Page 71 of A Game of Veils

I can’t let her pretty face distract me from my goal.

I wave vaguely toward one of the other shelves. “It can be a bit tedious, is all I’m saying. Sometimes it’s easier with a little treat to smooth the way. The accountant keeps a bottle of ambervin liquor behind the box on the top shelf, if you want to make this investigation a little more enjoyable. Consider it part of my apology.”

“Hmm.” Aurelia walks over to have a look.

I let her retrieve the bottle herself and carry it back to the table. She can’t imagine I’ve doctored it in any way when it’ll have been obvious I wasn’t expecting to run into her.

She uncaps it and takes a sniff. “I’ve never had ambervin liquor before.”

“It’s popular in Lavira. Quite a nice flavor, meant for sipping. Which makes it easier not to give away that any’s been taken without permission.”

I shoot her a sly grin. She doesn’t need to know it’s also quite potent. I’d never have more than a single capful when I’m in here on my own.

Aurelia hasn’t abandoned all sense of caution. She pushes the bottle toward me so I can take the first drink. Also fair.

I drizzle a little into the cap, feigning that I’ve poured a more generous portion and tossing it back before she can get a good look. The sharp fruity tang burns down my throat.

When I nudge the bottle back to Aurelia, she pours closer to a full cap. Her gulp makes her cough and then grin. “That is nice.”

If I can get one or two more shots into her, her tongue should get looser—and perhaps more honest.

As I check the tallies of the past couple of weeks, Aurelia considers them and then studies the other shelves. “Are there records for the entire empire in here? For goods brought in from countries outside Dariu and that sort of thing?”

“Some, but the imperial accountants aren’t quite as detailed in their reporting of those.” The emperor’s people are always happy to leave off what was outright taken rather than bargained for.

I point her to the shelves that hold the most recent reports from Dariu’s conquered countries. She pulls out the one labeled Accasy and brings it to her side of the table.

Naturally. Focused completely on her home territory when that’s the one she must already be most familiar with.

I go through the motions of pouring another drink but only drop the slightest splash into the cap. Then I offer the bottle to Aurelia again. She tosses back another capful without so much as wincing this time.

I’ve never seen her show that much enthusiasm for the wines the imperial staff supply us with, but this woman does know how to drink.

The record book she’s taken gives me a direct opening. “Lorenzo told me you have plans not just for Accasy but all of us if you make it to the throne.”

Aurelia’s gaze darts to me. Is she surprised that he’d have mentioned her comments?

She pauses for a moment before answering. “I think there are a lot of wrongs being done in many places and to many people other than in my own kingdom. My main goal has always been to heal as much as I can. I’m not going to refuse what help I can offer when it’s needed, regardless of where that is.”

A very measured answer. I swallow another tiny sip of the liquor and slide the bottle over in the hopes she’ll take more. “I suppose you must have problems in Accasy in mind already, that you’re hoping to start with.”

Aurelia simply toys with the bottle, her gaze going distant. “As you must have your own concerns for Cotea. I suspect some of the simplest solutions might benefit all of us.”

She pours perhaps half a capful. A short laugh hitches out of her in its wake, her cheeks starting to flush.

Another pinch of guilt has me reaching for the cap. I’m not risking overdoing another gambit. “I think I’d better put this away now.”

Aurelia relinquishes the bottle without complaint. I return it to its hiding place while contemplating my next remarks. “And you think Tarquin and Marclinus will go along with your suggested solutions?”

Her expression tightens slightly, a little slip of her placid mask. But it doesn’t reveal the haughtiness or guile I was braced for.

If anything, she looks pained.

“I’m going to do my best, as my godlen guides me,” she says quietly. “This is what I was born for. I hope I’m up to the task.”

It hits me then as it never really has before just how mired she is in this shitty situation.

She got to grow up free as I didn’t, true. But I know that once my older brother’s second child is old enough for Tarquin to foster, my nephew will become a new hostage from Cotea and I’ll go relatively free.

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