“Are you sure you want me to come with you?” Verdan asked, hoping that she’d change her mind at the last moment. “I’m pretty sure that Brent really doesn’t like me, so it would hardly hurt the evening.”

  “I know there’s some tension between the two of you, but it’s only for a little while,” Natalia said, looping her arm through his. “Besides, it’s a nice excuse to dress up and you never know, it might help.”

  “True.” Verdan looked down at her with a smile. Natalia was in a deep blue dress that exposed far more of her burns and scars than he’d expected. A simple dark shawl was looped around her shoulders, but she seemed completely at ease.

  Every time he thought she’d made progress in growing past her scars, she went and surprised him by doing even more.

  For his part, Verdan was wearing the best clothes he could get on short notice, which wasn’t really saying much. He looked tidy enough not to show Natalia up, but he had no illusions that he was matching her. It was comfortable enough, thankfully, but he still felt awkward.

  “Ready?” Natalia asked as they reached the street that Brent and his wife lived on. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t far from Tobias’s estate.

  “Ready as I’m going to be,” Verdan said, doing his best to think positively about the evening to come. In the end, it wasn’t about him, after all. Brent and his wife had helped to look after Natalia during her darkest moments, and they’d all been too busy to socialise recently.

  Flashing him an approving smile, Natalia led the way to their destination and knocked firmly on the door. Verdan must have anxiously adjusted his jacket as Natalia chuckled and reached over to squeeze his hand. “Try to relax.”

  Barely a few seconds later, it swung open to reveal a short, plump woman in a simple but flattering dress, who beamed at them with a radiant smile. “Natalia!”

  “Ruth, it’s so good to see you!” Natalia exclaimed, stepping in to hug the older woman. “I’m so glad that you sent Brent over.”

  “Believe it or not, it was his idea,” Ruth said with a disbelieving shake of her head. “Now come in, the food is almost ready.”

  The two women were thick as thieves in moments, laughing and smiling as they moved into the house. Shutting the door behind him, Verdan hung up his jacket and turned to follow, only to find Brent’s imposing figure in the doorway.

  “Verdan. Welcome to my home,” Brent said, holding out a hand. The lack of formality had felt purposeful, so Verdan took that to be the guide for how to proceed.

  “Thank you for inviting us.” Verdan took Brent’s hand and was relieved to find that the other man didn’t feel the need for any stupid games of who could squeeze the hardest.

  “It seemed a good opportunity to allow Ruth and Natalia to catch up.” Brent paused before continuing in a low tone. “I’d appreciate it if I could have a few minutes of your time after dinner.”

  Verdan felt his brows rise in surprise, but he simply nodded. “Of course, I see no problem with that.”

  Brent nodded with evident satisfaction and motioned for Verdan to follow him as he led the way to the house’s small dining room. Brent and Ruth weren’t rich by any standard, but they were comfortable and had a reasonable sized home for this deep in the city.

  It made sense, Tobias was a powerful and wealthy individual, he’d make sure his right-hand man didn’t lack for anything.

  Taking his seat at the table, Verdan fielded a few simple questions from Ruth, doing his best to answer them as forthrightly as he could. Thankfully, she seemed to accept that he was somewhere far away and so didn’t press at all on where he was from. The questions about his plans for the future were harder to manage, if he was being honest with himself.

  Establishing himself in the city was a goal, but it was hardly a long-term one. Unfortunately, that left Verdan with the unpleasant realisation that he didn’t really have any goals as such. There were problems he wanted to solve, but that was all reactionary. In some ways, it felt like the only things he was doing purely for himself were teaching his apprentices and learning the new style of Sigils.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  That wasn’t true, of course, he knew that intellectually at least. He’d done so much more than that, and still had more to do, but with how things were at the moment, it was how he felt.

  Thankfully, Natalia seemed to sense his hesitation and was quick to pick up the figurative reigns of the conversation and talk to Ruth about her alchemy and the work Tobias was doing to help her.

  Brent’s wife was suitably impressed and just as proud that Natalia was moving forward once more. She clearly had a high opinion of Tobias as well, which he supposed wasn’t all that surprising.

  Dinner consisted of fresh bread rolls with some locally sourced butter and a stew made from some sort of game bird that Verdan hadn’t heard of. It was nice, not as good as what Henry could whip up, but that she came close at all was a high compliment to Ruth.

