She had hoped to spend more time leading up to the proposal. Discussing Antea and the fall of Suddapal and Porte Oliva, perhaps. Something that would leave the king thinking of Geder as the more immediate threat. With Marcus in the room visibly restraining himself from snarling, bringing in the prospect of money at once seemed a better tactic. Gold had the advantage of being distracting.
“I was thinking of giving you a great deal of money,” she said.
For the first time, Tracian’s attention entirely left Marcus. Cithrin smiled. Look, there’s no animus. We are all allies and friends. In the corner of her eye, Yardem moved nearer to Marcus. She hoped they would both sit down.
“Well, I can’t say I’m averse to the idea,” King Tracian said. “But that isn’t what I’ve come to expect. Magister Nison has always been quite adamant that loaning money to the crown was out of the question.”
“I am not Magister Nison,” she said. “All respect to the man, but his position and mine are somewhat different.”
She saw the motion in her peripheral vision as Yardem and Marcus sat, giving the focus of the performance to her. If there was a way, once this was all done, she would have to give the Tralgu a gift as thanks. A plant, perhaps. The king frowned, but there was, she thought, a glint of interest in his eyes. Interest or avarice. One was as good as the next.
“How so? You’re both bankers. You answer to Komme.”
Cithrin spread her arms the way she imagined Cary would have, playing to the crowd. “I have spent the last year in the teeth of war, and Magister Nison’s been here. He is looking for reasons to keep money from you so that his branch can have it. I am looking for ways to give it to you so that we can both be safe. I’m afraid the importance I put on profit may not be as great as it was.” She let her voice quiver just slightly. You see? I’m afraid. Oh so afraid.
“Don’t overplay it,” Kit whispered, and Cithrin coughed.
Tracian was at the rail above her now, his hands resting on its edge. She could see directly up his nose, and he, likely, was looking down her dress. It was awkward for both of them, which was fine. The sooner they moved to a drawing room where the walls themselves didn’t cast them as enemies, the better it would be.
“A banker who doesn’t serve profit’s an odd thing,” he said.
“These are exceptional times. You’ve heard of what Magistra Isadau and I did after the fall of Suddapal.”
“Komme visits me on occasion, but he doesn’t tell me everything he knows.”
“But you have heard,” Cithrin said. You are king, and you have control. Truth was the best flattery, when that could be managed. It spoke well of him as a man that his expression shifted toward the solemn when he spoke. It could as easily have moved toward self-congratulation.
“I have,” he said. “The ambitions of the Severed Throne have been a subject of a great deal of conversation at court.”
“Will you hear my opinion?”
“Well,” Tracian said. “As I recall, you are the expert on the private mind of Geder Palliako.”
It was meant to embarrass her, so she grimaced as if embarrassed. The king’s smile was almost conciliatory, as if sorry to have brought up something so indiscreet. She understood for the first time how deeply King Tracian was out of his depth, and tried not to let the realization show in her voice or manner. “I suppose that’s true,” she said. “I believe that Antea is on the dragon’s path. Its war will not end.”
“Even the dragon’s war ended,” King Tracian said.
Master Kit coughed politely and stepped forward. “With respect, Your Grace, it did not. This is the dragon’s war.”
“It’s come back to life like a fire rising from old embers,” Cithrin said. “And Palliako is its tool, not its master. It can’t be ended in the normal ways. Even if Antea conquered every other throne in the world, the violence would not end. The fighting will come here, and you will need every advantage you can dream of to survive it.”
“Antea has no quarrel with me,” King Tracian said. “We have few Timzinae here. We have a long history of cordial relations with the Severed Throne. You are the greatest danger I see.”
“None of that will save you,” Master Kit said. “You may walk as if on eggshells, and it will not keep you safe. You may give Antea everything it asks for, and it will still come to violence. You know that to be true, Majesty. Look in your heart, and you’ll find you know our words are fact.”
The king’s gaze flickered to from Cithrin to Kit and back to Cithrin. “And who exactly is this man?”
“His name is Kitap rol Keshmet, and he’s my expert on Palliako’s master.”
“The spider goddess?” the king asked.
“No, Your Grace. Worse than that. Even gods and goddesses may die. I stand before you as the warning against a particularly bad idea. There is no sword so sharp it draws blood from a mistaken thought.”
King Tracian scowled. “I don’t understand.”
“I will be happy to explain it,” Kit said. “It is important that you know. But also, it is important that you have every resource at hand to stand against the coming madness.” He nodded toward Cithrin.
“Ah yes,” King Tracian said. “The great deal of money?”
“I have the remaining resources of Suddapal and Porte Oliva in my command. I propose to lend them to you for the duration of the war, but I would ask a favor in return.”
“Sanctuary?” King Tracian asked.
“No,” Cithrin said. “Permission to trade. If I hand you all my capital, I have nothing left to do business with. No way to buy, no way to sell. I would ask that you permit me to write letters of transfer based on the gold I have given you.”
“I don’t know what that means,” the king said.
“Only that the loan I give you, I may transfer to others. After the war, when the world is safe again, you will repay your debt. Of course you will. You’re an honest and honorable man. Yes?”
“Of course,” Tracian said. She couldn’t tell whether he believed it or not, but it hardly mattered.
“Between that time and this,” she said, spreading her hands, “I would like the exclusive permission of the throne to issue letters of transfer. Should I wish to purchase a bolt of cloth or supplies for a brewery, I will write a letter transferring part of your debt to me to the seller. So if I were to purchase seven tenthweights of gold worth of barley, I would be able to write a letter transferring seven tenthweights of your debt to that merchant. And when the time came to repay the debt, the merchant would be guaranteed the gold directly from the crown. You would repay him as you would have me.”
“In that manner,” Master Kit said, “Magistra Cithrin’s bank could continue to trade and function, you see.”
“It would require that you let it be known that the crown guaranteed the debt,” Cithrin said. “You would need to make a proclamation that the letters were to be respected as one would respect the throne itself.”
“For the duration of a war,” King Tracian said, “that hasn’t started.”