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Lucien shrugged one shoulder "Conquest, expanding our rule The question is why shouldn’t we overtake them?"

Severin rubbed one of his velvet ears "As I am unfit to lead our armies in this cursed condition the question isto break the curse again?" Lucien asked, latching to the topic eagerly

"Atte a different result is not only pointless but insane"

"No, it is not All you need is an eirl to fall in love with you and the curse is broken Truthfully I think that’s the cheapest price I’ve ever heard of for ridding oneself of a curse," Lucien said

"She et that If it were so easy to get a woman to love me I would have done it already for my servants’ sake--not that I haven’t tried"

"But this tihter of a minor noble--and she loves animals!"

Severin looked down at the table and speared a paper with the tip of his claw "I have new orders for Rangers Twenty Five, Fifty Two, and Seventy Eight," he said, speaking of Lucien’s elite troops They were agents of intelligence trained for observations, coers technically were Lucien’s, Severin was key in the creation of the organization, and he moved them around like his personal chess pieces--with Lucien’s perot," Lucien said

Severin handed over papers describing the targets and desired inforreeable toone of the three packets "Ranger Seventy Eight can’t be spared right now"

Severin frowned--which was ?"

"A personal intelligence collection h recently we’ve fallen out of contact"

"Ranger Seventy Eight is one of our best intelligencers Please do not tellhi, but no It’s a local case Should I be afraid of betrayal? There’s been no word for a week or two," Lucien frowned, fiddling with the frilled throat of his white undershirt

"Track hieable as Seventy Eight is no small matter," Severin hissed

Lucien smiled It wasn’t his pretty one he used for portraits and ladies, but the set his way "Yes," he agreed "Since you can’t use Seventy Eight, ould you like to send instead?"

The brothers planned for hours, pouring overare

"What if we move the southern army to Duke Villette’s for the winter? His people are usually plagued by bandits I ith," Severin said

Lucien scrubbed at his eyes "Can’t we be done? We’ve talked strategy and military movements for hours Don’t you have any supply requests from your housekeeper?"