Free The Pirates of Pacta Servanda (Pillars of Reality Book 4) by Jack Campbell Page B

yet explain.”
    “Do you want what happened at Altis to take place at Julesport as well, Lady Mechanic?”
    “No,” Mari said as firmly as she could. “Altis was badly damaged by Mechanics Guild assassins trying to kill me. I want to leave Julesport quickly so that it won’t happen here.”
    The middle-aged man held up a paper. “We have a report from Altis. A swift ship reached Gullhaven and couriers carried copies throughout the Confederation. This arrived only last night.”
    “What does it tell you?” Alain asked.
    “It tells us you speak the truth.” The man paused. “And it tells us that you
are
the daughter.”
    The woman in uniform spoke sharply. “If the people of this city hear that the daughter is in Julesport, the resulting mayhem will make the riots of last summer look like a minor street celebration.”
    “What does the report from Altis say?” Alain asked. “Was there rioting there?”
    “No, Sir Mage,” the old woman said. “Are you going to tell us why? Some Mage spell that compels obedience?”
    “If such a spell existed, the Mage elders would use it freely and not depend on fear,” Alain said. “It does not. There were no riots in Altis because Lady Mechanic Mari told the people there not to riot, not to rise up, but to wait.”
    “Why would they listen?” demanded the woman in uniform.
    “Because they had hope,” Alain said. “They had a reason not to destroy.”
    “It was not the strong hand of the Mechanics Guild that suppressed any rioting? It was not the work of Mages or fear of the consequences?”
    Alain gestured toward the east. “When we were in Palandur, there were riots. An entire district burned, and a legion was called in to restore order. This in the Empire, where order is valued above all else. Have you heard this?”
    Colonel Faron nodded. “Mostly rumors, again, but with credible details. You are saying the rioting was born of the same problems we have seen?”
    “And the same problems that tore apart the Kingdom of Tiae. We were there in Palandur. We could see it, we could feel it.”
    “If the empire is starting to feel the rot as well—” began the woman in uniform.
    “It’s not rot,” the middle-aged man argued. “I do not welcome this news, but it does not surprise me. It is despair. You all know it as well as I do. What this Mage says matches our own knowledge. You talked to those arrested after the last round of rioting here and you heard, just as I did, that they had lost hope.”
    “I remember hope,” the old woman commented, gazing into the distance. “When I was very young. Before I learned what the world was like, and what my role must be in serving the will of the Great Guilds. But even the very young today don’t know what hope is. It has been too many years of enslavement. The next riots will be worse. I fear whether our police and military will be able to control them, and at what cost to this city. What sign can you give me, Lady Mechanic? Your words are all that they should be, and I want you to be what you claim. But what sign can you show that something that has never existed in this world can now be?”
    Mari hesitated. She hated doing this, hated making a show out of something that meant so much to her, but there didn’t seem any alternative. Mari slowly raised her left hand, fingers slightly spread. “Do you see this?”
    “A promise ring,” the old woman said. “Where is your husband?”
    “Beside me.” Mari reached to take Alain’s hand and hold it up enough to reveal the matching ring.
    All four of those from Julesport stared in disbelief for several long moments.
    The old woman recovered first. “Why would you wed a Mage, Lady Mechanic?”
    “He asked me,” she said. “Proposed to me, that is. I proposed to him later.”
    “A political alliance, then? A means to the end of overthrowing the Great Guilds?”
    “No!” Mari said with more force than she had intended. “We wed because we were in love, and we