Page 43 of By Mistake
Oresti stiffened, then forcibly relaxed, one hand coming up to cover Shimari's briefly before dropping.Shimari stepped back, and Oresti moved to join them by the sofa."I know you, Tasha.I know all the questions you'd ask and how you'd torment him until you drove him away."
Latasha scoffed."I only do that with the unworthy.Every last one of them deserved it.I'm not allowing just anyone near my brother.I like this one, though.He's sweet, and more earnest than any of us, but he's got teeth."
Oresti just gave her a look, until she huffed and folded her arms beneath her breasts."Whatever.I was only going to quiz him a little bit, not bully him.Thus far he's given me no reason to think that's necessary."She turned and jabbed Andrus sharply in the chest."But don't think I won't resort to means far more foul if I think you deserve it."
"I understand," Andrus said."I wouldn't trust me either."
She eyed him, sharp as a dagger, then spun away."That's enough for now, then.Goodnight, Andrus, Ori, mysterious clerk."
"Good riddance," Oresti retorted.
As the door closed behind her, he handed over the plate he still carried to Shimari and then rushed over to Andrus."Are you all right?"
"Ori, she asked me how we met, that was all.There's nothing to worry about.Why are you so worked up?"
Oresti grimaced."There are reasons everyone in the palace and at least half the city are terrified of her.She eats politicians for breakfast and makes men with four times her experience cry.You should see when she and Alina work together."
"I can imagine.Never mind all that right now, though.Your siblings are as protective and overbearing as you, shocking.Who was murdered?Why?Do you need to leave to investigate?Sit down and have some tea, since we're not likely to be getting that fancy dinner now."
Oresti scoffed, even as he dutifully sat down and poured tea."We'll have whatever dinner we want.All I have to do is ask."As though he'd allow his skin-and-bones lover to go without a proper meal.So long as he lived and breathed, Andrus would never again go hungry.
"Trouble servants who already have enough to do without their nights ruined by having to stop and prepare a fancy dinner for no real reason at all, you mean," Andrus retorted."Fancy dinners can wait.Tell me what you can."
"Several days ago now Lord Willow-White was killed.We suspect Farthing.Tonight, Lady Bellrose was found dead of similar, suspiciously innocuous means.Poor health and an allergic reaction are the surface reasons, but Willow-White was in excellent health, and Bellrose was hypervigilant about her allergy.The deaths have been a nasty shock to their families, who had no reason to believe they wouldn't live another decade at least.
Shimari set the place he'd been examining aside."Definitely shellfish hidden in this."
Oresti sighed.The answer had been obvious, but it was still depressing."She was found alone in her chambers, collapsed on the floor, dead from inability to breathe due to her severe allergy to shellfish.Obviously this time someone managed to sneak it into her food.So far we cannot find the servant who delivered her food, and my sister didn't offer anything about her personal healer either, so that must be another mystery."
Andrus frowned."This is about the changes made to sentencing laws, specifically the dread thirty.The majority support it, but only barely.He killed two of those players, bringing the whole matter closer to a tie."
"Just so," Oresti said grimly."I'm not surprised you keep apprised of such things, despite having more immediate concerns to worry about."It was the crime of the century that Andrus had been left to languish and suffer, when he could have been a jewel of the court.He could only imagine the difference he would have made being on the council.
The council.Andrus's family had been removed from the council as traitors generations ago, but Andrus had been reinstated by his father, which meant he legally merited a place on the council.He'd have to speak to his father before he mentioned that to Andrus, though.Especially with Farthing clearly willing to kill to get his way.If Andrus went from frustrating and elusive to outright challenging him on such a big issue in public…
Hopefully Andrus wouldn't realize he could join the council now.Because the damned stubborn fool would, and then he'd be attacked from all sides.
Across the room, sharp eyes caught his and glowed ever so faintly, a blood red flame in the proverbial dark.How he had wound up with a demon coconspirator in keeping his lover safe, he didn't know, but with every passing hour, he liked the idea more.
Maybe that was the real reason nobody was allowed to summon demons.
Soft amusement rippled through his mind, and he could feel all over again that placating hand on his chest, calming without being controlling.Trusting him to listen.
"It behooves me to stay aware.Politics too often punish the poor and protect the powerful, and my poverty made me especially vulnerable to Farthing.He's used the old system against me before, or at least tried to.Spent thirty-six days in jail once before the case ultimately got thrown out for lack of evidence.After that, I was more careful, but I was always at risk.The changes to the dread thirty laws would have made it near impossible for him to punish me that way.Last I heard, the vote was estimated at fifty-three to forty-seven."
Oresti finished his tea and rose to pace restlessly, unable to hold still any longer."Emergency councilors will be appointed, but it's no secret they'll vote against the changes.It's bullshit, they should vote as their predecessors intended, but that's politics for you."
"So the vote stands at fifty-one to forty-nine.Still a lead, but only barely.Surely, though, he can't keep killing everyone.Two deaths is already drawing too much attention.Even the dullest mind will realize what is afoot if he kills three more."
"He doesn't need to kill three more," Shimari said."As you said, even the dullest minds could sort this plot, and politicians are many things, but stupid is seldom one of them.At least, in this they aren't stupid.People will begin panicking.All he needs is for two of them to change their minds, by way of bribes or threats.The trick is knowing who he'll likely approach."
Oresti smiled, sharp as a blade."Leave that to Alina and Latasha.They'll have names for me by morning, if not within the hour.I have my own guesses, but I'd rather they confirm it before I act."
"You could just let me kill him," Shimari said."I can make it grisly.I can make it quick.I can make him vanish into thin air and leave a mystery for a hundred years."
"No," Oresti said sharply."It may yet come to that, but I want him tosuffer.I want him to rot in prison for the rest of his life, and not some cozy nobleman's prison where he essentially is on house arrest in an apartment he doesn't even have to pay for.I want him in a labor camp, or bonded to a ship at sea, or buried in a mine somewhere."
"Know when to let your pride rest," Shimari said."The simplest solutions are often the best, if not the most satisfying, and two people have already died."
