Chapter 767: Princely Bargains

Walking out of Hraustrekr’s tent a couple of hours later, Jay felt like she was ready to dunk her head in a river.

All things considered, the conversation had gone better than expected. Jadis hadn’t thrown any punches, and Hraustrekr hadn’t swung his sword at her. Voices had been raised a few times. More than a few times. Several dozen times. Regardless, the discussion had continued and had remained civil until both sides had come to an equitable agreement. Which was to say, neither Jadis nor Prince Hraustrekr had gotten everything that they had wanted, but they had each gotten enough to be satisfied.

By her estimation, Elodie was going to be fairly satisfied, too.

Running her gauntleted fingers through her hair, Jay let out another heavy breath while silently contemplating whether or not she wanted to cut her hair. It had grown long in the year she had been on Oros; nowhere near as lengthy as Aila’s stunning tresses but long enough that she had most everyone else she knew beat. She never would have let her hair grow so long when she was human since caring for so much hair was a pain, but since she was a Nephilim, she never seemed to have to worry about split ends or tangles. Unless she got some gunk in her hair, Jadis rarely needed to wash her heads at all. Maybe she should let it go and see just how long—

“Am I interrupting?”

Jay startled, jumping slightly at the sound of a familiar yet unexpected voice. Around her was the ongoing bustle and fuss of a busy military encampment, though her immediate surroundings were clear of all bystanders. There weren’t even any guards standing outside of Prince Hraustrekr’s tent. Considering the man, he probably didn’t need them. Regardless, while there were no curious onlookers or stoic guardsmen, there was one singular individual standing quietly at her side.

“Prince Kestil,” Jay blinked owlishly at the elf’s cool demeanor. “Hi. Er, hello. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Did you not,” Kestil said as more of a statement than a question. “Now that we have met as a fortuitous coincidence, would you care to walk with me?”

“Yes, of course,” Jay nodded her assent. “It’s been a while since we’ve talked.”

“Indeed.”

While there was nothing rude or hostile conveyed in Prince Kestil’s word or action, Jadis had no trouble sensing the discontent radiating from the man. Kestil wasn’t happy, and considering whose tent she had just walked out of, Jay felt she could readily guess as to the reason why. Still, she kept her mouth shut and waited for the Second Prince to start the conversation.

The two walked silently together through the royal section of the encampment. Once they were out of view of his brother’s tent, Kestil purposefully held up his left hand, allowing Jay to see a silver ring with a ruby red stone set in a circle of diamonds flash with a faint magical light. There was no outward change from what Jay could tell, but again, it wasn’t hard for her to guess the purpose of the enchantment.

“Why is it that you did not expect me to be at this encampment?” Kestil began in a conversational tone.

“I was told it was just your father and brother here,” Jay replied easily. “And that you were at a different encampment to the north, overseeing the army there.”

“I rode down a few hours ago so that I could speak with my father directly regarding a few important matters,” Kestil answered Jay’s unasked question. “Now, allow me to rephrase my original question. How is that you knew I was not at this encampment this morning, but Hraustrekr was? I was here two days ago. Hraustrekr was not.”

“Because Ammy told me.”

“Because Ammy told you.”

Jay gave Kestil a side-long look as she judged what to say next. The existence of Sabina’s tele-buzzer invention was no secret. The Voltonians knew all about them thanks to their use during the march to and the siege of Kastoria, therefore Jadis had seen no point in trying to hide them from the empire. The enchantments had not been shared with anyone in Eldingholt, but that didn’t mean word wasn’t getting around about the wonder invention that the genius enchantress Sabina had come up with.

“Instantaneous long-distance communication has a lot of uses,” Jay settled on commenting the obvious. “Including keeping tabs on princes.”

“So I see,” Kestil muttered in a way that was unlike his usual teasing way.

Grimacing, Jay decided that a playful exchange of words wasn’t going to happen. Instead of trying to guess at what was bothering the man, she decided to cut to the chase.

“Look, I can see that you’re pissed. Would you please just fucking tell me what has your panties in a twist so we can work it out?”

The silver-eyed elf glared up at her before shaking his head slightly.

“Of course, you’re right. Blunt is best with you,” he frowned at her. “Why are you making deals with my brother?”

