The room to which the footman led them was one of several lined up at the edge of the club, where the windows looked into the Great Market. It was small but comfortably furnished, with a polished rectangular table, a sofa, a liquor cabinet, and a glassed-in shelf displaying a set of jeweled human skulls no doubt obtained by some Borelgai trader in a far-?off land. At Matthew’s direction, Raesinia took the seat closest to the corner, leaving her hood up and her veil down.
“Just like last time,” he said quietly, sitting next to her. “Let me do the talking unless they ask you a question.”
Raesinia suppressed a sigh. Once again, she was on display. At least this time it’s by choice. “Are you and the duke close?”
“We’ve had our differences, but we used to be inseparable,” Matthew said. “He’s gone respectable, I’m afraid.”
“And he’s rich?”
“Oh, yes. Half the nobles in Borel are in debt up to their eyeballs, but the Farings own a successful shipping company and several banks in addition to their ancestral estates. If he signs on, I think we’ll be most of the way there.”
Raesinia nodded and went quiet as there was a polite cough outside the door. A moment later the latch clicked, and a man in a dark suit came in. She’d seen so many Borelgai aristocrats over the past few weeks that there was a certain interchangeability about them, the same well-?cut grays and blacks, the same sober ties, the same vaguely ridiculous hats. This one was younger than average and clean-?shaven, with blue eyes and a mouth that already seemed on the verge of an ironic smile.
“Finny,” Matthew said, getting up and extending a hand.
“Matty,” the man said. They shook enthusiastically, and the visitor swept off his hat. “It’s been too long.”
“Not my fault,” Matthew said. “I keep sending you invitations.”
“Yes, well, the wife doesn’t approve of your invitations anymore,” the visitor said. “She says you’re decadent.”
“I have always striven to be,” Matthew said. “It’s good to know that my efforts have borne fruit.”
The visitor barked a laugh, then turned to Raesinia. “And who is the young lady?”
“We’ll, ah, get to that,” Matthew said. “Have a seat, would you?”
“A mystery, eh? How exciting.” He bowed in Raesinia’s direction. “I am Phineas Faring, Duke of Highwatch. At your service, my lady.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Raesinia said. “I apologize for being unable to introduce myself.”
“Believe me, I’m familiar with Matty’s taste for theatrics.” Phineas slid into a chair. “So, what’s all this about? Your letter was most insistent that you had an opportunity that was not to be missed.”
“If anything, I understated the case,” Matthew said. “But first I need your word that, yes or no, nothing I’m about to say will leave this room. You know how sensitive these things can be.”
“Perfectly. My word as a gentleman.” Phineas leaned forward slightly. “So?”
“Vordanai debt,” Matthew said, pronouncing the words as though they ought to be a revelation.
Phineas sighed and sat back. “Oh, Matty. You too?”
“I’m not the first to approach you?”
“My boy, you’re not even the tenth. Everyone and their uncle seems to be betting on whether our friends to the south will pay their bills. I’ve had a half dozen asking me to buy bonds, and a half dozen more insisting I should be selling them short.”
“But you haven’t taken a position.”
“No.” Phineas shook his head. “The whole thing is a touch volatile for my tastes. Armies in the field, and all that. Who knows which way it will go? I might hazard ten marks just to be sporting, but—”
“What if I told you that I know which way it will go?”
“Matty.” Phineas looked like someone had given him a lemon to suck. “Please. If you need money, just be honest and ask me as an old friend. I know you and your father haven’t been on good terms.”
“He’s not the only connection I have in the Keep.”
Matthew half turned, which was Raesinia’s cue. She raised her veil and pulled back her hood, nodding respectfully at Phineas.
“Raesinia Orboan,” she said.
“Raesinia—?Raesinia Orboan?” Phineas practically leapt out of his seat. “The Queen of Vordan?”
“And,” Matthew said smoothly, “my fiancée.”
“Oh,” Phineas said, settling rapidly. “Oh, I see. That’s... very interesting.”
Raesinia could practically see the gears turning behind his eyes. As Matthew went into the actual sales pitch, Phineas kept looking back to her, tilting his head as though trying to see her from a different angle.
We’ve got him.
“...and I’m confident,” Matthew said, “that, given our unique advantages, the company will be able to keep ahead of the pack.”
“Confidentiality?” Phineas said.
“Assured. Our shares are already trading in the market. If I sign these over to you”—?Matthew raised a satchel, which contained a thick stack of gilt-?edged documents—“you can deposit them with your favorite deniable broker, and there will be no connection visible between us. The staff here is known for perfect discretion.”
“They are indeed.” Phineas eyed the share certificates like a hungry man watching a steak browning in a pan. “And how much were you thinking, Matty, my old friend?”
“Two hundred thousand marks at minimum. Below that and we’ll need to cut too many people in—”
“Make it five hundred,” Phineas said. “I’ll run it through my box at Three Crowns Bank. You know the one?”
“Oh, yes.” Matthew smiled. “You won’t regret this, Finny.”
“I’d better not.” Phineas grinned. “You have no idea what the wife would say.”
*
“Does it bother you?” Raesinia said, when they were back in the carriage and rattling their way toward the Keep.
“Does what?”
“Doing this to your old friends.”
“They’re not my friends,” Matthew said. “They’re the boys that I got drunk with, or cousins I saw at my father’s parties. None of them care about me. The less popular I am with my father, the less I hear from them. Strange how that works.” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t have many real friends, and none of them are rich enough for this sort of thing.”
“I’m glad you won’t be troubled by pangs of conscience, then.” Raesinia found that she was, a little. Phineas had seemed like a nice enough person. If things go badly, we’re going to make a lot of lives very miserable.
She gritted her teeth. Let them complain to Georg. I’ll do what I have to.
The carriage rattled under the looming gatehouse and around to a rear drive, one of several that led into the labyrinthine bulk of the Keep itself. Jo and Barely were waiting to escort Raesinia to the courtyard, where she met Cora.
“I wish you’d let us come with you,” Barely said, as they walked through the wood-?paneled corridors, past the stiff-?necked Life Guards. “Anything could happen out in the city.”
“I appreciate that,” Raesinia said. “But anything could happen in here. If Georg wants to hurt me, we can’t stop him, and I can’t imagine anyone else daring to cross him now.”
Joanna signed something, and Barely gave a bitter laugh.
“What did she say?” I’m really going to have to learn to understand her.
“Old proverb,” Barely said. “The quickest way to die is to underestimate your enemies. The second quickest is to overestimate them.”