Free The Black Star (Book 3) by Edward W. Robertson Page A

way. Not unless it's the king himself."
    "Do you believe you're too stupid to ever come up with another plan to strike at the throne?"
    "That's not what I'm saying."
    "If so, then you would be happy to fire this arrow at a lesser mark."
    Blays glared down the stone corridor, wishing for a servant to interrupt them, but the manor was lightly staffed, and Taya had no doubt sent their people away as soon as she'd been alerted to the carriage's approach.
    He slapped the wall. "I'll see about selling the first batch. Start looking into alternate marks for the main load."
    "I'll get you invited to some parties, too. Grease the wheels of rumor."
    "Nothing for a couple days, all right? I'm still recovering from the duke's hospitality. And let me know if rabbit will be on the menu."
    Taya searched his face, then nodded. "We should think about bringing the goods into the city. If our hook snags the duke, we'll want to close the deal before he has second thoughts and wriggles free."
    "Bring it up to the norren side of Dollendun," he said. "I want to escort it through the human lands personally."
    "I was thinking the exact same thing."
    Business wrapped up, Blays headed to his quarters for a bath, some wine, and a couple hours to drop the mantle of Pendelles and be Blays again. The warm water coaxed the knots of travel from his muscles and the smell from the rest of him. Not for the first time, he was impressed by how deftly he and Taya had taken a leaden disaster and transmuted it into sparkling gold. She was an asset and a half, and one of the core reasons their underground campaign had seen such success—and still remained secret.
    He flicked water from the basin and sank until just the tip of his nose was clear of the surface. There was, of course, another solution to the duke's refusal to take the bait: to give up and go home.
    Because what was the point, really? They'd already bashed the Gaskan Empire into chunks. Freed an entire race of people. That act had been good. Righteous. Worth fighting and dying for. These men had already been beaten. Even if he was able to take revenge beyond his wildest dreams and kill them all with his own swords, they'd simply be replaced by relatives and power-seekers every bit as amoral and avaricious as those he'd killed. It was like diking the tide. There was always more ocean. The moment you stopped patching the dam, the roiling waters would flood right back.
    Even so. The last time he'd given up on everything, he'd become more like those men himself. Devoting himself to destroying them was a far better use of his time. Besides, Moddegan was a bastard. Someone had to do it.
    And these days, wearing his freewheeling merchant's mask was the closest he got to happiness.
    A good night's sleep refreshed him better than any rationalizations. He attacked the next few days with vigor and purpose, making inquiries, dropping hints, extending coy proposals regarding his most valuable goods. There was significant interest, but he needed the right match. The buyer needed to meet two qualifications. First, to be so filthy, stinking rich that Dilliger could believe them capable of buying all Pendelles' bossen. And second, to be intriguing enough for Blays to want to destroy them should the gambit fail to draw the duke into the action.
    He spent a week tearing around Setteven and the chateaus surrounding it, wining and dining with the kingdom's most outrageously wealthy and highest-placed nobles. It was taxing, rubbing shoulders and trading quips with these tedious clowns, but at least the food was good. Between that and a lack of time to practice with his sword (Pendelles was a gentlemen, not a steel-slinger), he was starting to get a bit thick around his middle.
    As he made contacts, Taya dug into their circumstances, assessing wealth, vulnerability, and entanglements with the throne. Blays wasn't sure how she managed this, given that much of what she discovered were literal state secrets, but suspected she was