  As they finished their stew, Brent made a subtle gesture to his wife, who inclined her head slightly and rose to her feet. “I have some fruit tarts that I’ve made. Could you help me carry this out and then bring them in, Natalia?”

  “Of course,” Natalia said, rising to her feet and picking up the closest dishes to stack them together. “What sort of fruit are they?”

  “A mix of berries from the northern woods,” Ruth said, waving her hand as Verdan began to rise and help. “Don’t worry yourself, Natalia and I will take care of things. Stay a moment and keep my husband company.”

  Verdan gave a tight smile and nodded, settling back in his seat. Natalia seemed to pick up on a little of his unease and arched a brow questioningly but he gave a slight shake of his head and motioned for her to go with Ruth.

  As soon as the two women had left, Verdan turned to Brent expectantly. “I’m going to guess that now is the time for that conversation?”

  “It seems so,” Brent said, picking up his glass of ale and take a healthy sip. The blue tint to the glass told Verdan that it had been made locally, perhaps before the city began to crumble. Such pieces were rare now, and it spoke to how long Brent had been here, watching over Tobias.

  Brent was slow to put his glass back down and seemed uncomfortable about whatever they were about to discuss. Considering how capable and unflappable the man usually was, seeing him like this was surprising and a little concerning.

  “I asked Ruth to make sure to give us a few minutes alone,” Brent said eventually, turning in his seat to meet Verdan’s gaze directly. “While this was mainly about Natalia, it was also a convenient way for us to have some time to discuss recent events.”

  “I see.” Verdan shifted to mirror Brent’s position and waved for the other man to continue. “Let’s talk then.”

  There were only a few topics that Verdan could imagine Brent wanting to discuss, and none of them were particularly easy or relevant to their evening. That left a few interesting possibilities for what this was about, some of which were more concerning than others.

  Brent seemed to relax a little at Verdan’s willingness to cooperate and nodded. “I’m not going to pretend that I’m politically savvy or knowledgeable, so some of what I’m going to tell you I can only pass on as I was told. If you need some detail that I don’t know, I can try to find out and pass it to you as subtly as possible.”

  Verdan waved a hand impatiently. “I don’t expect you to be aware of everything, that’s fine. Let us be direct. What is happening here?”

  Brent seemed to squirm in his chair before sighing. “At the core of it all, Tobias is worried that you aren’t being taken seriously. The issue that some of the other councillors have with you was unexpected, and while he has tried to mitigate as much as he can, it is causing problems.”

  “I assure you that I’m very much aware of that,” Verdan said in a dry tone. “So you’re here to what, pass me information secretly?”

  “In a way, I suppose. Tobias told me to be direct about this, so please understand that this is what he asked me to convey.” Brent frowned and waited for Verdan to nod before continuing. “He is concerned that the recent problems will drive a wedge between you and the city, causing things to escalate rather than calm down. He understands that this isn’t your fault, and dislikes this situation as much as you, but he can’t risk fracturing the council by shielding you.”

  “I see. So he wants me to tough it out essentially?”

  “More or less.” Brent shrugged helplessly. “This goes beyond my understanding, but he did say that he expects things to get better soon. All he needs is time without further issues developing.”

  “I see,” Verdan said again, keeping his expression blank as he internalised the message. It was essentially just more of what Tobias had told him already. The only difference was that the merchant-turned-councillor no longer felt secure enough to speak with him directly. A bad sign, as far as Verdan was concerned. “What of the Kranjir, the non-humans and the Darjee?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean…” Brent trailed off with an uneasy look. “Tobias only told me about the issue with the Brotherhood, the intruders and the tension with the council.”

  Verdan resisted the urge to scowl at the other man. This wasn’t Brent’s fault, he just happened to be the one delivering the bad news. “When did you organise this?”

  “We went over it all last night,” Brent said, looking increasingly unsure and out of his depth.

  So, either a decision on Tobias’s part to leave it out, or, if he were being charitable, an effort not to overwhelm Brent. For now, Verdan would assume the latter.

  “You mentioned more details, that’s what I want. Get me his thoughts on the treatment of non-humans, what has happened with the Kranjir and the situation with the Darjee.”

  Brent nodded, looking happier now he had a set objective. “I can do that.”