hand with hers. "Patience. Once we contact Gaius, he will protect your family. He has every reason to do so."
Bitter, old sadness washed through Isana, and the ring on the chain about her throat suddenly felt very heavy. "I'm sure he has the best of intentions."
Serai's back straightened slightly, and Isana sensed a sudden wash of comprehension and suspicion from the courtesan. "Isana," Serai said quietly, dark eyes intent, "you know Gaius. Don't you."
Isana felt a flutter of panic in her belly, but she held it from her voice, expression, and posture as she rose and paced away. "Only by reputation."
Serai rose to follow her, but before she could speak the courtyard was filled with the sound of the house bells ringing. Voices called out from the street outside, and only a moment later, an elderly but robust-looking man in fine robes limped quickly into the garden.
"Sir Nedus," Serai said, performing a graceful curtsey.
"Ladies," Nedus replied. Tall and slim, Nedus had been a Knight Captain for thirty years before retiring, and his every precise and efficient movement still reflected it. He bowed slightly to each of them, and grimaced, an expressive gesture given his bushy silver eyebrows. "Did you drink all my wine again, Serai?"
"I may have left a splash in the bottle," she said, walking to the little table. "Please, my lord, sit down."
"Steadholder?" Nedus asked.
"Of course," Isana replied.
Nedus nodded his thanks and thumped down on the stone bench around the fountain, rubbing at his hip with one hand. "I hope you don't think me rude."
"Not at all," she assured him. "Are you in pain?"
"Nothing that doesn't happen every time I spend hours on my feet dealing with fools," Nedus said. "I must have talked for hours." Serai passed Nedus a glass of wine, and the old knight downed it in a long swallow. "Furies bless you, Serai. Be a dear child and-"
Serai drew the bottle from behind her back, smiling, and refilled Nedus's glass.
"Wonderful woman," Nedus said. "If you could cook, I'd buy your contract."
"You couldn't afford me, darling," Serai said, smiling, and touched his cheek in a fond gesture.
Isana refrained from voicing a curse aloud and settled for asking, "What happened, sir?"
"Bureaucracy," Nedus spat. "The First Counselor's office was packed to the roof. If someone had set the building on fire, half the fools of the Realm would have burned to ash together and left us the richer for it."
"That many?" Serai asked.
"Worse than I've ever seen," Nedus confirmed. "The office wanted every request in writing, and they weren't supplying paper and ink to manage it with. The Academy refused to give any away during examinations, every shop in the Citadel was sold dry of them, and errand boys were gouging applicants for a bloody fortune to run and get them in the Merchants' Quarter, bless their avaricious hearts."
"How much did it cost you?" Serai asked.
"Not a copper ram," Nedus replied. "Something strange was up. The First Counselor's demands were just an excuse."
"How do you know'?" Isana asked.
"Because I bribed a scribe in the office with a dozen golden eagles to find out," Nedus replied.
Isana blinked at Nedus. Twelve golden coins could buy supplies for a steadholt for a year or more. It was a small fortune.
Nedus finished the second glass of wine and set it aside. "Word came down that no further audiences with the First Lord were to be granted," he replied. "But that he'd commanded the First Counselor not to reveal the fact. The fool was stuck with figuring out how to prevent anyone from seeing the First Lord without giving them an excuse as to why. And from the looks of the folk in the office, he didn't expect to last the day without someone setting his hair on fire."
Serai frowned and exchanged a long glance with Isana.
"What does it mean?" Isana asked quietly.
"That we cannot reach him that way," Serai said. "Beyond that, I am not sure. Nedus, did you learn anything at all about why the First Lord would do such a thing?"
Nedus shook his head. "Rumor was strong among the Counselor's staff that the First Lord's health had finally broken, but no one knew anything solid." He took the bottle from Serai's hand and drained the rest of it in a single pull. "I tried to find Sir Miles and speak to him, but he was nowhere to be found."
"Sir Miles?" Isana asked.
"Captain of the Royal Guard and the Crown Legion," Serai supplied.