Bad to the Throne, page 37
part #15 of The Good Guys Series
“That kind of information sound dangerous.”
“It could be.”
“And it’s the kind that you cannot speak about?”
“Oh, I can speak about it. It just might be better if not too many people knew about it.”
“Can you tell me what it is?”
I passed her the notes I made.
She raised an eyebrow as she took them.
“Are these–” she started.
“Not actual documents,” I interrupted. “Just a summary.”
She nodded, and gave her full attention to reading. I glanced out the window and realized we were stopped. Waiting in line again.
It wasn’t that a long note, so it only took her a moment to read it. And if my handwriting wasn’t so shit, it’d’ve been even faster.
“That’s…” she didn’t finish her sentence, just shook her head.
“A lot,” I replied.
“Are you sure it’s true?”
“Reasonably. Conflict of interest in terms of who gave it to me, so it’s not like there isn’t a reason to lie. And yet…”
“And yet?”
“Seems to be a lot of proof.”
“Unless it’s all forged.”
“True. But I’m not sure this would… I mean, what’s the end goal in that case?”
“Same as now. Have you do the dirty work.”
“Which is?”
“Take out a potential candidate for Emperor?”
“But I don’t think I’m going to do that.”
“I agree. But I don’t think most people know that you’re not that type of person.”
“They think I’m just a bloodthirsty killer?”
“That does seem to be the general perception amongst your peers.”
“My peers suck.”
“I’m your peer.”
“Present company excluded.”
“Oh, much better.”
“You know I don’t think of you like them.”
“Well, I appreciate it. I suppose.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“Whatever you do… I mean… I don’t know. If you don’t do anything, you risk never being able to do something.”
“You mean if she wins—”
“Yes, exactly. If she wins–”
“She erases everything.”
“Right. Including you. Because this… if she knows you know what really happened, she’ll destroy everything to keep anyone else from knowing. Because she won’t want anyone to know of her connections to, well, that other place.”
“Even after she gets the throne?”
“Katja doesn’t have the same sort of base — she has no real family house. So she could get voted out.”
“Seems like a long shot.”
“Working with an enemy to undermine the Empire seems like it would do a lot to unite nobles against her. Especially if all the families realize they get another chance at the throne.”
“Don’t they ever get tired of all this nonsense?”
“Of course not. To them, it is the greatest game.”
“And to you?”
“It’s… I’m intrigued by the process. But I also appreciate that I have a good seat to watch the drama without being overly involved.”
“So no voting for you?”
“I mean, I suppose you could, but I doubt you’d swing enough votes to get me elected. And this pleasant banter does not help you decide what to do.”
“Any chance you’d just tell me what to do?”
“First off, when has that ever worked with you? Second, this is too big for me to decide.”
“Ah, but you’re an advisor, so–”
“So I would advise you to think hard about this.”
“And what would your advice be on an action?”
Eliza sighed, and folded her hands on her lap.
We moved through the gate, going toward the entrance.
“Saved by the bellhop,” I said as we came to a stop and a footman opened the door.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“Never mind,” I said. “Do you think that you could get that note to our mutual friend without anyone noticing?”
“No. But I will try.”
“You think he’s of sufficient rank to give me advice?”
“Yes, but he is also of sufficient will to do what he wants with this information, not necessarily what you want.”
I pulled her arm into mine and escorted her along the carpeted runner leading into another monstrous mansion.
“This is not what I’m good at,” I leaned in to whisper.
“If there is a test of sorts happening here,” she whispered back, “then what do you think would be the result if Valamir gets involved?”
“They’ll think I’ll run to him at the first sign of trouble.”
She smiled and nodded at an older woman who waved at us.
“Probably,” she said softly.
“So I should figure this out myself?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but I almost miss Ragnar.”
“Worried you can’t throw me?”
“Not in the slightest,” I said. For giggles, I put my arm around her waist and lifted her up so she couldn’t each the ground. And I let her glide like that all the way into the buffet.
93
While Eliza was busy lining up bachelors for her dance card, I sat at a corner table and ate, allowing thoughts to percolate in my head.
This wasn’t a good use of my time — this was a distraction. It didn’t make sense for Baeder to have done what Regina accused her of. Why would she? There was no gain.
Unless, perhaps, she wasn’t the one who wanted to do it. If part of her deal with Mahrduhm was fucking with me, then it could make some sense. But why?
The first question that needed answering was simple: was the princess telling the truth? If the documents were legit, then Baeder was behind the attack. If not… then why blame Baeder? Just for me to remove Baeder from throne contention? That made little sense because Baeder wasn’t doing well enough to bother with. So wouldn’t it be a better idea to send me after, say, Edgelord? Or try to turn me against Nadya?
