Chapter 40
An imp poked his head into Rys’s office the next morning.
“Titty bossboss is returning, bossbossbossboss,” the imp said. “Has a prisoner.”
Rys nodded and dismissed the imp. Then he told Mina to meet him in his office. If the prisoner was who he expected it to be, then he didn’t see much reason to keep him or her a secret.
An hour later, he wasn’t as sure about that decision.
Fara, Mina, and Sarae trotted into his office with a naked fox in tow. Sarae avoided Rys’s questioning gaze, but she didn’t appear to be tied up or even disarmed, so he ignored her.
“I expected a prisoner, not a gift. Mina, what’s this about?” Rys asked.
Fara snorted, and Sarae stared at him. The naked fox glared at him, attempting to set him on fire with raw willpower.
She failed, of course. The cord binding her was magical and wrapped around her entire body, including her tails. She tried wiggling them in an effort to cast an array, but he couldn’t feel even the slightest twinge of magic from her.
Giggling, Mina said, “While she is a gift, that’s not why she’s naked, Rys. It’s important to strip traitors so that they are disgraced and know they are worthless.” She paused. “Also, it’s so you can tell there’s nothing hidden on her. We checked her for poisons and weapons. Spatial arrays can allow for some interesting methods to hide weapons or message canisters.”
Rys could imagine. Although he found it amusing that mystic foxes were taught to hide weapons up their asses, and also to search for them.
“I know that look,” Fara muttered. “If you ever ask me about those, I will slap your face off, Rys.”
“You brought it up, not me,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek.
Her tails quivered as she glared at him.
Sarae’s eyes widened as she looked between her aunt and sister.
“So, I can guess that the fox on the floor is your traitor,” Rys said. He pointed at Sarae. “Why is she here?”
Sarae hunched her shoulders. “King Talarys—”
Mina interrupted, “Our traitor is a Garrote Clan handler by the name of Aochi. Sarae is an agent of the Imperial Court deployed here to enforce the Emperor’s decree of foreign non-interference.”
“By interfering?” Rys asked.
“A scale can’t be balanced without applying pressure to one side, or removing something from the other,” Sarae said. “I—”
Again, Mina cut her sister off. “She helped me capture Aochi. I don’t think we have any issues with Pharos.”
Rys kept his expression neutral, even as Sarae glared at Mina.
He could guess what had happened between the sisters, but didn’t care enough to probe them for the full story. The fact that Sarae was attached to the Imperial Court didn’t surprise him.
She had clearly been lying about many things when they first met. Unlike Mina, she had been trained to detect infernals, which indicated that Sarae had been trained for foreign deployment in Gauron. She also had access to rare resources such as message canisters, and knew more than she should, but some of it was oddly out-of-date if she had learned it naturally.
Sarae’s willingness to interfere and assist Rys despite her surprise that he was a genuine infernalist further gave her away. Fara had helped him because of Vallis, and both Mina and Nia had familial ties to Fara. Sarae had interfered before she even knew that Fara and Mina truly worked for him.
Finally, Nia had clearly covered for her. To Rys, that had been the surest sign of powerful interference.
The possibility that the Imperial Court was involved with Avolar had been the reason Nia had been unwilling to probe who Avolar’s spymaster was to begin with. Sarae had then turned up, and Nia had actively covered for her.
Rys considered it fortunate that Sarae hadn’t been the spymaster. The reasons he hadn’t kept her around were because she would be a great learning experience for Mina, and that he doubted such a young fox was the true mastermind.
“Who was Aochi truly working for?” Rys asked.
“The Gold Clan,” Sarae and Mina said at the same time.
Both sisters glared at each other.
“Mina, let Sarae explain her side of the story,” Rys said. “If Aochi works for the Gold Clan, what is her status with the Garrote Clan?”
“That will need to be determined,” Sarae said. She bowed so deeply that Rys thought she might fall over. “I will need to inform Archon Imira of her identity and what took place. We know that the Gold Clan lied that they brought their own handler over, as Aochi was not permitted to leave Pharos.”
“Imira?” Fara asked.
Mina bit her lip and looked away.
“She works for the Imperial Court. Isn’t Imira the Archon in command of all external affairs?” Rys asked.
Sarae nodded, and Fara’s ears and tails flattened.
“I don’t care if you inform Imira. But I have no intention of allowing an enemy combatant to go free, especially one who actively undermined the Kinadain and is deserving of death,” Rys said.
Sarae narrowed her eyes. “You plan to execute her?”
“That’s what I just said,” Rys said drily. “Try to keep up.”
She blushed, and it was her turn to act subservient for a moment. “That’s not what I… Forgive me, Your Majesty.”
“Forget the formalities, Sarae. What do you want to say?”
Mina pouted at him.
“The Alliance will almost certainly claim that Aochi is a traitor to the Alliance as a whole. The politics will be complicated and I don’t have any idea what will happen once Imira confronts the clan heads, but I know that they will want confirmation of her death, and likely her body back,” Sarae said.
“You mean they’ll want her head and tails,” Fara corrected. She turned to Rys. “It’s tradition for traitors to be beheaded and their tails docked. Usually, we incinerate the rest of their corpse.”
