Page 125 of The Infernal Battalion

Goodman took a deep breath as he finished this speech, and Raesinia gave him a moment to recover. She walked to the sideboard, where there were several dusty bottles of amber liquor.

“Would you like a drink, Master Goodman?”

“I would not,” Goodman said stiffly. “I ask again. Do you deny any of this?”

“Let me see if I understand what you’re accusing me of. You think that I fed information from our negotiations to this trading company, in order to unfairly make money for myself in the market?”

“That is exactly what you did,” Goodman said. “And it is highly illegal under Borelgai law, I might add.”

“Would this be a good time to point out that Vor River Trading has not, in fact, made any money?” Raesinia poured a tumbler half full of sticky spirit, and carried it back to the table.

“I don’t see that it matters,” Goodman said. “I never accused you of competence in your crimes.”

“I see. So, what do you intend to do?”

“In light of your agreement with His Majesty, I am prepared to be lenient,” Goodman said, swelling visibly. “The concern will be wound up immediately. You will be confined to the Keep until your marriage, with or without an escort from the second prince. Your companions”—​he glanced derisively at Cora—“will be returned to Vordan by the first available vessel.”

“And the creditors?”

“What? What creditors?”

“The creditors,” Raesinia said patiently, “of Vor River Trading. As I said, the concern has done poorly. If it’s wound up, I doubt there will be enough to pay its debts.”

“Don’t expect me to believe you honestly care,” Goodman said. “But His Majesty will, I’m sure, make your creditors whole.” He smiled nastily. “I imagine we’ll recoup our losses from Vordan eventually.”

“Oh, good.” Raesinia turned to Cora. “How much would that be, do you think? In round figures.”

“In round figures?” Cora’s lips moved soundlessly. “Six hundred, maybe seven. Certainly not more than eight...”

Goodman rolled his eyes. Cora counted, ostentatiously, on her fingers, and then grinned.

“Yes, that’s about right. Call it seven hundred million marks.”

The merchant’s face clouded. “What sort of nonsense is this?”

“We’ve had quite an influx of investors of late,” Raesinia said. “And with Second Prince Matthew vouching for us, your banks have been more than happy to extend credit, which has allowed us to leverage those investments—​that’s the term, isn’t it? Leverage?”

“You’ve lost seven hundred million marks?”

“We haven’t lost it yet,” Cora said. “It’s invested in the market for Vordanai debt derivatives.”

“We bet on Vordan’s not having to pay, in other words. For some reason there was no shortage of investors willing to take the other end of that bet. So if Vordan does pay out in the end, we’ll be in quite the hole.”

“I see,” Goodman said grimly. “Clearly I underestimated your capacity for dishonor. And this is supposed to force my hand, is it? Make me grant you a favorable deal?”

“Something like that,” Raesinia said.

Goodman grinned like a snake. “Passing clever, I’ll admit. But contracts are just paper. If the king declares them invalid, your little attempt at blackmail goes up in smoke.”

“That would be very interesting,” Raesinia said. “Cora, do you want to explain this part?”

“Well,” she said cheerfully, “first of all, those contracts are pledged as collateral to the banks, in exchange for the loans that paid for them. So if they go up in smoke, then a lot of angry creditors are going to come looking for VRT.”

“That is hardly my problem.”

“What they’re going to find,” Cora went on, “is that our accounting has been... well, a bit irregular. Specifically, we’ve sold more shares in the company than actually exist.”

“A lot more,” Raesinia said.