Unless that wasn’t the case. Because what if this was truth, and it was more about what I did than getting the throne? If the cult believed I wanted in, they’d also believe I would vote for the princess. And if I shifted all my votes, that’d put her above that magic majority mark.
So this wasn’t about the vote. Not directly. And if it wasn’t about getting rid of a candidate, it had to really be what the princess said: seeing what I did.
Which meant the real question was, what did the cult want to see me do? How would they approve of me handling this issue? What did cults want?
I didn’t exactly have a ton of experience with cults, obviously, but I did ride with a motorcycle club for nearly half my life. And we spent quite a bit of time looking for and at new members. While I wasn’t directly in the membership pipeline of the club, we weren’t so big that I didn’t get involved sometimes. As Sergeant at Arms, I had to spend quite a bit of my time and energy both bailing prospects out of problems, and kicking prospects out of the club. We looked at a lot of different things, but the first was always fit. Would a prospect fit in with the rest of the club? But being that the bulk of the cult was secret, and I didn’t know who the fuck was in the cult, I couldn’t exactly learn more about my fit.
The second thing we looked at was what we thought the prospect could do for the club. I knew what I could do for the cult, and I had a sense they knew it as well. They were basing it on the public perception of me. Which meant that I needed to do what they thought I would do, not what I might actually do.
But a cult wasn’t a club. In a cult there was always someone at the top running things with a firm hand. Not to say that the club didn’t have a president and someone controlling it, but there was a visibility to the process. The cult wouldn’t want someone to come in and shake things up. They’d want someone who would be dependable and moldable, right?
While ruminating on the problem, I didn’t notice a whole lot of what was going on around me, so when Eliza sat down next to me, setting a plate of meat in front of me, I jumped a little.
But my seat held.
“Shit,” I said.
“Deep in thought, I see?” Eliza said.
“I, um, yeah. And thank you.”
“Of course. Did you come up with anything?”
“Is it safe to talk here?”
She held up her hand and pointed to her thumb, which now sported a new ring.
“I borrowed something from Valamir. He said it will keep whatever is said between us silent.”
“Nice of him. Did you tell him what we had to talk about?”
“I told him it’d be clear soon enough, and that was enough for him. Did you come up with a course of action that doesn’t involve going to Valamir and invalidating that test of yours that you don’t seem to want to tell me about in any detail where I could actually help?”
“I think you may have just put together one of Glaton’s longest questions of all time.”
“Thank you.”
“Not exactly a compliment?”
“I take it as one anyway.”
“Great.”
I took a big bite of the meat, which was tasty and also good for stalling.
“I have a bit of an idea of what to do,” I finally said. “I think it’s paramount that I actually confront Katja Baeder, which means I probably need to find her.”
“Find her?”
“Yeah, is she here?”
“This is her house.”
“It’s what?”
“This is her ball.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I am not. I thought you knew.”
“Obviously not.”
“Yes. Well, yes.”
“Then I guess I’m confronting her in her home.”
“And then what?”
“I see what she says?”
“She’ll deny it.”
“Probably. But isn’t that telling?”
“Doesn’t confronting her give her time to weasel something together?”
“Weasel something together?”
“I was trying to say weasel out of it and then I thought it might be better to say that she could pull something together and my mouth was already–”
“Got it. And yeah, maybe. But what am I supposed to do? Defenestrate the treasonous shit?”
“That might work, though.”
“A bit like cold-blooded murder, though.”
“If she was really behind that attack, then she deserves it. Coggeshall lost a lot of lives there. It cost us in blood. Why shouldn’t she pay for what she did?”
“Because despite my bodycount, I’m not the executioner.”
“I think you can make an exception for her.”
“Maybe I will.”
“I think you should.”
“You don’t usually advocate for murder.”
“If she’s done what you think she has, she’ll be willing to do much worse to get what she wants. And it’s entirely possible she’s done other things that are just as vile that we haven’t even figured out. What if she was behind what happened at Tolbiacum?”
“Let’s not add crimes to her tally that we don’t know are hers.”
“I’m not, but something happened there. Someone did it, and–”
“And it might have been her. It makes sense, just–”
“Don’t add to it.”
“Exactly. This is enough to, I don’t know, confront her and deal with the fallout.”
Valamir walked by our table. Not like right by our table, but near enough that we made eye contact for a second. Nadya strode at his side, and they had very serious looks on their faces.
“Nadya’s here with Valamir?” I asked.
Eliza nodded as she sipped a bubbly something.
“Isn’t she dating that elf?”
“I’ve heard something along those lines, yes.”
“Why isn’t he here?”
“You’d have to ask her. Or Valamir. I’m sure they know.”
“Huh.”
“The princess is here too, if you want to have a dance with her again.”
