should be mine. Those lands deserve a true lord! Lord Gandrem has no rightful claim. Let him have the plains. He belongs with the grazing chattel.”
Alyssa stifled a smirk. If she’d meant to incite anger, she’d done exceedingly well. She’d never heard of the Kulls attempt on her father’s safehouses in Riverrun. If she had, she’d have seen Yoren’s courting in a whole new light.
“My lord, a visitor requests an audience,” said a guard as he poked his head in through the flap.
“What’s his name?” asked Theo.
“Her,” the guard said, looking a little flustered. “And she says she has no name.”
Theo let out a humorless chuckle.
“Send her in.”
Alyssa felt a bit of hope as one of the faceless women entered. She was fully clad in her black and purple wrappings, her face a mask of white cloth. By her build, she didn’t appear to be Eliora. She wasn’t sure which of the other two, though.
“I am Zusa,” the woman said, clearing that right up. “I have come to listen.”
“Listen?” asked Theo. “To what?”
“She means she needs orders,” Yoren said. He watched as shadows seemed to curl off her firm body and fade away like smoke. He shifted uncomfortably, not feeling confident or safe even though he was in the center of his own camp.
“Yes, well, we’d have those ready for you if we weren’t always being interrupted by bothersome women,” Theo said. “First Alyssa, now you. Well, since we’re all here, let us get down to business. Maynard’s got to go. Before he does, we need to find a way to reinstate Alyssa as the lawful heir to the Gemcroft estate.”
“Wills covered with blood are rarely followed,” Zusa said.
“I know that,” Theo said. “I’m a Kull, not an idiot.”
Alyssa thought they were one and the same and had to feign coughing to hide her laughter.
“There is another way,” Yoren said. “The rest of the Trifect won’t dare let one of its members appear weak for very long. If we kill Maynard and then march en force to the mansion, the others will make sure the matter is settled quickly and quietly. Who’ll give a fuck if he wrote her out of his will? She’s his own daughter, the last of his flesh and blood. There’s a thousand ways they could discredit his death wishes.”
“A good plan, though almost insulting in its simplicity,” said Theo. “I have only a hundred swords here in my name. When could we possibly storm the estate successfully? We number only a fifth of his house guards. Who knows how many mercenaries he also has on retainer?”
“When the head is gone, the body can only thrash for so long,” said Zusa.
“We have a philosopher,” Yoren said dryly.
“Is that an offer?” Theo asked. Zusa shrugged.
“We promised to do so once. We can do so again.”
“You also failed once,” said Theo. “Can you do that again?”
The shadows flared around her body. Alyssa wished she could back away from the two men. The faceless were dangerous, and to insult their professional pride and ability seemed beyond rash.
“We will not fail,” Zusa said. “Tell me when you will strike and I will tell my sisters.”
Theo scratched his chin.
“There’s only one time I can think of that we can catch the old goat unaware.”
“When?” asked Alyssa, unable to stop herself.
Theo’s grin belonged on a bear more than a human.
“The Kensgold,” he said.
Aaron was getting good at choking down his curiosity. Any time he went somewhere with his father, he was never told where they were going or for what purpose. This particular task he followed his father on was already different. They moved in daylight instead of at night.
“What if we’re recognized,” Aaron asked as they neared the more populous parts of the city. More and more merchants lined up across the sides of the street.
“We’re just one of many,” Thren said. “Don’t give anyone reason to suspect otherwise.”
Thren wore the plain gray cloak of the Spider Guild. Because of Aaron’s age, it would seem odd for him to be ranked anything higher above a cutpurse, so instead of a cloak he had a thin band of gray cloth tied around his left arm. Thren had cut Aaron’s hair short just in case some of the guard’s might remember what he looked like. The bounty on his son had lasted only a single night, and not at all according to the castle records. Still, being reckless was not something Thren was known for. He kept his hood low, and had charcoal