“Because it’s his dipshit noble faction that keeps sticking their noses up my ass,” Jay snapped at the prince. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t care about that,” Kestil snapped back. “I care about the deal you made with Hraustrekr for twenty windless naval vessels powered by Sabina’s latest enchantments, five Leviathan-class airships, and one of the tele-buzzer control hubs with twenty accompanying communicators!”

“How do you know about that?” Jay stared at Kestil. “I just settled that deal with Hraustrekr. Were you—”

“Of course I was spying on him,” Kestil waved Jay’s question away like a bothersome fly. “That is of no consequence.”

“That meeting was supposed to private,” Jay persisted. “He had wards up.”

“He had old wards up,” Kestil scoffed. “My spymaster cracked those wards ten years ago. Hraustrekr has never appreciated the delicate dance woven by spies and those who seek to counter them. Again, his defensive inadequacies are beside the point! Why did you go to him! You should have come to me!”

“Why would I go to you? The problem was with Hraustrekr’s faction. His noble, his spy, his bullshit. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“Am I not your ally?” the prince scowled like an angry hawk. “Am I not your patron? Have I not provided you with support, fair trade, advice, and my open confidence? If you were having trouble with one of Hraustrekr’s dogs, why did you not come to me? With the evidence you just provided to my brother, I could have buried Duke Colgrave! You never would have heard from him, his idiotic son-in-law, or any other member of his family ever again!”

“That wouldn’t have made Elodie very happy,” Jay replied mildly to Kestil’s raised voice.

“She would have been happy enough with a new title as Duchess Elodie Crosswall, with her husband Duke Ludger. A new house with a new head, unrelated and unattached to those snakes in Colgrave.”

“That does sound like a good offer,” Jay admitted.

“And I would not have asked a fleet of ships from you to do so.”

“Oh really?”

“I will not lie. I would have traded for access to the tele-buzzer system. However, I would not have offered such a low price as Hraustrekr! He is barely covering the cost of creating the device, as well as the ships. Your profit will be miniscule compared to what you could have gotten if you had negotiated with me.”

“That’s good to know,” Jay nodded along.

“Good to know,” Kestil muttered. “Useless to know, now. The deal is already made, and you made it with the wrong man.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I made it with the right one.”

“Are you? By that I take it to mean that now that you have sat with his wife, bonded with his children, you now favor Hraustrekr over me?”

“Favor? Him?” Jay laughed at the notion. “I like Lynn. She’s nice. Astra and Wulfsige are cute. But that doesn’t change the fact that I hate Hraustrekr’s guts.”

Coming to a stop, Jay leaned down so that she was mere inches from Prince Kestil’s face.

“If you were spying on that conversation, then you heard how much I hate being spied on. That includes being spied on by you.”

“I was spying on my brother. You just so happened to—”

“Ned Aubert sold information to Eadgar.”

The second prince’s mouth shut with an audible click.

“You knew an independent spy had infiltrated my compound and was selling sensitive information. You knew, and you didn’t try to stop him. You didn’t warn me. You didn’t even do anything to ensure that he wasn’t selling to other people. Instead, you bought the information for yourself, to use in whatever schemes you might have planned for me and my family.”

Pausing for a moment, Jay tilted her head to one side and gave the elf a questioning look.

“Unless you want to tell me that your spymaster was doing that without your knowledge or consent?”

For a long moment, Kestil’s face was completely expressionless. Not one twitch, not one tremor. He didn’t even appear to be breathing. Then, just as Jay started to wonder if maybe she was standing with her head just a little too close to royalty in a very public space, the prince’s shoulders relaxed as a breezy smile spread across his features.

“My compliments to Maeve,” Kestil inclined his head slightly. “She’s quite the talent. I should very much like to share a meal with her one day. I think we would have much to talk about.”

“She might agree to that,” Jay shrugged as she straightened back to her full height.

“Well. You’ve caught me with my hand in the basket,” he let out a small, careless sigh before turning and resuming his walk in the direction of where the Hero’s new airship, the Swift, was moored. “What now?”

“Nothing,” Jay replied in a casual tone. “I already figured you were spying on me to some degree. I mean, Vraekae is, and she’s one of your supporters, so that’s one approved method, I suppose. You were getting your info from another, far less secure, source, and while I am fucking mad at you about it, I don’t think I can hold it against you.”

“Don’t tell me you have decided not to hold a grudge,” Kestil laughed lightly. “That doesn’t sound like the Nephilim I know.”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“On if you plan on doing anything like this ever again.”

