Dagger’s hand froze on the hilt, the blade caught halfway from its sheath before he drew it free and set it flat against the table. “Agreed.”
“We might need to call in favors.” Big favors. “The Duke of Mortimer owes us one.”
“You mean his brother-in-law owes us one, who is still a pup.”
Drake shrugged. “He’ll step in for the boy. There’s also his friend, Miles or something, and our dear duke brother, Blake, and his duke friend, Bishop.”
“And your cousin,” Knight said.
Drake nodded.
“So we have dukes and earls at our disposal,” Dagger said darkly. “That won’t help find Sirius.”
“Whether it helps or whether it doesn’t, it’s still more eyes outside Brighton.”
Maxen gave a single nod.
“Why did he even bother with those ledgers?” Dagger asked. “It’s written in code. They’ll have a tough time deciphering the things. Each ledger has a different code system.”
But if they did decipher them all, which was only a matter of time, they’d have a map to their empire. Which holdings relied on which men. Which territories required constant presence to remain theirs. Which payments, if delayed once, would start a quiet mutiny.
“They wouldn’t need to bring the whole thing down,” Knight said quietly, as though he’d followed the same line of thought. “Just enough to make our hold look weak.”
“And weakness invites challengers,” Saint added. “Every cutthroat with ambitions will smell it.”
Reaper’s mouth twisted. “Once the streets start choosing sides, it won’t stop at coin.”
Drake’s gaze slid to Violet again. To Calliope beside her. To everything soft and hard-won that now existedbecauseof the order they had carved out of chaos.
“If those ledgers are fully read,” Drake said slowly, “they won’t come for us all at once.”
Maxen’s voice was iron. “They’ll take us apart.”
Silence fell heavy at the table.
Drake felt it settle into his bones. Those ledgers weren’t numbers and names. They were leverage. Lifelines. Graves waiting to be filled.
“He won’t run far,” Serpent said. “He stole to beuseful. He’ll surface again.”
“He’ll surface where it’s useful to be seen,” Saint added.
“Ah, yes.” Reaper’s coin appeared, meaning the man’s fury had calmed down some. “They take pleasure in being under our noses and we are not able to find them.”
Maxen’s cold eyes flicked up. “We tighten the ship and go hunting.”
Drake nodded. “We take it back.”
A dagger buried into the table. “With interest.”
Violet appeared beside him, Calliope moving for Maxen’s lap. Drake pulled her onto his.
“Not to intrude,” she murmured. “But I sent word to my friends about my brother and your feud...”
Drake stilled.And that she was leavingwas what she did not say.
“They’ll want to help,” she offered. “Their husbands, that is. If you are looking for more aid.”
“Thank you,” Drake murmured, hugging her tightly to him. “We’ll need all the eyes and ears we can get.”
