The Unwilling - Kelly Braffet Page 0,38

bunch of women could form an army worth anything. Had an uncle who used to tell such stories when I was a child. A drunken idiot like the one I wasted my time on this afternoon. Of course, the wine wasn’t a waste. I’ve been drinking Sevedran all afternoon. Makes this taste like cat piss. You ever had Sevedran?”

“It comes from the other side of the Barriers, doesn’t it?”

“That it does.” Arkady made a satisfied noise and settled deeper into his chair. “Even the courtiers hardly ever see it, but today this cunning young courtier creature convinced the wine steward to break a few bottles free. Twinkled her pretty blue eyes and purred at him that she loved it most specially and even that stingy old bastard couldn’t tell her no.” He shook his head. “Probably doesn’t hurt that she’s got young Lord Gavin in her pocket, if what I hear is true.”

Nate felt a faint flare of alarm. The fewer pockets Elban’s heir spent time in, the easier his task would be. “Is that an accomplishment?”

“Meh. He’ll go after anything that sparkles at him. Lord Elban, too—although they never seem to like his attention much, once they’ve got it.” Arkady’s smile was unpleasant. “But this one’s smart. Porterfield girl. They’re all crafty.”

“Her family is from this neighborhood?”

Arkady laughed. “They own this neighborhood, boy. It’s bloody named for them. Quick as thieves, the lot of them. I remember this one’s father, in the old days. Vicious. Wouldn’t cross him.” There was admiration in the old man’s voice. “And his sister! Oh, the lady courtiers, boy. Particularly those with the coin to afford rooms inside. Nothing like what you see out here. Not that I could ever get under one of the Porterfield girls’ skirts, but there were others. Less proud. There used to be this drug from over the Barriers. Nowadays, they use those drops, and they get hooked if they use enough, but I think half of them are just in it to show off their vials. That drug, though—oh, they would just tremble for it, those courtiers. An excellent cure for pride, that was.”

“What was the drug?”

“Who knows? I had a man who brought it into the city for me, special. Lord Elban held most of it, but I always managed to keep a bit on me to grease the wheels. Then one day, my man was supposed to show up and didn’t. Supply dried up. Had a lot of sick courtiers for a while. Sick and desperate. Couldn’t be convinced that I didn’t have any, some of them. Willing to do anything for it. An interesting time. That was back before Lady Clorin died, of course.”

“You knew Lady Clorin?”

“That one.” Arkady rolled his eyes. “Always crying, always sick.” Then he seemed to realize what he was saying and hastily added, “Poor thing, with all her dead babies. Sad.”

“Two of them lived, though. And the foundling.”

A hard glint came into Arkady’s eyes. “Indeed.”

“Indeed?” Nate kept his voice neutral.

“That foundling doesn’t belong inside. A place for everything and everything in its place.” Arkady leaned forward. The smell of wine on his breath nearly made Nate’s eyes water. “I’ll tell you something. Give you a piece of professional advice. You know why magi in Highfall only treat courtiers and merchants?”

“Because they can pay.”

“Well, yes. That. But not just that.” Arkady jerked his head toward the window. “All those people out there, the scrabblers and thieves and laborers. They’re necessary. They’re the bones that keep Highfall standing. But they’re no use to us weak.”

Nate blinked in surprise. “Yes. I’ve been thinking that. I see children in the streets with sun-starvation—it’s easy to treat. There’s an oil made of junk fish—”

But Arkady was shaking his head. “No, no, no. See here, boy. There’s two things we, as magi, can do for the scrabblers. We can treat each and every one of them, like the Elenesians do, at our own expense, and keep them healthy and strong. We’d never do anything else, of course, and the healthier they are, the more they breed. Inside two generations we’d have more workforce than we have jobs. We’d also have more bodies than we have houses and more mouths than we have food.”

“We could build more,” Nate said. “Grow more.”

“Not if the courtiers have any say in it, thank you. They’ve got the place divided up just the way they want it. All the right people are powerful and all the wrong ones aren’t. No, better

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