"I seem to recall rumors even when I was at court that Glennet had financial troubles," said Silverdun. "He loves his card games."
"So he found a way to get rich off of the war effort," said Ironfoot.
"But then a year went by and there was no war," said Sela. "The interest on those loans began to mount."
"Glennet needs a war," said Silverdun. "The guilds can't pay him until the government requisitions their supplies."
"And the government doesn't requisition supplies until there's a war."
"There's more," said Sela. "And this is fairly damning, I'm afraid. I checked with the analysts upstairs and found that Glennet has been regularly sending spell-encrypted messages in the weekly packets to Jem-Aleth for the past year."
"That's not uncommon, though," said Paet. "Glennet's involved in all sorts of Foreign Ministry business. He's got plenty of legitimate reasons to send such messages, and anything sent classified is required to go encrypted."
"Well," said Sela, "we're required to retain copies of those documents. I decrypted one of them. One sent two days before we left for the Unseelie."
Paet looked at her, wide-eyed.
"Well, I didn't decrypt it myself," she said. "One of the analysts may have helped a bit."
"What did the message say?" asked Paet.
"It gave explicit details of our travel plans, including our physical descriptions, and our itinerary."
"Dammit!" said Silverdun. "Those soldiers on the transport to Preyia. They knew exactly who they were looking for."
"The message also contained the location of our rendezvous in Preyia."
Paet leaned back. "Well. That is fairly conclusive, I think."
"But why would he come after us?" asked Ironfoot. "That's the part I still don't understand."
Paet looked at him. "Because Everess went all over the city selling the Shadows as the best deterrent to war that Elfkind had ever devised.
"And," added Paet, "if you were killed, then it not only stops us from doing that very thing, but also adds yet another reason to go to war, once your deaths are pinned on our enemies."
"And I thought Everess was a bastard," said Silverdun.
"I believe Glennet was Everess's mentor," said Paet.
Paet looked at Sela, who looked pleased with herself. "Sela, I must say that I'm amazed at this bit of detective work," he said.
"No more than I was," she said. "I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it. And how good I was at it."
"Simply astonishing," said Paet, looking over the documents.
"I'm glad you think so," said Sela, suddenly becoming serious. "Because I've decided I don't want to be a Shadow anymore. I want to be an analyst."
"What?" said Paet. "Are you serious?"
"I am," said Sela, looking down. "I was raised to be something. A killer. A monster. But I was also trained very well to use my Empathy. I understand people, and what drives them and what they want. So I've made my decision. I'm not going on any more missions."
"But you're a Shadow, Sela. You'll always be a Shadow."
"Call me a Shadow, then. I can work just as easily in the lien. But don't send me out on any more missions."
She touched the band on her arm, the crude thing that Ironfoot had fashioned. "I'm never taking this off again."
She stared hard at Paet. "Never."
Paet and the Shadows went to Everess, and Sela went through the documents with him as she'd done with Paet.
"Very good work, Sela. Very good," said Everess once the story was done. He leaned back in his chair.
"Do we recommend him to the high prosecutor?" asked Paet.
"Heavens no," said Everess. "We can't let him know we suspect anything."
"You can't think to let him get away with this!" said Paet.
"Oh, he won't," said Everess. "But Glennet is a very powerful man, one who's owed many, many favors. Who do you think recommended the high prosecutor to his post? No, we can't take the direct route with someone like him."
"Are you proposing that one of my Shadows eliminate him?" asked Pact dourly. "I thought I made myself clear on that point."
"No, Glennet is more useful to us alive and well at the moment," said Everess.
"At the moment," said Silverdun.
"At the moment," repeated Everess. "And trust me, I know precisely how to take care of him after that."
Everess fell silent, lighting his pipe. "We've a more pressing problem, though," he said. "Our troops are outnumbered by a great margin, and if war is indeed inevitable, we need to find ways to even the odds. Any suggestions?"
Silverdun sat up. "I've got a few ideas," he said.
Estiane's office was as warm and cozy as Silverdun remembered it. When he barged in, Estiane was sitting at his desk with a huge slice of peach pie in front of him. Estiane made to hide it, then saw it was Silverdun and decided not to bother.
"Perrin! It's good to see you, though I'm told that things are not progressing as one might hope with our neighbors to the north."
Silverdun sat. "It's worse than you know," he said. He told Estiane what he could, leaving out the more classified details.
When he was done, Estiane said, "What can I do to help?"
"I'm glad you asked," said Silverdun. "Because I'm about to ask something very large of you."
"What's that?"
"We are going to war with the Unseelie," said Silverdun. "That seems inevitable now. All we can do is try to make it as unpleasant for the Unseelie as possible."
"I'm not sure how I can help, other than by praying."
"How many devout Arcadians are there in the Unseelie?"
Estiane frowned. "It's hard to say for certain. Perhaps five thousand? Ten thousand at the most? As I told you before, the less we know about them, the safer they are."
"I want you to contact them, as many as you can, in secret."
"And what shall I tell them?" Estiane now looked deeply worried.
"You're going to tell them to do everything they can to sabotage the Unseelie war effort. Disrupt supply lines, disrupt communications, destroy spellcraft depots, steal weapons, horses. Stab commanders in the back. Whatever they're able to do."
"I can't ask that of my people!" said Estiane. "These are Arcadians! They're committed to love and peace. That is what brought them to Aba in the first place." He pushed the pie around on his plate, dropped the fork in frustration. "I won't do that. I'm sorry."
"You will do that," said Silverdun. "You put yourself on a pedestal, making a martyr of yourself, believing that if you do a little evil in the name of good, then you're protecting your people. You claim that this is a sin you take upon yourself to save others. But now it's time to give all of your followers in the Unseelie the same opportunity. If they're as principled as you, they should be happy to make the same choice."
"You don't know what you're asking, Perrin," said Estiane. "Joining Everess and his Shadows has changed you. You've forgotten what it means to be an Arcadian."
"I haven't forgotten," said Silverdun. "I've just learned a few things since then."
"I'm sorry, Perrin. I won't do it."
"If you don't, then Paet is prepared to testify in the High Court that you conspired with the foreign minister to have the husband of the secretary of states murdered in a brothel."
Paet had promised no such thing, but Estiane didn't know that.
"That's preposterous!" said Estiane. "I had no idea what Everess was planning!"
"Maybe not," said Silverdun. "But you know there are elements in Corpus who would be more than happy to see the Church fall on its face. It's not that long since Arcadianism was considered a dangerous cult by most Fae."
"You'd bring down the Church to get your way," said Estiane.
"No, but I would bring it down to save the Seelie Kingdom."
"I could excommunicate you for this," said Estiane.