She pointed over my shoulder, and I saw the princess in a group of her people, having a discussion.
“So everyone’s here?”
“Most everyone. I imagine there is a lot of vote-trading going on tonight, if what Valamir says is true. He thinks there will be some big shake ups in the Senate tomorrow.”
“Does that factor into the timing of what I got?”
“Probably. If this group is at all intelligent and paying attention to things, they’d have given it to you at a good time for them.”
I popped a strawberry in my mouth and enjoyed the intense explosion of flavor. I needed to find Katja and get things over with. I wasn’t going to figure anything out without confronting her. I’d just go round and round otherwise.
Perhaps the god of luck was looking down on things, because just as I was looking around the buffet and into the ballroom in hopes of finding Lady Baeder, one of her footmen arrived at our table and gave a small bow to me.
“Your grace,” he said, “her Ladyship, the Countess Baeder, seeks to have a moment of your time. If you would.”
“I would,” I said, standing. “If you’ll excuse me, Lady Northwoods.”
“But of course, your grace,” Eliza said. “I will be with Lady Glaton in the annex, if it please you.”
“I, um, where’s the annex?”
“I will see that you find Lady Northwoods at the conclusion of your visit with Lady Baeder,” the footman said helpfully — and I think a little hopefully — not quite touching me in his attempt to get me to move, but very much pressuring me to get my ass in gear.
“Great,” I said. “Let’s go.”
94
The house had a deceptively large interior, which is saying something considering how big the place looked from the outside. Lots of wide hallways with plush carpeting, and impressive lighting that didn’t seem to cast a single shadow. The crown molding looked so intricate I couldn’t imagine how it was carved, let alone hung. An enormous amount of time and resources had been spent on this building. It felt odd somehow, because I’d been told that Tollendahl was the wealthiest of the land. This place made his house look like shit.
Up on the fourth floor, right off the stairs, we came to a large wooden door.
The footman knocked twice, then opened the door, revealing a study. A small room, all things considered, with dark green carpet, a few large overstuffed armchairs, a fireplace with small fire going, and a lot of bookshelves. There was a small bar with eight crystal decanters filled with different hues of amber liquid, as well as a wide variety of tiny crystal glasses. Seated in one of the large chairs, Katja Baeder had one of the glasses in her hand, and was mid-sip as the door opened.
“His grace, the duke of Coggeshall,” the footman said as he stepped inside, holding the door for me.
I stepped into the room and gave a slight bow to Lady Baeder, assuming that was the proper thing to do in the moment.
“Your grace,” she said, holding her hand out to me, “you grace me with your presence.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Would you care to sit? Have a drink?”
“Sure,” I said, still trying to get a read on the situation.
I sat down, and the footman handed me a small crystal glass of liquor that smelled incredibly strong. I gave it a sip. It just tasted like fire.
“You may leave now,” Katja said, and I almost got to my feet before I realized she was dismissing her servant.
She waited for the door to shut, and then quaffed her drink and set the glass on the table to her right.
“We do not know each other well,” she began, “but I believe you to be a man without much in the way of guile. Someone who believes in honesty and straightforwardness.”
“I mean, sure,” I replied, although the way she phrased it didn’t sit well with me. Bit of a backhanded compliment there.
“Thus, I will get straight to the point.”
“I appreciate skipping the small talk, for sure.”
“As do I. We have not been allies so far. We have, in fact, been somewhat at odds with each other, although I find that I might have been mistaken in the alliances I sought. I am not too vain to admit that I can be wrong.”
“Always good to do that, I guess.”
“I want your votes, Duke of Coggeshall. More to the point, I need your votes. So I ask you plainly, what do you want for them?”
“For my twenty votes? You want all of them?”
“Would you split them?”
“Depends on what I could get.”
“If they are for sale, I will have them. All of them. Simply tell me what you want, and if it is within my power, which is much greater than you likely realize, you will have it.”
“What if I want something very simple?”
“Then you will have that.”
“Like, if I want the truth.”
“I tell no lies here. Ask what it is you clearly want to know.”
“Why did you attack my home?”
She tilted her head a little, and blinked at me.
“Pardon?” she asked.
“Why,” I said a little slower this time, “did you attack my home?”
“I did no such thing.”
“You also sought to blame Valamir Glaton for the attack. And were actually pretty successful in that.”
She stood up and went over to the bar, pouring herself another beverage. Though in a different glass. She drank that one down, and then poured another.
“My advisors would likely tell me to continue this charade,” she said. “That there is nothing to be gained from telling you the truth in the matter. But I’ll have you know you were targeted because you are a problem.”
“I’m a problem?”
“Of course you are. You think anyone in the Senate was prepared to have twenty more votes added? Especially to a nonce and a charlatan?”
“A nonce?”
