat. "Briefly."
Good enough.
Valerius looked toward the stairwell leading back up to the main office level. Through the narrow windows he could see lamplight still burning in a few offices—clerks working late, or perhaps simply too afraid to go home while the building remained occupied by armed men and quiet interrogations.
The district office had become a cage. And the people inside it were beginning to understand that the bars were closing.
"Bring Thane up," Valerius said. "I want to know what he was running from."
◆◆◆
Osric Thane was younger than the other two. Barely twenty, with the kind of fresh-faced innocence that made Valerius wonder how someone so young had been drawn into this kind of work.
The answer, he suspected, was the same as it always was. Money. Opportunity. The belief that small crimes carried small consequences.
Thane sat in the chair with his hands cuffed in front of him, one eye already swelling from where Edric had caught him. He looked terrified.
Good.
Valerius sat across from him without preamble. "You ran."
Thane said nothing.
"Hadlin Crosse attempted to flee this morning. He was caught. Questioned. He gave up your name." Valerius's light magic rose, casting pale illumination across the table. "Merrin Vey confirmed your involvement. Secondary routing management. Seal coverage for cross-district transfers."
Thane's breath came faster. His eyes fixed on the light.
"You helped Lord Montrose leave Ambervale quietly," Valerius continued. "You altered documents to conceal his route. And when you heard that I was questioning the others, you decided your best option was to run."
Thane's voice cracked. "I didn't know what else to do."
The light pulsed. Truth, but incomplete.
"You knew enough to be afraid," Valerius said. "Which means you knew this was more than routine administrative adjustments.”
Thane looked down at his cuffed hands. "Merrin said it was just helping nobles who wanted privacy. That it wasn't illegal if no one got hurt."
A familiar excuse. One Merrin had clearly given him.
"Where did Lord Montrose go after he left the city?"
"I don't know the final destination," Thane said quickly. "I only handled the documentation for the first transfer point. Someone else took over after that."
The light pulsed again. Truth.
"Who?"
"I—" Thane swallowed. "A merchant factor. West of here. I never met him. Merrin handled that part."
"Alden Rook."
Thane's eyes widened. "Yes. How did you—"
"Merrin told me." Valerius leaned forward. "What I need from you is what happened after Montrose reached Rook's waypoint. Where the next stage routing would have taken him."
"I don't know," Thane said desperately. "I swear. My part ended with the western clearance. After that it was out of city jurisdiction."
The light flared briefly. Thane flinched.
But it confirmed what Valerius already suspected. The network had been compartmentalized. Each person knew only their piece. Crosse handled initial authorizations. Vey coordinated. Thane managed the handoff.
And someone else—Alden Rook, perhaps, or whoever came after—had taken Montrose the rest of the way.
"Write down everything you know about the western transfer," Valerius said. "Documentation you filed. Timeline. Any details Merrin mentioned about what came after." He stood. "You do not leave this room until it's complete."
Thane nodded frantically.
Valerius turned toward the door, then paused. "And Thane."
"Yes?"
"Running made this worse for you. Remember that."
He left the young clerk pale and shaking.
◆◆◆
By the time Valerius returned to the estate, the night had settled into the deep quiet hours past midnight.
Leon and Edric entered with him, both carrying the same grim focus the long hours had carved into all of them.
The sitting room was still lit, documents spread across the table where Bernard had been working.
Bernard looked up when they entered. Despite the hour, he rose at once and bowed. “Your Highness.”
"Progress?" Valerius asked.
Bernard gestured to the compiled records.
"Recent activity from all six clerks cross-referenced against Lord Montrose's known movements.
The pattern is clear. Coordinated assistance beginning three weeks ago, escalating two weeks ago with the travel inquiry, culminating in his flight five days past—the same day as the failed kidnapping attempt. "
Five days. Not long. But long enough for a man with resources and a prepared route to put significant distance between himself and pursuit.
"Destination?" Valerius asked.
"The western transfer point is confirmed—a trade town called Millhaven, two days west. A merchant factor named Alden Rook handled the handoff.
" Bernard turned a page. "After that, the trail becomes less certain.
But based on the routing patterns and the type of clearances filed, the most likely direction is further west toward the coastal trade routes. "
Valerius studied the map Bernard had marked.
Millhaven. Then west. Toward ports, merchant ships, and a dozen different ways to disappear into the broader kingdom or beyond.
“Then we go to Millhaven,” Valerius said.
Leon straightened at once. “At first light?”
“Earlier, if the horses can be made ready.”
Edric nodded. “Small party?”
“Small and fast,” Valerius said. “You, Leon, myself, and six guards I trust to keep pace.”
Bernard inclined his head. “I can provide notes on the western road and any inns or waystations likely to be useful.”
“Do so.”
For a moment, Valerius looked toward the darkened corridor where Lynara’s rooms lay quiet. “Lady Lynara will remain here.”
Bernard did not look surprised. “She will not like that.”
“No,” Valerius said, though after a moment his mouth curved faintly. “She will not.”
But he would tell her himself. He owed her that much.
And more importantly, he had learned by now that if Lynara Voss discovered decisions about her life only after they had already hardened into fact, the consequences were rarely peaceful.
But she would be safe. And that mattered more than her approval.
Bernard gathered the documents. "There's one more thing, Your Highness."
Valerius looked up.
"The interrogations revealed coordination beyond what six clerks could manage alone. Merrin Vey mentioned receiving instructions from someone higher. She did not name them, but the implication was clear."
There it was again. The shadow above the clerks. The hand that had built the network and turned it to profit long before Silas arrived to exploit it.
"Document it," Valerius said. "Everything the clerks mentioned about higher coordination. Names, hints, patterns. All of it goes into the report for Crown auditors."
Bernard bowed his head. "Understood."
Valerius looked once more at the map, at the mark indicating Millhaven, at the routes spreading west from there like branches of a tree.
Silas had five days' head start. But he had left a trail. And trails could be followed.
Valerius would find him.
It was simply a matter of time.