The sound of the door opening drew Neph’s attention from the map he had been studying. His eyes narrowed as he recognized Foster and Noble. Both were commanders in Valor’s knights and both were highly irritating company in his opinion. By the expression on Noble’s face and the way Foster was pushing him forward, Neph guessed they were going to be even more irritating today.
“Tell him,” Foster commanded with an expression of carefully controlled anger written on his tanned face. Foster was typically as immaculate as Valor in his appearance, but today his short golden hair was tousled and his clothing looked scuffed and dirty. Judging by his appearance, getting Noble into the room hadn’t been an easy thing to do.
“No, don’t tell me. Wait and tell Valor when he gets back,” Neph snapped before either of them could speak again. He turned his attention back to the map hoping both men would recognize the dismissal and not trouble him with further conversation. He was rather curious about Foster’s disheveled appearance, but not curious enough to deal with the headache that would likely accompany the explanation. “With all due respect, Sir, this is too important to wait,” Foster said in a louder voice.
“Then tell Sovann. I am a guest in Merro, not a Lord here,” Neph grumbled without bothering to look up. “You are better suited to this than Sovann, Lord Delvay,” Foster pressed.
Neph exhaled loudly, letting his annoyance show through clearly and leaned heavily back in his chair. Glaring at both men he raised a hand and motioned for them to continue. “It is obvious you aren’t going to go away until I listen, so please tell me your woes. If I think it’s something that Sovann could have handled or could have waited for Valor’s return, though, I’m going to kill you both.” He spoke in a matter of fact tone and looked directly at Noble.
“It can wait,” Noble announced with a quick nod and turned for the door.
“No, it can’t,” Foster snapped as he grabbed his friend by the arm and spun him back to face Neph once more. “Tell him or I will kill you myself,” he growled.
Neph raised an eyebrow, eyeing Foster with interest. He had heard the man threaten others before, but never Noble. The two of them were best friends and if Foster was threatening him now it must be important. “Spit it out, Noble, before I get even more annoyed,” Neph ordered in a calmer voice.
“There was a spy in Merro a couple of days ago,” Noble said and turned to leave again. Foster caught him roughly once more and shoved him back toward Neph’s desk. Noble sighed heavily looking from his friend to Neph and nodded reluctantly. “Fine,” he grumbled and cleared his throat. “She found me in one of the taverns and tried her best to get me drunk. She was fit and entirely fuckable so I played along,” Noble continued.
“How eloquent, Noble,” Neph observed dryly.
The knight shrugged unapologetically in response. “She was asking a lot of questions about you and Jala, and then Zoelyn.” “Did you answer them?” Neph cut in sharply before he could continue.
“Uhh, kind of, yes,” Noble stammered and shrugged again. “I told her you were here because your people had exiled you and you were going to be Jala’s steward now,” he spoke with obvious hesitation and from the glances he was giving the door he was ready to bolt at any moment.
“Steward,” Neph repeated coolly. “Please continue, this is getting better and better.” He waved his hand as he spoke, then crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the knight. The knowledge that a spy had been in Merro was important, but he had a feeling he was going to kill Noble by the end of his story.
“Hmm,” Noble murmured and took another step back from the desk. “Well, I sort of told her that Jala was preparing for an attack on Arovan proper and was on her way to Seravae to ally with the Reaver faction and that’s why she didn’t take Ash. She knew Ash would support his mother. As for Zoelyn, well…” he paused again and glared at Foster. “I told her that she was a Rivasan Magebreaker and that we were secretly allied with her against Avanti. She wanted to know if Zoey could kill with a touch and I assured her it only worked on plants, which is why we recruited her to our side,” he paused again and rubbed the back of his neck as he took another hesitant step back from Neph’s desk. “I didn’t want her causing trouble for Zoey so I kind of elaborated a lot on her.”
“How so?” Neph demanded. He narrowed his eyes as Noble took another step back glancing once more at the door. “I fail to see why a Rivasan plant killer has you ready to bolt, Noble,” he added dryly, his gaze flicking to Foster who had a grim expression.
“Well, she probably didn’t believe me. At that point I was acting pretty drunk,” Noble began with a nervous smile. “I told her Jala had plans to collapse the Avanti economy by wiping out their crops with Zoey and that in return for her work she was offering Zoey citizenship in Merro and a marriage.” Noble swallowed heavily and grinned sheepishly at Neph. “To you,” he added softly.
“What?” Neph snarled. “Are you a flaming moron? The Rivasans destroyed my homeland. Do you actually think the spy believed I was going to marry one of the bastards?” His voice rose as he half stood from his chair and glared at Noble. “Did it ever once cross your mind that maybe you should have arrested her and brought her to Valor rather than feeding her full of your bullshit? We could have questioned her and figured out who she was serving.”