“I am,” Sienna said. Her lips thinned. “And we will not be investing any money either.”
“You’re assuming that Vesperian is killing his own investors,” General Pollack rumbled. He looked oddly amused. “And you’re also assuming that no one else has noticed the pattern.”
“It is obvious,” Sienna pointed out.
Her husband smiled. “I’ll give you an alternate explanation. Someone else wants Vesperian to fail. They’re killing his investors to cause problems for him.”
“They’d just have to wait for the scheme to collapse under its own weight,” Emily said, after a moment. “Why risk exposure when all they have to do is sit tight and wait?”
“If it fails,” Karan pointed out, crossly. “What happens if it succeeds?”
“It will be a long time before it makes any profits,” Emily said. “There will be no return on the investment.”
“You don’t know that,” Karan snapped.
“Karan,” her mother said.
Emily took a moment to gather her thoughts. “Vesperian is trying to build two extensions to the railway,” she said. “One runs to Swanhaven, the other to the Iron Hills. Getting the track as far as Swanhaven City will probably not pose any political problems, as the current baron is supporting the project, but the engineers will still have to bridge a number of rivers, dig tunnels and install everything from signals to stations. It took nearly a year to build the original track, which runs through smoother terrain. This one will take longer, even if there are no other problems.
“The second track will have political problems,” she added. She had no doubt of it. She’d dealt with too many noblemen who had nothing, but a name. “There are upwards of a thousand noblemen who will have to be consulted, then flattered and bribed into staying out of the way. And the terrain south of Cockatrice is even worse for railway lines. I’d be astonished if the original line could be completed in less than five years, assuming that all the political problems just…go away. Vesperian has bitten off more than he can chew.”
Karan cleared her throat. “But…”
“It will take time, also, to develop a market for the railway,” Emily added. “Merely expanding the mines would be difficult, too. I would be very surprised if the railway becomes profitable in less than a decade.”
There was a long silence. Karan looked shocked, as if she didn’t want to believe what Emily was saying; Sienna’s face was expressionless, while Caleb looked as if he was trying to hide his amusement. General Pollack and Croce didn’t seem inclined to argue. And Marian…Marian was looking contemplative.
“There are elderly couples who have invested,” Sienna said, quietly. “They won’t have a hope of starting again.”
Emily nodded. Sienna was right.
And when the music stops, Emily thought, chaos will follow.
She ate her food quickly, silently hoping she was wrong. But she doubted it. She’d seen the plans when Paren and his artisans had designed the first steam engine. It would be a long time, they’d said, before the country was criss-crossed in railway lines…and that was with King Randor backing the project. Here…Vesperian might put a good face on his jagged railway line, but Emily knew it was an admission that politics weren’t proving as simple as he’d hoped. It was possible, she supposed, that there would be a major breakthrough…
“I’ll speak to some of my friends,” General Pollack said. “Sienna, you could speak to the sorcerers…”
“I don’t know what they’d be able to do.” Sienna’s lips twitched. “We can’t magic Vesperian out of existence.”
“And if we did,” General Pollack said, “we’d only make matters worse.”
Caleb glanced at Emily. “Is there no hope?”
“I don’t know,” Emily admitted. There had been boom and bust cycles on Earth, but she couldn’t recall any of them being stopped in their tracks. Bailing out the banks might have staunched the bleeding, if one took an optimistic view, yet it hadn’t fixed the underlying problems. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
Chapter Thirteen
“IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, Emily,” Markus said, as Emily and Frieda were shown into his office. “I’m glad to see you’ve regrown your hair.”
Emily shrugged. “It was a mess.” The potion had made her scalp itch uncomfortably for hours, but it had worked. Her hair was now as long as it had been before she’d gone to war. “You remember Frieda, of course.”
“Of course.” Markus took Frieda’s hand and kissed it. Frieda’s eyes widened in shock. Emily wasn’t so sure he actually remembered Frieda – she’d been a common-born magician at Mountaintop, well below his notice – but Emily gave him points for trying. “You are more than welcome in this place.”
“Thank you,” Frieda said. “This is a fascinating place.”
“I’m impressed you managed to say that with a straight face,” Markus said. “I keep losing junior employees to the railway.”
He called for food and drink, then motioned for them to take the sofa. “I’m glad you decided to visit,” he said, as he sat down. “I need to ask you a question.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed. “Not you, too?”
Markus looked perplexed, just for a second. “I’ve heard a rumor that says you invested thirty thousand crowns in Vesperian’s Track,” he said. “Is that true?”
“No,” Emily said, sharply. Thirty thousand crowns was enough money to outfit an army, perhaps even to run a small kingdom. “He asked me to invest, and I declined.”
“I thought as much,” Markus said. Emily hid her irritation. Markus was well placed to know the rumor had no basis in fact. He was her banker. And yet, he’d been worried. “How much did he ask for?”
“Ten thousand crowns.” Emily took a breath. “He invited me to visit him just after last we met.”
She ran her hand through her hair. “Markus…all hell is about to break loose.”