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Edmund tensed, his fingers clenching on the armrests. He’d submitted his request to General Bloam yesterday, asking to be permanently assigned to a desk job or to counterintelligence. Surely General Bloam wouldn’t ignore his request?
“I received your request.” General Bloam leaned back in his seat, studying Edmund with his sharp gaze. “You provided compelling reasons to keep you and Jalissa inside the alliance kingdoms from now on. As you pointed out, you have burned your cover in Mongavaria, at least for a few generations. Given the rumors coming from Mongavaria about your role in their king’s death—rumors our ambassadors have been instructed to categorically refute—other kingdoms are going to be wary of having you as an ambassador, even if they don’t believe you actually killed the Mongavarian king. While you are very skilled in the field, you are still a prince. We shouldn’t risk your safety unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“I will be an Escarlish prince in name only in a decade or two.” Edmund crossed his arms. He wasn’t sure why he was arguing since it sounded like General Bloam intended to give him exactly what he had requested.
“True, but you will still be married to a princess of the elves. Even if you wish to be reckless with your life, your wife’s safety remains important for the strength of the alliance.” General Bloam’s mouth twitched, as if he knew he’d presented an argument Edmund couldn’t debate.
He gave a self-deprecating smile and tipped a nod. General Bloam had him there. “So you will acquiesce to my request and assign me to a desk?”
He was hoping it would be in counterintelligence. That would give him the chance to go out in the field occasionally, perhaps with Jalissa at his side, as they had been doing that past summer when they tracked down the remnants of the Mongavarian spy network and sniffed out the Escarlish nobility who had smuggling ties to Mongavaria.
But he would be all right if he was assigned as an analyst for Mongavaria. It would mean more paperwork, which wasn’t his favorite thing, but he might be allowed to take some of the less sensitive information with him when he traveled to Tarenhiel to work from there.
“Yes. And no.” General Bloam’s mouth curved into a bigger smile that held a sharp, cunning edge to it.
Oh, this was going to be good, if General Bloam was giving him that smile. Edmund held his breath, his heart thumping harder. General Bloam had smiled just like that when he’d realized how gifted Edmund was in elvish and decided to send him as a spy into Tarenhiel. That moment had started the greatest adventure of Edmund’s life…and brought him Jalissa, the love of his life.
General Bloam rested his elbow on the armrest, relaxing into his seat. “Six months ago, after being given the full report of your exploits in Tarenhiel, King Weylind submitted an official request for the Intelligence Office’s help in setting up their own counterintelligence network to prevent infiltration by spies like you or the Mongavarian assassin-spies. I replied that I would give it some consideration since, although Tarenhiel is now our ally, it is a risk to give them this knowledge and training.”
Edmund’s heart beat harder, hardly daring to hope. While he would enjoy working in counterintelligence here in Escarland, doing it in Tarenhiel would be a dream come true. A dream he hadn’t even dared entertain. He loved Escarland, but Tarenhiel had a special hold on his heart.
It would be tricky, balancing his political duties here in Escarland with training spies in Tarenhiel, but he and Jalissa would make it work. The train and the Alliance Bridge over the Hydalla River made travel between the kingdoms easy enough. Essie and Farrendel were an example of how to make a life in two kingdoms.
“Recently, after the poisoning in Kostaria and the role you played in ending it, we received a similar request for training from King Rharreth.” General Bloam’s sharp gaze studied Edmund, a twist to his mouth as if he knew how much torture it was for Edmund to stay patient while the general slowly laid this out. “King Rharreth even requested you by name.”
“Now that is surprising. I’m glad he no longer wants to bash me over the head for spying on Kostaria.” Edmund grinned and forced his fingers to relax on the armrests instead of curling in anticipation. Training spies in both Tarenhiel and Kostaria? Now that sounded…beyond amazing.
“I think it’s more that you are the one Escarlish spy he somewhat trusts enough to allow back into his kingdom.” General Bloam tapped the armrest with that hint of a smirk still playing around his mouth. “These requests made me contemplate the future of intelligence gathering and sharing in the alliance. Not just now, but in the future. If things continue as they are, we will more than likely go to war with Mongavaria. It might be a few years from now or it might be in a century. Even I can’t predict that. But when that war comes, it will be a war like nothing we have fought before. The alliance will need to be strong. Our armies will need to work together. Our governments will need to cooperate. And our intelligence and counterintelligence offices will need to work together smoothly.”
