ravaged hearts

CHAPTER NINETEEN,

  "Of course not," Louis agreed. "If people with relative wealth are here, they'd most likely have gotten it through smuggling."

"Lots of smuggling here," the innkeeper shrugged, "it's how we survive. We're too far from Ovienada and the like to get sufficient supplies from Melique. Things don't come through the Vayantean side either, smuggling illegally is the only choice." He said this because he knew they were all Vayantean agents and needed his help, and wouldn't betray this confidence of information.

  "Which means we have to be more careful," Castrillo murmured. "Even if it's just for survival, they still have the guts to pull off something illegal. We won't be dealing with the  most scrupulous crowd."

  Louis agreed, saying, "I'd suggest extreme caution." He turned to look at the innkeeper. "Do you know what's been done with the abandoned military base?"

  "Abandoned, as you said. No one really goes now. Some people say it's haunted, bollocks, of course." He shook his head. "People are willing to believe anything."

  "Might be the Falcons digging around," Castrillo suggested. "The Spectre is with them. Lysandra Vorinin. Might be her."

  "The Spectre," Celinos let out a soft hiss. "She fucked me up real bad in our last encounter."

  Castrillo offered a lopsided smile. "Your chance for revenge."

  "Don't know if I can beat her now either," Celinos snorted.

  "If you can't do it," Louis offered, "the Briar can do it for you. You can just ask her very politely."

  Anita's eyes took on a dreamy look. "She's my idol."

  Louis suppressed a sudden burst of laughter. Things had happened too quickly for it to fully sink in, but that sounded about right. Anita Enrique Zevallos was just the right age when the Briar was at her prime and most well-known. In wartorn Vayante, it made sense the girl would have turned to the Iron Wolf as inspiration and motivation.

  He'd never really met the Iron Wolf himself personally. They'd crossed paths, exchanged pleasantries, of course, and they knew of each other. The Briar was an icon, not just in the world of espionage but in the world past that as well. For those of them who'd lived under Meliquean suppression in Vayante and beyond, she had been a reminder that it was possible to break away. If one girl had managed to do so herself, why couldn't the rest of them? The Saians had realised this and capitalised on this early on, using her as a symbol, treating her like a celebrity. She mostly stayed within Sai, and when she did leave it was to stir up Saian support in foreign countries. An extremely glorified diplomat with deadly skill, that was the best way to describe her.

  He knew people who did interact with her often, though. Io always spoke of her highly when she was younger, putting her on a pedestal, practically worshipping the ground she stood on. Some of his Caershireen colleagues described her as confident to the point of arrogant, self-assured in everything she did. A stellar agent whose only weakness was an attitude problem.

  That sounded like someone else he knew, actually. The Saians, it seemed, liked to develop that kind of agent. But not really, because Miss Daneira Pang and Lady Asteria Lu were really the exact opposite of that. The Briar and Io's styles were more akin to the Novokulugan agents. Competent, but irritating. Where you more often than not did not want to deal with them but ended up not having the choice to do so because your superiors forced you to.

  Now he sounded mean and ungrateful. He did appreciate the chances over the years he'd worked with Io, where he'd learned much. And he was very grateful for this opportunity to be in close quarters with someone of the Briar's calibur. But still.