The glow of lamplight escaped beneath the office door. Sespian must have heard something for he opened it as they arrived. Sicarius pushed the general inside and toward an oversized brown chair. Seating him required Sicarius to release the arm lock, but he kept his grip on Ridgecrest’s mouth and moved around behind him. He withdrew his dagger and rested it on the general’s collarbone. Sicarius hadn’t interacted with the man, having only seen him in passing a handful of times, but it was possible he would recognize the black blade. Indeed, Ridgecrest’s single eye went wide as he glimpsed the tip below his chin. That eye grew wider still when Sespian brought over the lamp and sat in the chair opposite from him.
“Release him, please,” Sespian told Sicarius.
If they meant to continue the ruse of Sespian as legitimate heir, Sicarius should follow his orders. Sicarius lifted his hand from Ridgecrest’s mouth-he could quickly muffle it again if needed. He let the dagger remain, resting on that collarbone. Ridgecrest didn’t squirm, but he looked like he wanted to. With the cold alien alloy against his flesh, perhaps he regretted passing up his chance to put on clothes.
As befitting a sixty-year-old officer, he recovered and found his equanimity. His arms lowered to the chair rests, and his chin rose. “Sespian. You are looking well. I am pleased to see you are not, as the newspapers have been reporting, dead.”
Sespian. Not, Sire. Someone must have told him the truth.
Sespian met Sicarius’s eyes over Ridgecrest’s head. Yes, he’d made note of the address too.
“I apologize for rousing you from bed in this unseemly fashion.” Sespian’s spread fingers encompassed the general’s nudity. “I’d like to talk with you for a few minutes. If you’ll agree to listen without raising an alarm, I’m sure I can allow you to get more comfortable. More clothes, fewer daggers at your throat, that sort of thing.” He tried a smile.
“I do not need comfort.” Ridgecrest propped an ankle over his opposite knee, hiding nothing of his nudity. If anything, he looked pleased at the idea that his state might make Sespian uncomfortable. “Say what you came to say.”
The general had assumed an unthreatening pose, but Sicarius kept an eye on him. Though gray hair ringed his bald spot, he was still muscular with broad shoulders that filled the big chair. He carried many a scar from old wounds, including the deep gash that had stolen his eye. His nose had been broken on more than once occasion too. He had survived numerous battles.
“It’s quite simple,” Sespian said. “I intend to retake the throne. Whatever you’ve heard, I believe my policies are superior to those of the others who want the position for themselves, with Ravido Marblecrest, in particular, being ready to act as a figurehead while businesswomen run the empire behind his back. I am open to working with the warrior-caste and ensuring they have a say in the government going forward, even as we strive for a more progressive stance when it comes to dealing with our subjects and people from other nations as well.”
Ridgecrest watched Sespian as he spoke, but his face never changed, and he didn’t say a word.
“I have powerful allies already.” Sespian nodded toward Sicarius, though there was nothing smug about it-Sicarius had the sense that Sespian didn’t truly want to claim him as an ally and was only doing so because it might help. “I need troops, however, to march into the city, to retake the Imperial Barracks, and to oust Ravido.”
“Why not simply have your powerful ally assassinate Marblecrest?”
“I have never sought to rule through such means, and I’ll not descend to those depths now,” Sespian said.
“Couldn’t get to him, eh?” Ridgecrest studied his blunt fingernails. “I understand someone’s employed a wizard to keep the riffraff out of the Barracks.” He didn’t look at Sicarius when he made the comment, but the insult hung in the air regardless.
“Actually, we’ve been inside,” Sespian said. “Recently. We ran into a Nurian assassin there. I’m not the only one who doesn’t approve of Ravido as a successor it seems.” Sespian watched Ridgecrest intently. Wondering if he had something to do with the assassin?
Sicarius doubted he did. Ridgecrest didn’t have the proper bloodlines to make a claim of his own, and it’d be dangerous for him to risk picking the wrong side. That was why he was trying to remain neutral-and why it’d be difficult for Sespian to get him to commit.
“Interesting,” was all Ridgecrest said.
Something tinked against one of the office’s glass windows. Trusting he could still stop Ridgecrest if he tried something, Sicarius slipped around a desk and bookcase to check outside.
Though the office faced the unlit yard behind the house, a dusting of snow helped him locate a familiar black wool cap. Basilard moved closer to the light from the window. Even with the movements exaggerated, his hand signs were hard to read, but Sicarius caught the gist.
They’re coming inside.
Even as Basilard signed, the faint snick of a door being shut drifted up from below. The front door, not the back, Sicarius decided. Footsteps followed, two sets.
Sicarius signed, The suitor is coming in with the daughter? That might cause some drama if the father was unaware of the relationship-or aware of it and disapproved. Ridgecrest, intent on Sespian, didn’t seem to have noticed the sounds from downstairs yet.
Not exactly, Basilard signed. Maldynado went in with her.
What?
Basilard lifted his shoulders and, though it was hard to tell in the dark, that might have been an eye roll. He said Amaranthe said he was supposed to come in and help sway the general.
Somehow Sicarius doubted that had been Maldynado’s motivation in approaching the girl. Remain on guard, he signed.
Basilard lifted a hand in acknowledgment.
“I think it’s admirable-or ambitious-that you want to reclaim the throne,” Ridgecrest said, “especially given that Ravido’s business allies have a few cannons aimed in your direction. But from what I’ve heard, you no longer have a stronger claim than any of the others descending on the capital.”
“If Ravido is your source, he can hardly be trusted,” Sespian said. “He’d say anything to legitimize his attempt at usurping my position.”
“Are you saying the assassin lurking at my window is not your father?”
Sicarius returned to lurk behind Ridgecrest again. Soft murmurs drifted to his ears via the hallway. Maldynado must have stopped to chat with the girl in the kitchen. Sicarius was tempted to check on him and ensure all he was doing was chatting. Sicarius didn’t care with whom Maldynado engaged in coitus, but doing it with the daughter of the general they were trying to win to their side would prove problematic.
“That he thinks he may be my father does not make it the truth,” Sespian said. “My mother was sleeping with Raumesys at the same time.”
Sicarius wondered if Sespian believed his own words.
Ridgecrest rotated in his chair, his single eye squinting up at Sicarius. “Enh.” He turned back to Sespian. “You look more like him than Raumesys.”
“You look more like a knife fighter off the streets than a general.” Sespian waved to the older man’s battered face. “But I’m not going to hold it against you.”
Ridgecrest chuckled at that. When Amaranthe was negotiating, Sicarius usually found it to be a good sign when the enemies started laughing, but Sespian didn’t have her charm, and Sicarius didn’t know if he’d won anything yet.