Page 54 of The Thief and the Traitor Bride

“What did you learn?” Gail said, leaning back, taking a sip of his wine. Nore wanted to know what it was—possibly purely so she could judge him for it.

“Luthos has put forth Lennot Knight,” she said.

“Intriguing,” Gail said, turning his wineglass back and forth. “Lennot Knight is no threat, I think. He’s a kind mage but not a strong one—he will certainly be unable to match her in talent and will.”

“Kindness is not the worst reason to marry,” Nore said. It wasn’t the reason she had married, but she’d heard worse.

Gail snorted. “Lockes don’t marry for kindness.” He drained his glass. “And she won’t marry a Luthrite anyway. Too much bad blood.”

“Ah?”

Gail didn’t explain any further. He glanced back over the note on the table. Almost to himself, he said, “Kason Aurelian is… a choice. Perhaps they’re trying to entice her with pure charm alone, since he’s certainly not in possession of a brain.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Picantor-Donan might be an issue, Luthrite or not.”

“Are those other suitors?” Nore asked.

“Luthrite and Eprainish,” Gail said. “Jessa Picantor-Donan is a strong mage and had a hand in reuniting things after the war. Kept things running smoothly during Lochan–Luthrite peace negotiations, despite previous… indiscretions. If anything, the fact she’s a pacifist might appeal. Ugly as a gods-cursed corpse, though.” Gail frowned. “Very pale.”

“I have no idea what any of that means, nor why it matters,” Nore muttered under her breath, unsure why she was defending someone she did not know, who was probably also ideologically at odds with her. Though, if she was somehow ideologically aligned with Gail, well—

Gods. Perhaps she did need Caspian’s opinion.

“Anyway. That’s all for tonight, then,” Gail said. “And burn that, will you?” he repeated, nodding to the paper as he stood.

Nore at least waited to roll her eyes until his back was turned.

Once Gail was gone, Nore pulled the pages toward her. She knew it wasn’t right, exactly, but she disliked being ordered about. Besides, if it was information valuable enough for the girl to report it to Gail, it could have some relevance to her in the future, even if it didn’t now.

She disliked feeling so deeply separated from the context. A small part of her knew that this was exactly why Caspian was valuable: he could fill the gaps in her knowledge.

Knowing he served a purpose did not make acknowledging his usefulness any easier. In fact, realizing that Caspian, with all his needling remarks, was indispensable to her made things infinitely worse.

The message was split between two pages. The first was a list of dates spanning most of the last year, with notes.

2.4. D. 9 hr. Second longest, after Wintertide drought. LK worried more will be coming but cannot say why.

2.16. D. 2 hr. Normal functioning ability.

2.25. D. 6 hr. Limited functioning. Noticed LK uneasy.

3.18. S. Half bell. Useful–LK hosting dinner party with demands. Got work done. No other noticeable d’s since previous.

5.2. S. Spike. House ML passive needed reset entirely.

6.8. D. Quarter bell. Barely noticed but was midboil on stew. Cook unhappy.

8.15. S. 3 hr. Helped in thick of harvest.

10.1. S. Spike. No damage.

Nore frowned at the page, unable to make sense of it. If it was some sort of code that Gail used with his spies, she wasn’t sure she had the context she needed to unravel the meaning. She read it over again—LK was probably Lucia Knight, though they probably should’ve picked a better code.

But if the first two numbers were dates, then something was happening, possibly growing more infrequent over the year? If her suspicions were correct, then the final incident was only a few weeks ago.

Nore flipped to the second page. This was a report—not very well written, but a report all the same—on whatever household gossip the girl had gathered, organized into a list.

-Knight Sr. petitioning for funds to S–wells?

-Lucia having an affair with K. Aurelian (Eprain, cous to Ep)–husband may know??? Gossip last night about Lennot.