Chapter 43: 43 - The Next Move
The carriage had been gone for several minutes before either Adrien or Evelyne moved. The drawing room felt larger without Gaspard in it, and the tea on his side of the table had already started going cold.
Evelyne spoke first. "Do you know what you’re doing, Adrien?"
"I think so." Adrien looked toward the doorway Gaspard had disappeared through. "What we found can ruin his family if we prove the payments belong to Arquenay. The problem is getting the proof to a place where they’ll actually accept it and take it."
His mother folded her hands over her lap. "After what happened to your father, sending a sealed letter to the capital and trusting it to arrive where it should would be foolish."
"You think they’d bury it."
"I think somebody would." Evelyne did not hesitate. "It doesn’t need to be anyone important. One clerk who owes the wrong man a favour is enough. One secretary who decides a letter from House Clairmont can sit at the bottom of a pile for a month."
That was unpleasantly familiar. Adrien had seen the same thing in his first life, only the paper trails had been digital.
"So we need to send someone personally."
"That would be safer." Evelyne moved Gaspard’s abandoned cup aside. "But first we must make copies of everything. The ledgers, the payments, the names, every date that can be checked. Whoever goes to Valebrand will carry copies. The originals stay here."
Adrien nodded. "And we need someone we trust enough to put them into the right hands."
"Yes, but that can wait until we’re certain of everything we have." Evelyne tapped one finger against the table. "Right now, I’m more interested in what Gaspard will do after today."
Adrien thought back to the man’s face when the Crown had come up. "I don’t think he wants to become our enemy openly. He knows we found something, but if he attacks Greymoor now, he might as well hang a sign around his neck saying he’s involved."
"Under normal circumstances, I agree."
"You don’t sound convinced."
"I’m convinced Gaspard is rational." His mother’s mouth tightened slightly. "I’m less convinced than everyone around him is."
Adrien understood who she meant. Léon.
The last part of the meeting returned to him. He had deliberately mentioned the duel, the lost staff and humiliation, then watched Gaspard choose his answer carefully. Léon had been carrying that loss since Valebrand, and time probably had not improved his mood.
"Léon is an idiot, but attacking us because he lost a duel would be a special kind of stupid."
"Young men have built graves out of less." Evelyne stood and crossed toward the window. "We prepare anyway. Quietly. Garrick should know there may be trouble, and we can increase the patrols around the lower roads without making Greymoor look frightened."
Adrien rose as well. "Agreed. If Gaspard does nothing, we’ve lost nothing. If someone does something stupid, I’d rather not learn about it when they reach the gates."
His mother looked at him, and the hard edge in her expression eased. "Your father would have argued with me for twenty minutes before agreeing to exactly the same thing."
"Sounds exhausting."
"He was." There was affection underneath the answer, and enough pain that Adrien let the joke end there. Evelyne looked toward the empty chair before returning her attention to him.
"I’m proud of you, Adrien. You kept your temper, gave him nothing useful, and let him leave wondering how much we know. A month ago, I was preparing myself to lose this house. Now we’re discussing how to bring down one of the families that helped take it from us."
Compliments from enemies were easy. From his mother, apparently less so. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.
"We haven’t brought anyone down yet."
"No. But for the first time since Alaric died, I believe we can."
That stayed with Adrien after the conversation ended. By midday, he had decided he wanted something considerably simpler than noble politics. A spell, preferably. Spells did what they were told and did not own land, sons or political connections.
"I’m going out for the afternoon," Adrien told Evelyne near the front hall. "I want a Zephyr grimoire. Lightning, if I can find one."
"You could try Elyndor. I saw several specialist spell shops in the market when we were there. You’ll probably find something better there than anywhere near Greymoor."
Adrien considered it for all of two seconds. "Elyndor it is."
A few hours later, Greymoor’s stone walls had been replaced by enormous trees, pale wooden buildings and the layered walkways of Elyndor.
Adrien had barely entered the market before he saw Amelia. She stood beside a stall with a small paper bag in one hand, examining something the merchant had placed on the counter, and she noticed him at almost the same moment.
He walked over as though their last private conversation had not ended with her kissing him and leaving him alone with far too much to think about.
"Amelia. Didn’t expect to find you here."
"Adrien." She managed to sound normal, which required more effort than she wanted to admit. He looked completely fine, and that immediately irritated her.
’That’s it?’
She had spent an embarrassing amount of time replaying that kiss afterward. Apparently Adrien Clairmont could simply walk into the market and talk to her as if nothing unusual had happened between them.
’Did he really not care about the kiss?’
Adrien’s attention dropped for half a second to her mouth before returning to her eyes. He remembered it perfectly well, and the conversation afterward had occupied more of his thoughts than he intended to admit.
Amelia caught the glance.
’Oh.’
Some of the knot in her chest loosened. She adjusted the bag in her hand and gave both of them something safer to talk about.
"What are you doing today?"
"I came to buy a grimoire. Zephyr spells, preferably Lightning."
"I know a good place." Amelia shifted the bag under her arm. "The owner overcharges humans, though, so going alone would probably be a terrible financial decision."
Adrien sighed.
A small smile escaped her. "If you want, we can go together. I can stop him from robbing you."
Adrien gestured down the market road. "Lead the way."
Amelia turned toward the deeper part of the market, and Adrien fell into step beside her. Neither mentioned the kiss. For now, apparently, that was enough.
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