Excerpt: The Impress

"Father." Roddard raises his voice at last, though he is quiet, careful. "I think we are missing the most important issue."

King Eitan huffs a noise that borders on impatience. "You mean how the information fell into the hands of pirates."

"If, indeed it fell at all. Piracy has become typical on our seas."

The speaker detaches himself from a shadow in the back corners of the council room, revealing himself as the King's second advisor, Rothschild. He wears the title carefully - few know him for the master of spies, including the select council currently present in the room. Where Ser Lorcan acts openly as the generous hand of the king, Rothschild acts silently as the blade that strikes unknown at the enemies of the king.

"Your majesty," Rothschild bows, and the king humors him to speak further. "I do not suspect a leak within my network - and we were select in our choice of escort ships. If the pirates did not simply happen upon the most choice of targets by simple unluck on our parts, I expect that the information was misplaced by Farrinland."

"You can't know that." Ellard stands suddenly, glaring at Rothschild - his dislike for the spy-master is known. Though when the prince was younger, they had gotten along. Rothschild was a quiet and steady presence, and an excellent sword instructor. It followed that when Ellard had been old enough to know the secret, he had felt betrayed - he was young yet and disliked that such practices as Rothschild employed must be endorsed by the royal family. "How can we trust your men?"

Rothschild's face is a blank of emotion. He keeps a bland tone, smoothing his hands along the front of his cloak as Ellard speaks. Once, in deepest confidence, he had told Ser Lorcan that losing the boy's trust had been the second worst hurt in his life. He had used the same monotone then as he did now.

"I did not suggest that we could trust them, I suggested that I know them all to be implicitly loyal beneath the promise of money and the threat of pain." Rothschild directed his attention straight ahead, looking at the real source of authority in the room, King Eitan. "My information instead suggests that the Impress was forced to take on a partial new crew in port at Farrinland - some of her members took ill while she was berthed and were forced to remain."