The foxes didn’t even flinch at the brutality of what Fara described. Except Aochi, whose face paled at the news that she was going to be very dead at some point. She writhed on the floor, but everyone ignored her.
“That’s fine.” Rys waved a hand dismissively. “When the Kingdom finishes its own judgment, I can hand over the head and tails to a representative of the Garrote Clan.”
Sarae opened her mouth, then closed it. “I see. Then my next request is much simpler, Your Majesty. I want to reside in your castle while I am posted here.”
“What?” Mina snapped.
“Aren’t you here to prevent interference in foreign affairs?” Rys asked, amused.
“I need to live somewhere. The village remains in convalescence and will be under a cloud until the situation with Aochi is resolved. The Kingdom of Kavolara is close to Tarmouth, friendly to mystic foxes, and is the nexus of activity of the Gold Clan,” Sarae explained.
“That’s code for ‘the Gold Clan dislikes me for some reason,’ isn’t it?” Rys asked.
“Yes. I don’t have to stay here, but the Archon wants me on the island,” she said.
“Given I’m about to go to war with the Malus League, I’ll take any help I can get keeping the Gold Clan away,” he said.
Sarae nodded, then paused. “I may be able to assist you with the League, depending on their actions. If their actions ever pose enough of a threat to Pharos—”
Rys raised an eyebrow and looked at Fara and Mina. They both shook their heads.
“Did the League tell you about what they’re up to?” Rys asked Sarae.
She gulped. “I’ve picked up some questionable messages while eavesdropping on Gold Clan communications. I don’t understand them, but they concern me more than you do.”
Or maybe Sarae was merely in denial because her family supported him. Rys wasn’t about to say no to another cute fox joining him, even if Mina’s jealously poured off her in waves so thick that the air seemed to be turning green.
“You can stay. But you’re under Mina’s oversight, and she makes the calls regarding you,” Rys said.
Mina brightened up, and she rounded on her sister. “I only have one requirement.”
“Oh?” Sarae’s tone filled with dread.
“If you ever withhold information this important again, you’ll be the one tied up and naked in front of Rys.” Mina’s eyes bored into her sister, and her face lacked any expression.
“Thanks, Sis.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Happy family time is over,” Rys said with a clap of his hands. “Mina, can we talk in private for a moment?”
He stepped outside with Mina for a minute, and they entered a separate room.
“Did your sister do anything to work against us?” he asked simply.
“No. She lied, but that was it,” Mina said resolutely.
“Then it’s fine,” he said.
Before he could leave, she tugged on his sleeve. Her eyes were downcast, and her ears twitched pitifully.
“Rys… do you remember how I asked you to choose when I was ready?” she mumbled.
“Yes. You’ve done a fantastic job taking Avolar for me.” He brushed her cheek with a hand.
She gasped, but pulled away. He held her in place and her lips quivered.
“I don’t deserve it,” she mumbled. “Vallis nearly died—she hides it, but I know the attack still bothers her. I let Sarae deceive me. Nia lied to me and I didn’t realize. Even Hyrie worked against me.”
That was new.
“Was it serious?” he asked.
“I think she was working with Aochi. Not that I can prove it. She clammed up when I pressed her about it and claimed that Aochi used spiritualism to hide herself right under her nose.” Mina rolled her eyes, then sniffled. “I succeeded, and that feels great in a way, but it feels so clumsy.”
“That’s how most first victories go. You succeed in spite of your mistakes. As you learn, you’ll succeed cleanly and wonder how you ever made those mistakes to begin with,” he said.
“I already wonder,” she said. “I just… Can we wait? I want to feel like I really deserve this, Rys. I want you to make me yours for a truly special reason, so that I know that I really am your spymaster.”
“I’ll wait for now,” he said. “For now, you still deserve a reward for success. It’s always important to celebrate victories, for the same reason that you need to be lectured for failures.”
Rys leaned in and crushed her lips in a kiss. Mina squeaked and moaned into his mouth as he devoured her tongue with his own. His hands slipped beneath her clothes and into her panties.
He pulled away before she became too excited. She whined and chased after him, nibbling on his lip.
“But remember that I decide when you’re ready, Mina,” he said with a grin.
She gulped and nodded.
They returned to his office, where Fara, Sarae, and Aochi were waiting.
“Is there anything we need to talk about regarding Avolar?” Rys asked after retaking his seat.
“Count Terraph has a tenuous grip over the city. Grigor is marching north to secure the outer regions, and the army is surrendering,” Mina said. “You might want to make an appearance to jointly announce the annexation and deliver food.”
Rys nodded. “Simple enough. That matches our plans, although we’re a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.”
“You scheduled riots and the open conversion of an entire city-state?” Sarae asked.
“You’ll get used to it,” Fara said. “We have a major assassination coming up on the calendar.”
“What, are you planning to kill Maliah Jyarvic and take over the island?” Sarae’s tone was loaded with sarcasm.
Rys, Fara, and Mina looked at each other.
Then they grinned.
Sarae’s face paled. “Oh.”