Edmund nodded. He could see that future playing out as well, one where the war in the shadows would be as important as the war on the ground. While General Bloam might not live to see it, Edmund almost certainly would.
“For that reason, I want to appoint you as the new Liaison of Intelligence.” General Bloam’s smirk widened, no doubt reading the excitement that Edmund couldn’t hide. “You will be responsible not only for training the scouts in Kostaria and Tarenhiel in counterintelligence methods, but you will also be in charge of coordinating the sharing of information between the kingdoms. You will receive copies of everything that comes across my desk, and it will be up to you to determine what to share with Kostaria and Tarenhiel and what to keep classified to Escarland. And you will work to develop relationships with your counterparts in those kingdoms so that they will willingly share whatever intelligence they gather with you, and thus with Escarland.”
Edmund sagged in his seat at the weight of the responsibility that General Bloam was proposing. This was so far beyond anything that he had envisioned. It was everything he could wish for his future…and more.
And yet, it was somuch. Would he be up to this task? Did he have the wisdom to know what to pass along to the other kingdoms of the alliance and what should be kept secret to Escarland? As much as he trusted Rharreth and Weylind, the alliance was still comprised of three separate kingdoms. They would always have secrets from each other, and that was all right.
“Of course I’ll do it.” Edmund couldn’t even pretend to be nonchalant. There was no point. General Bloam could surely read just how thrilled he was about this. His mind was already whirling, planning ways to train the Kostarian and Tarenhieli scouts.
“I knew you would.” General Bloam’s smirk took on an even more cunning tilt. “But that’s not all. Once you’ve successfully gotten the intelligence networks for Kostaria and Tarenhiel up and running, I would like to also appoint you the Director of Counterintelligence for Escarland. As both Director and Liaison, you will report directly to me.”
This was even more than Edmund could absorb. He leaned his elbows on his knees. “Are you sure I’m the right person for the job? As Jalissa reminds me, my moral compass can get a little…shady. I’m not sure my judgment can be trusted to know the difference between protecting Escarland from spies and turning Escarland into a dictator state that spies on its own people.”
“The fact that you are worried about it tells me that you are the right person for the job.” General Bloam gave a small shrug. “Yes, you will cross a few lines that others wouldn’t. You couldn’t be a spy if you weren’t willing to do some unpleasant things. But you still have lines that you won’t cross, and you’ve never let yourself be fully drawn into the shadows the way some spies do. When you start to go astray, you and I can both trust that Princess Jalissa will steer you right.”
True. While he didn’t always trust his own moral compass, Jalissa’s pointed far more true than his.
“Linshi. I mean, thank you.” Edmund hung his head for a moment before he lifted his head and met General Bloam’s gaze. “I am honored by these appointments.”
General Bloam waved his hand. “I told you, I’m thinking long-term. Those in charge of the intelligence gathering for Kostaria and Tarenhiel will live for centuries. It only makes sense, for the cohesion of our efforts, that we have someone in place who will also live for centuries. Now you see my brilliance. You will see everything that crosses my desk from now on. Someday in the far distant future when I retire, you will be ready to step into my job and take over as the head of the Intelligence Office.”
Now Edmund all but choked as he gaped at General Bloam. He’d just said that he was preparing Edmund to be his successor. That wasn’t something General Bloam said or did lightly.
Edmund forced a light smile to hide the weight of everything he’d just been told. “The king has to approve the appointment. Wouldn’t my appointment be a form of nepotism?”
General Bloam waved away his concern. “Nepotism is only bad when better, more qualified candidates are passed over for family. But if family happens to be the most qualified, the most trustworthy, and the best individual for the job, then it is simply practicality. And you, Prince Edmund, are the most qualified and skilled person for this job. By the time I retire decades from now, you are going to be even more skilled and experienced than you are now. When the war with Mongavaria comes, the heads of intelligence for Kostaria and Tarenhiel will be the same men or women that you train now. It only makes sense that you face the war as the head of intelligence for Escarland.”
Edmund could see the logic in it. It would be difficult to keep the information flowing freely if Escarland’s Intelligence Office kept changing while Kostaria’s and Tarenhiel’s didn’t. Already, the government of Escarland would be entirely different by the time the war came. It ached, just thinking about Averett dead and gone and his son or even grandson sitting on the throne instead.
