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‘I left no trail’

‘Not one et distracted’

Tehol continued pacing ‘The Merchant Tolls list Letheras’s gross at between twelve and fifteen peaks, with maybe another five buried-’

‘Is that five including your one?’

‘Mine ritten off, re blood Ten thousand curses tied to docks at the bottom of the canal, all with your name on them’

Hejun asked in surprise, ‘Really, Shand? Maybe we should get dredging rights-’

‘Too late,’ Tehol told her ‘Biri’s got those’

‘Biri’s a front hts, Tehol Biri may not know it but he works for you’

‘Well, that’s a situation I’ve yet to exploit’

‘Why?’

He shrugged Then he halted and stared at Shand ‘There’s no way you could know that’

‘You’re right I guessed’

His eyes widened ‘You could make ten peaks, with an instinct like that, Shand’

‘You’ve fooled everyone because you don’tstep, Tehol Beddict They don’t think you’ve buried your peak – not anylike a rat under the docks You’ve truly lost it Where, nobody knows, but somewhere That’s why they wrote off the loss, isn’t it?’

‘Money is sleight of hand,’ Tehol said, nodding ‘Unless you’ve got diamonds in your hands Then it’s not just an idea any aht there, lasses Even when money’s just an idea, it has power Only it’s not real power Just the pro as everyone keeps pretending it’s real Stop pretending and it all falls apart’

‘Unless the diaht Then it’s real power’

‘That’s what you began to suspect, isn’t it? So you went and tested it And everything ca apart’

Tehol sine my dismay’