“Come in,” Tanax said.
To her annoyance, he was sitting at a table, working his way through his own breakfast. She tried not to stare.
“Good morning,” he said. “I hope you slept well.”
“Not particularly,” Maya said. “I need to tell you something.”
“You and Beq left the palace last night,” Tanax said mildly, cutting a slice of butter-drowned toast.
“I …” Maya stared at him. “You knew?”
“I suspected. You just confirmed it.”
Maya swore silently and took a deep breath. “We were never told we were confined to the grounds.”
“Some things shouldn’t need to be spelled out,” Tanax said, and shrugged. “But I understand. Neither of you have been exposed to the temptations of the city. It’s only to be expected.”
“The—what?”
“You’d hardly be the first agathios to sneak out to a tavern or a brothel. I’ll have to include it in my report, but I’ll certainly encourage the Council to be understanding.”
“A brothel?” Maya’s hand went to the Thing, a hard lump in her chest. It helped suppress her rising anger. “What exactly do you think we were doing?”
“There’s no need to be offended,” Tanax said, cutting another piece of toast. “You’re at the age—”
“You are one year older than me,” Maya said.
“The point is that I know how to avoid offending our host. This is an important lesson for the two of you.”
“That is what I need to talk to you about. Our host.” Maya paused for a moment, doing her best to regain her calm. “I have reason to believe Dux Raskos is abusing his office and smuggling dhak.”
There was a long moment of silence.
“That’s … not possible,” Tanax said.
“Why not?” Maya said. “The dux has been eager to keep us in the palace since we arrived. He hasn’t asked for our assistance against the rebels, or even mentioned them. He’s worried about what might happen if we really started to investigate—”
“Enough.” Tanax got to his feet. “Have you spoken to anyone else about this?”
“Of course not,” Maya said. “I have no idea who we can trust.”
“That’s something, anyway.” The other agathios stepped away from the table and started to pace. “You will say nothing, to anyone. Do you understand?”
“No!” Maya turned to face him as he walked. “What do you mean, say nothing? We need to move quickly. The evidence—”
“I have instructions from my master,” Tanax said. “Those instructions are very clear.”
Of course. If Nicomidi truly was working with Raskos on something illegal, he wouldn’t want his agathios getting anywhere near it. And Tanax certainly isn’t going to listen to any accusations against Nicomidi. Maya chose her words carefully.
“Obviously your master doesn’t know the dux is corrupt,” Maya said. “That changes the situation.”
“I believe my master knows everything relevant about the situation,” Tanax said. “The dux has responsibilities that are not common knowledge among the public.”
“Responsibilities like gathering a warehouse full of unsanctioned arcana to sell to smugglers?”
“You don’t know that,” Tanax snapped.
“And you’re making this up as you go along,” Maya said.
Tanax reached the wall and put a hand against it. She got the sense he wanted to hit something, and hoped he would stop restraining himself. Let him put a hole in the dux’s plaster. Their eyes met for a moment, and she saw a flash of rage before Tanax visibly got himself under control. He swept one hand through his hair, irritably, and looked away.
“I have perfect confidence in my master and his instructions,” Tanax said. “When we return to the Forge, you are welcome to take the matter up with him yourself.”
“By the time we return to the Forge, we won’t have any hard evidence,” Maya said.
“If necessary, a full centarch will be sent to investigate—”
There was a knock at the door. Maya stopped, breathing hard. Tanax fixed her with a glare, then said, “Who’s there?”
“Agathios Tanax.” The voice had the metallic quality of a Legionary helmet. “The dux requests you and your team join him at your earliest convenience.”
“Are we due at another party?” Maya said aloud, drawing another glare.
“No, Agathios,” the soldier said. “The dux is ready to move against the rebels, and he would like your help.”
*
A quarter of an hour later, the four of them followed the white-armored Legionary into a sparely appointed chamber in yet another section of the palace.
Beq was yawning, which was no surprise. When they’d collected her and Varo in the corridor, she’d caught Maya’s furious expression, but with Tanax standing beside her there’d been no chance to talk. Varo, by contrast, looked cheery and well rested and had even found time to clean his uniform.
“Action at last,” he said. “Though I suppose you should never wish for action, since it might find you when you’re not expecting it. I had a friend—”
“Scout Varo,” Tanax said. “This is not the time.”
“You’re right,” Varo said, then caught Maya’s eye and muttered, “That’s just what he said, actually.”
Another Legionary waited outside the room, offering a slight bow to the agathia when they arrived. Inside, a large circular table and a few plain wooden chairs were the extent of the furnishings. Raskos stood behind the table, looking distinctly out of place in an Auxiliary uniform. The man beside him seemed more at ease. He was large, with a gray-green beard and a receding hairline. Several more Auxiliaries waited at attention along the wall, spears in hand.
There were several maps of varying scale on the table. The street plan of Deepfire was easy to recognize from the shape of the Pit, with the Spike on one side and the rest of the city huddled close on the other. Pencil marks showed a route to the south and east, along a road that left the close huddle of buildings and rose into the mountains.
“Agathia,” Raskos said, with his horrifying black-toothed smile. “Honored guests. Thank you for coming.”
“We are at your service,” Tanax said, with a bow. Maya only reluctantly followed suit.
“There is a band of especially … persistent criminals that we have been tracking for the past few months. Smugglers and thieves. We have an opportunity to strike a blow against them that you are uniquely suited to exploit,” Raskos said. “This is my commander of Auxiliaries, Guria Fairshot. He will explain the details.”
“Agathia,” Guria said gruffly. He pointed to the map. “We’ve let the thieves learn that we’re moving some valuable arcana from quarantine. We’re confident this is a target they won’t be able to resist, which means it’s a chance to catch them in the open.” He frowned. “Unfortunately, they’re not stupid. If the shipment is too heavily guarded, they’ll call off their attack. An ambush would be hard to conceal from the reconnaissance.”