Soulseeker

Ann 2.0

"The councilors are expendable, easy to control. They have no connections or supporters here." Duncan added.

Rowley nodded, "That too."

Ann rubbed her temples. This meeting wasn't going as she'd expected.

"So you've got nothing." She said, unable to hide her disappointment.

"I need some time." Her spymaster reluctantly admitted, "But I am sure that you will find the information I discovered about the Great Marshal very interesting, your majesty" Rowley smiled deviously.

"Robert Godfrey?"

"Yes, your majesty. Ser Robert Godfrey is a landless knight and owes all his fortune, including the appointment as Great Marshal, to this wife, Rowena Bellborne"

"The Bellbornes of Redhood Creek" Duncan said, resting his thumb and index finger on his chin.

The captain of the royal guard was at least ten years older than Anna's eighteen, but he looked much younger, no older than twenty-five years old. He was clad in plate armor, muscular and tall as much as Rowley was stocky and short.

She slipped him a curious glance, "Isn't that a powerful house of the Wildlands?"

The knight nodded, "Yes, my queen. They made a fortune thanks to the slave trade, though now they seem more apt to kill the elves than enslaving them."

Ann arched her eyebrows, "Kill them? Don't they worship the ancestors anymore?"

"They are one of the few houses that converted to our faith. They worship the Lord of the Morning now."

Ann grimaced. That wasn't a good sign. "What about Ser Godfrey? What do you have on him?"

A smile danced on Rowley's lips, "A secret that could destroy him." He dramatically replied, "It seems that the distance from his wife pushed Ser Robert into the loving arms of one of Madame Emony's girls."

Duncan snorted, "That's it? Half the men in this town visit that brothel, including many pious priests."

"Fornication is a venial sin...for a man." Ann agreed bitterly.

She ground her jaw. A venial sin for a man, but a mortal sin for a woman.

Despite their doubts, however, Rowley's smile didn't falter, "But those people don't share the same, let's call them, particular tastes. Ser Robert's favorite is not a common wench, but a young girl with a pair of adorable pointed ears."

"An elf?" Ann whispered, struggling to believe it. It seemed too good to be true.

"Yes," Rowley confirmed, his smile widening, "and like all the Temple's believers, the Bellbornes would see the act of consorting with an elf as an abomination of nature."

Duncan looked thoughtful, "Ser Robert would be ruined."

"Killed, most likely." Rowley corrected him, smiling without a shred of empathy, "The punishment for a common man found to..." He coughed, "bed an elf is castration, but Godfrey is a nobleman. The Temple would burn him at the stake."

Ann took a deep breath, "If that's true...we have him."

"My Queen, three votes aren't enough." Duncan dutifully reminded, "You need five votes to control the council."

Ann smiled, "I know, Duncan. Don't worry."

"There is another matter, my queen" Rowley butted in, "Morris Anchorvy and his wife, your sister Helena, requested a private audience."

Ann thought a bit about it before nodding, "I will meet them tomorrow."

"And Jacob Summermere, the Highlord's heir, sent a missive. His younger son has never visited Fivestar and seems quite eager to leave Symongale and...to meet you, my queen." Rowley's allusion was so blatant that there was no need to ask why the young Summermer wanted to see her.