Kestil gave Jay a crooked smile as he looked up at her.

“How very merciful of you. Have you been reading much of Valtar’s scriptures?”

“I haven’t even read all of Lyssandria’s scriptures,” Jay laughed. “I’m just trying to keep a promise I made to a good man.”

“A promise? To who?” Kestil raised an eyebrow in genuine curiosity.

“Your father.”

While he didn’t come to a stop again, Kestil’s pace slowed. Jay slowed with him, keeping them side by side while she watched the briefest flicker of some emotion other than amusement flutter across his face. When he started to speak again, she could tell that he was about to make some kind of flippant remark. Before he could, Jay pushed forward, speaking firmly and with her eyes on Kestil.

“I don’t care which of you gets the throne. It’s really not my business, and I’m not taking sides, even if I have some severe issues with Hraustrekr’s foreign policies. You might be the better choice compared to him, but considering D told me he’d be just as happy with you on the throne as he would be with Hraustrekr, that tells me everything I need to know about how well that would go.

“Anyway, that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I’m going to be blunt, because that’s what I’m best at. Your father asked me to help you and your brother find common ground. He wants you two to work together, to rule as brothers, not as enemies. Honestly, I bet you he’d make you the crown heir in a heartbeat if he thought it would resolve the dispute between you and Hraustrekr. It wouldn’t, of course, but that’s the point, isn’t it? You and Hraustrekr need to sort your shit out. Whether it’s you or him on the throne, either way, one of you is going to have to support the other, otherwise this whole mountain the throne is sitting on is going to come crumbling down.”

Taking a deep breath, Jay laid a hand on the prince’s shoulder, daring to offer a small moment of physical familiarity.

“I made a promise to your father, and I’ll do everything I can to keep it. I want to help you, and I want to help Hraustrekr, too. I just can’t do that when I’m being treated like the enemy.”

Kestil did not pull away from her touch, but after a few more steps, he did give her a look that conveyed his meaning well enough and she withdrew her hand. A few steps beyond that and he spoke again.

“I did not hear you bring this matter up with my brother this evening.”

“Of course not,” Jay snorted. “He’d shout at me, we’d get into a fight, and then one of us would probably throw the other through a wall. Weren’t you listening? I’m trying to play nice with him.”

By that point in their walk, the two had reached the old ruins where the Swift was moored and the rest of Jadis was with Eir, Alex, Ammy, and Una. Jay wasn’t sure if the prince would continue with her or not, but the question was answered as Kestil came to a stop and motioned for her to continue on her way.

“I appreciate your candor,” Kestil inclined his head slightly. “Even if I disagree with your assessment of my potential to rule.”

“Come see me in the morning,” Jay bowed courteously to the royal elf. “We can talk about a deal for your own communication hub. At a reasonable price, of course.”

Smiling openly at her, Kestil swept his arm before him and performed a grandiose bow that would put any overly pompous actor to shame.

“Naturally, now that I know how much you will sell to my brother, I have an excellent idea of how much to offer you.”

Jay pulled her long hair to one side as she and Kestil parted ways. Running her fingers through her white locks, she paused while inside the deep shadow of an aged stone archway, far from the prying eyes of any soldier or prince. Releasing a long, slow breath, she leaned her shoulder heavily against the mossy wall. Taking a quick look around her first, she used her left hand to tap lightly on her breastplate.

A strange, smooth, liquidy-yet-not-wet sensation moved from where it sat heavily across her breasts and torso so that a long, cool strand moved up and over her shoulder and then her neck before peaking out in front of her face. The semi-transparent orange slime took on a faintly human face with a grinning expression.

“Did you get all of that?” Jay asked.

“Every word,” Maeve confirmed. “Of both princes.”

“Good,” Jay said with relief. “Now, let’s get to a tent or the Swift or something because I am sweating like a sock right now. You are way more insulating than my padded armor.”

“Do you have to change right now?” the Fetch asked as the rest of her gelatinous body started moving in interesting ways. “Being your undershirt for so long has given me lots of time to come up with fun ideas.”

“Please,” Jay groaned in response to one wiggle in particular. “Not when I’m wearing armor. Armor does not accommodate expansion.”

“Maybe later?” Maeve pouted. “When you aren’t wearing armor, but we’re still somewhere… exciting?”

“Gods, what did I do to deserve you?”

The shapeshifting slime giggled.

“Just lucky, I guess.”