“He’s missing. That’s why I came here to find you.” Olyusha’s throat bobbed against his blade. “Now, let me go, and I can explain.”
So, there was something she needed from him. Ramson shifted tactic in an instant. “A Trade, then,” he said. “You know I never give without taking, Olyusha.”
“Fine,” she said, and he stepped back, pushing her far enough from him so that he was out of range of any needles or sharp, poison-laced objects she might try on him. She straightened, massaging her throat, and he noticed that her hands shook as she swept back her tresses. She suddenly looked small, tucked into her coat, which had lost some of its sheen and was now covered in a layer of gray. Ramson had remembered her dressed in the finest of furs and silks, pearls glittering in her hair as she turned her head and laughed.
Ramson tapped his misericord on the marble floor. It echoed hollowly. “You can start by telling me what happened to the Order,” he said. “What you mean by ‘what’s left of them.’ ”
Olyusha sniffed. “I forget how long you’ve been out of it all, Quicktongue. After Morganya took the throne, Kerlan forced me to kill everyone associated with his trafficking business. He is intent on burying proof that it ever existed, for fear of the Inquisition.” Her eyes flashed. “Then he left with a handful of top-ranking members. He’s decided to refocus his efforts on his new Trade with Bregon.”
The name of Ramson’s birth kingdom sent a shock wave through him, even as his ears perked at the news. “What Trade? And why Bregon?”
“He said it was a new development with Affinites. Besides that, I don’t know. Probably to escape the Imperial Inquisition and the new Empress’s purge on Affinite traffickers.”
Ramson took a moment to digest this information. Morganya had hired Kerlan for a hit job—to kill the Crown Prince, Ana’s brother—before, but since her Coronation, she had turned with zealous fervor against Affinite traffickers. It was likely that Kerlan had caught wind of this two steps ahead, as always, and turned tail and fled. And now he was going to establish a new criminal empire…in Bregon.
That was the part that didn’t make sense. Bregon had never shown interest in its Affinites—magen, they were called—who, in Ramson’s memory, had been largely left alone and unidentified. “And how do you know this?”
“Because,” Olyusha said, “he took Bogdan with him. I haven’t heard from him in weeks.”
Her voice had grown quiet; her large eyes shone wet in the dark. At last, Ramson connected the dots. “You want my help to find him.”
“He promised it would be a quick job. He told me he’d be back within the moon.” Olyusha swallowed. “I think…I think something went wrong.”
He was getting sidetracked—he’d only come here out of an old habit, to find out what had happened to the Order and his former master. Perhaps it was indeed better to let sleeping wolves lie.
Ramson began to turn away. “I’d love to help, Olyusha, really,” he said, “but with Kerlan demanding my head, I think I have better things—”
“He’s in Goldwater Port.” The words froze him, reeled him back. Slowly, Ramson turned to face her again. She was looking at him closely; at his reaction, she continued, “He told Bogdan that he would take it over, rebuild from there. No doubt he’s leveraging the trade routes to Bregon that you’ve established.”
Liquid cold spread through his veins, and suddenly, all the plans he’d been spinning for himself the past few weeks seemed to dissipate into smoke before him. Goldwater Port had been center to any prospects of a future he’d dreamt up for himself.
Only, Kerlan had gotten there first.
He heard Olyusha speaking as though from very far away. “I thought that would get your attention. Here’s my proposal: an alliance to take down Alaric Kerlan together, once and for all. Find him, find Bogdan, and bring my husband home to me. And in return, you’ll have my protection. Someone watching your back from the enemy’s side. Whoever from the Order is looking for you, I’ll get to them first.”
Ramson was silent as he considered, his thoughts already running ahead, weaving situations and possibilities and weighing the pros and cons of it all. He’d wanted to leave Kerlan alone, to let the Order fade away as a part of his past that he’d wished to bury—but it seemed they had come looking for him, instead. And by taking Goldwater Port,