From where he lies in bed, through the broad windows of the small apartment over the inn in Deepside, on the west end of As Sedrai, Brion can get a view of the many rooftops of the great city. Beyond, he can see the blue river and innumerable tiny sails.
Unclothed, he slips from bed and pads to the table, where sits a pitcher of the rich summerwine of Redgard, in vogue since Henrick of Redgard came to rule this land of Anghara. He fills his goblet to the brim and sips, smirking to himself. I could get used to this, he thinks. Summerwine, sunlight and silk sheets. There's a song in there.
He turns back a moment to admire the lithe naked form of the brunette who still lolls in bed. She was a wildcat. I've had worse. "Go ahead, gorgeous. You were saying, about the royal treasury?"
She sits up, sheets draped over her breasts, shaking her head. "What treasury? Before he died, old King Kellone spent every dragon dressing up the Cedar Palace as a monument to himself. And when he died and the civil war broke out, that only made the money problem worse…all those mercenaries from outside the Kingdom had to be paid! Henrick didn't realize until he took the throne that he's broke, with IOUs up to his eyeballs to every moneylender in Sarrik. Now the King doesn't have a copper pig to call his own in all of As Sedrai."
She's good, Brion thinks. She'd make almost as good a spy as I am. She had clearly been digging deep into Palace intrigue at the new court when she fled. From his time at the palace, as far as he could see, Henrick was just as Kane had claimed, idealistic to a fault, but apparently ignorant of political reality. Her account only backed that up.
It hadn't been easy for Brion to get into her confidence. He'd met her at a Palace fete while he was dazzling the court as a troubadour, and he thought her a courtier at first, but he had seen enough deception in his life to see right through her. Now, a week after arriving in As Sedrai, he was sure that whatever she was, she wasn't any courtier. She was just another Mazirine trickster, running a complicated game, who had tried to take advantage of the new King and barely got away before she was discovered.
A few drinks, a roll in the hay, and now she's singing like a bird. And how could she resist a body like mine? Brion settles on the edge of the bed, sipping his wine. "And you…"
The brunette frowns. "Well, you can imagine, I didn't stay around long. What's a thief to steal if there's no money around?" She smiles sidelong at him. "So, you going to bring that wine back to bed, or do you just want to talk? You ask a lot of questions. Is everyone from Tol Nedra like that?"
For half a moment, there's something sharp and daggerlike in her her slylook, and Brion feels a pang of fear that she sees right through him as well. No. Couldn't be. I'm the best.
Brion is about to respond, but there's the sound of many booted footsteps outside, and then a loud rap at the door.
A hoarse voice barks: "Open in the name of the King!"