The Sultan's Spy

Chapter 35: Protection

Eliska crossed the harem courtyard quickly, the loose robe she wore fluttering behind her as she tried to ignore the sweat on her palms and the way her heart pounded in her ears. Lizina's summons had been sudden and curt, and if it weren't for the fact that was how her sister usually communicated, Eliska would have been even more nervous. As it was she did her best to work through the worst of it by moving as swiftly as she could without drawing attention.

Stopping in front of the room Lizina favoured for her meetings, Eliska took a moment to rearrange her clothes, subtly wiping her palms as she did so. If she hadn't been caught, it wouldn't be a good idea to be visibly nervous. Or look at all uncomfortable. Lizina was like a hawk and would strike at where she spotted weakness.

With on last deep breath, Eliska brought up her polite mask and knocked softly on the door. Her sister's call to enter was muffled by the wood. Not letting herself hesitate, Eliska carefully opened the door then closed it behind her. She relaxed only a touch when she realized it was only Lizina there. It couldn't be completely awful if Mother Zorana hadn't been brought in. And she would have been, if Eliska was to be sent back to the shadow school.

"You wanted to see me?" She was relieved when her tone was neutral, with not a hint of the swirling emotions churning her stomach.

Her sister nodded, waving a hand towards the cushions scattered on the ground in front of her. Eliska sat in one graceful movement, hoping it would hide any hesitation or missteps. "I just received an interesting report." Lizina's eyes were narrowed.

Eliska felt faint but managed to keep it from her voice. "Oh?"

"It seems your clue about the guards from your time in the city has borne fruit." Eliska nearly drooped with relief as the tension ran out of her. But her training helped her keep it from her body and face, so she only raised her eyebrows as Lizina continued speaking. "I've had two of the older nieces investigating, one to look at the husband of the woman you named, the other to look into the guards as a whole. It seems the rumours we've been hearing on and off for a few years now weren't empty talk. Some of our oh-so-proper guards have been taking money in a variety of ways. And I'm sure we'll discover more than we know about now, as things continue."

The wince from Eliska was real. When this got out...They had enough difficulty with people trusting the guards as it was. "Are we taking care of this quietly?"

Lizina snorted. "We would have, but it wasn't just one or two guards. There was an entire ring of them who were demanding money to ensure things 'didn't happen unexpectedly' and taking money from others to make things disappear. They're scattered across the different stations, but the worst hotbed was headquarters itself. Which means we'll be cleaning up this mess for months, if not years. I'm going to have to assign to shadows to the guards permanently as it is."

"If it's framed as Kasimer cleaning up corruption now that he's aware of it, it shouldn't be too bad," Eliska mused. "We'd have to fake that he received the information from some kind of concerned party though."

"Which is what we're doing. But it looks like the tail we caught is connected to one damned long snake, that's probably going to turn out to be venomous."

When Eliska only frowned, Lizina leaned back into the cushions of the bench she sat on, crossing her arms over her chest. "It seems our lovely little guards were working with someone or someones here at the palace. Until we figure out who they are and can hang them out with the others as examples, we're going to have to keep our hands off the guards. Bad enough if they're seen to be corrupt, worse if people begin thinking the palace is as well."

Grimacing, Eliska shook her head. "It would only be a matter of time before the rumours put Kasimer in the middle of it, no matter how we tried to show that the corruption was coming from someone else. With the way we've had ships 'accidentally' entering our waters without proper insignia, this is the last thing we need."

"Which, as much as I hate to admit it, is why we actually need your little pet. I'm not asking you to stop your investigation into the blood mage, that's still your highest priority, but since you're both gathering information it won't hurt to have you both helping hunt down whoever's been involved in this guard mess. That burr you brought in has ties to the city and knows people who might have additional information. I want you to put him on this scent as well. If you think he'll be of help, that is." The edge of Lizina's smile was sharp and dark.

Eliska hid a faint shudder by dropping her hands to her hips and meeting her sister's gaze squarely. She tried not to remember the Tariq from the other night, his eyes furious with her at the beginning. "He'll help. I'll let him know when I meet with him tonight. He was the one who first found the links between the blood mage and the palace, so I'm sure he'll be able to help find whoever is involved with the guards. Who do you have on the investigation here?"

"Taletha."

That alone told Eliska how serious things were. Lizina didn't use their other sisters in investigations like this often, typically giving them long-term assignments or jobs overseeing the younger shadows. And Taletha was very good. She'd been one of Eliska's teachers in oblique questioning. Eliska couldn't imagine anyone better suited to that kind of careful investigation, other than maybe Lizina or Mother Zorana. "Then I'll make sure I pass anything we discover onto you so you can pass it to her."

Lizina smiled. "Good girl, that's what I want to hear. Now, if this goes on much longer, I'm going to have to find a way of meeting your pet. Not in a way he'd notice me though. We don't want him to start asking those types of questions."

Eliska nodded, feeling herself go hot and cold rapidly and hoping it didn't show on her face. If her sister even suspected that Tariq already knew the truth... They'd both suffer for it, if they were allowed to live.

"Still, better it be me rather than Kasimer. Mother Zorana mentioned your doggie to him, and now our dear brother's interested in him. And that would be a nightmare and a half for us to deal with. Especially if he decided he liked your pet. There are things Kasimer's better off not knowing."

Saying nothing, Eliska found she couldn't agree or disagree with her sister. Certainly it would make it easier for Lizina to make Tariq disappear if Kasimer wasn't paying attention to him and that wasn't good. But there were hard decisions that the shadows, that Lizina, had to make that Mother Zorana occasionally chose not to pass along. For all that he lived and breathed for their country, Kasimer had some difficulty with some of the darker aspects of their work and always had.

Lizina's voice broke through her thoughts. "That's all I have for you now so you might as well run along."

Eliska bowed her head as a brief sign of respect before she stood. "I'll bring you what we have as soon as we have it."

"I can ask for nothing less."

With one last bob of her head in her sister's direction, Eliska slipped out of the cool, dim room and back out into the bright sunshine. She turned towards her rooms, already planning how she was going to present this to Tariq. Palace connections to guard corruption was only going to encourage him in his thinking that her whole family was terrible. She sighed. There were days she regretted meeting Tariq.