AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Eneko is a spy for King Julius,” Lefric said in a gasp, as though he’d been holding onto the information for half his life and could finally blurt it out.
No, he spoke like he’d been denied an orgasm for days and was finally being allowed to come.
I squirmed at the analogy, truly feeling it.
“He’s what?” Lord Vikhrov gasped, gaping at his son.
“He couldn’t possibly be,” Zangar said. “Eneko has been with our family since before I was born.”
“We have proof,” Olympus said, taking a small book from the inside of his vest. “We found this notebook in the house of a man who confessed to being King Julius’s spy. It lists the names of his contacts on the frontier, many of whom have already been proven to be fellow spies. Gregorius’s name is among them. Beyond that, Hadrian, the spy we took this book from, had a seal that bears the Gerzia family falcon. An identical seal was found in Gregorius’s house.”
“I’m certain if you search Eneko’s things, you’ll find another seal,” Lefric picked up the story. “You can’t let Eneko back into the estate grounds. You can’t let him go anywhere. He’ll take valuable information to the Old Realm, and we think the Old Realm has already started a war against the frontier. That man there, Dmitri, has information about a man named General Rufus, who commands an entire Old Realm army in the eastern forest. And they’re building a southern passage through the mountains to connect the Old Realm and the frontier. We could see the entire frontier overrun by soldiers and force to submit to King Julius again and that… that would be bad.”
By the time Lefric finally stopped to catch his breath, we were all staring at him in shock, even Olympus, who probably knew more about the situation than the other four of us.
Vikhrov finally shook his head and turned his stare on Olympus. “Has your young man gone mad on this journey to the cities?” he asked.
I didn’t know whether to feel badly for Lefric or to laugh.
“He’s actually telling the truth, Father,” Olympus said. “As am I. Eneko is a traitor. Whether he has been all along or whether someone has stolen his loyalty from you, his name is listed with men who are loyal to King Julius and who are working to undermine the frontier.”
The very idea gave me chills. I’d grown up knowing the frontier was just part of a bigger kingdom, and not a particularly important or respected part of it, but now I wondered. If we really weren’t all that important, then why would the Old Realm go through so much trouble to bring us back in line?
I glanced to Dmitri, wondering if he had the answer to that too. I could understand that King Julius needed men for his army, and that somehow he’d gotten it into his head that wolves would make good soldiers. I could possibly believe that the resources of the frontier were in demand on the other side of the eastern mountains. But that didn’t make the frontier important enough to pack with spies and to wage what could be a costly war to reconquer…could it?
“What do you propose I do with Eneko?” Lord Vikhrov asked, frowning at Olympus. He wasn’t happy, but he appeared to be taking the accusations seriously.
“You can’t be suggesting that we arrest a man who has served our family for over twenty years simply because his name is listed in some book, can you?” Zangar scoffed.
“I know what I would do with a spy, if I caught one,” Dmitri said with a bloodthirsty look.
Olympus stared at Dmitri as though he wasn’t helping. “I don’t think Magnus is suggestingthatat all,” he said. “We should detain Eneko, though. Someone needs to thoroughly search his quarters. And when we do that, we need to put the entire estate in lock-down so that no one comes in or out or disturbs the search until we know definitively whether Eneko is guilty.”
“He may have accomplices within the estate too,” Lefric said. “People whose names aren’t listed in the book. We can’t risk any of them slipping out and alerting the other spies.”
Lord Vikhrov seemed to consider the idea, but I didn’t think he liked it. He glanced to me and Dmitri. “And who are you?” he asked. “What part do you have in this muddle?”
“I’m Dmitri Glinkov,” Dmitri said, holding out his hand as though he, too, were a great leader. “I have nothing to do with these people, and I know nothing about this spy business.”
I shot Dmitri a disapproving frown. The least he could do after Magnus spared his life would be to help defeat King Julius’s network of spies.
“And this is my wicked and unruly pup, Anton,” Dmitri went on, thrusting an arm around me and pulling me close.
I stumbled, crashing against Dmitri and nearly losing my footing. I had to lean heavily into him, making it look as though I was every bit as subservient to Dmitri as he had implied.
“Anton is a friend of mine,” Lefric spoke up for me. “From the Wolf River Kingdom. He deserves the hospitality of the Hakobyan family.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that comment. It was almost like he was signaling to Lord Vikhrov that I needed help.
Which I didn’t. I’d gotten myself into my own mess, and I would see it through until I could get out.
Lord Vikhrov seemed either satisfied or just done with the introductions. He focused on Olympus again and said, “You tell me Eneko is a spy for the Old Realm. You suggest I should detain him and search his quarters. Meanwhile, you haven’t asked me anything about the investigation into Gregorius’s murder.”
“I haven’t had a chance to,” Olympus said.
“Have you discovered something?” Lefric asked at the same time.
Lord Vikhrov seemed amused by the interplay between Olympus and Lefric. Or at least he would have been if he hadn’t just been handed a colossal problem.
