Page 56 (1/1)
There was nothing to do Marquess Kylar Drake sat in the front roith eyes constantly on hiel could invisibly drop from the rafters and scoop up the deadly crown, but Marquess Drake could only watch the consequences of his choices unfurl Kylar stood as Terah Graesin was announced, as she strode regally to the front, as the patr and the priest lifted prayers and blessed her coronation Finally, the two divines and Duke Wesseros together lifted the crown from its purple pillow
Not yet Dear God, not yet Kylar hadn’t even thought of ould happen to those crowning Terah if she was already sweating Syods and the land itself, the threehappened She accepted a scepter from Duke Wesseros and a sword fro moment, then handed each back The men bowed low, then she bade theed back out of his throat Trumpets pealed and Kylar juh the Great Hall
The queen senerously with her hands Doors banged open on every side and a procession of servants strealed with the crowds as the servants rearranged the room for a feast Kylar barely saw it His eyes were latched on Terah Graesin
Logan clapped him on the shoulder "Well, that’s that, huh?" Kylar didn’t turn "Coh table"
45
Kylar allowed Logan to usher hi forty-year-old third cousin of the Gunders, as hoping to press a claian’s right She sot you a title, too," Kylar said
"You forget, Kylar, I’ve been to h I ad fury of every eligible wo"
"Really?" Kylar asked, incredulous Belatedly, Kylar ree, though she’d retired by the time Kylar knew her She had doubtless escorted many of the lords in this very room to similar functions He knew there had been a convenient fiction early in her career that Gwinvere was a visiting Alitaeran countess, but after a time, even that had been unnecessary A woraceful a dancer, as skilled a singer, as adept a conversationalist, and as discreet as Gwinvere Kirena was the exception to many rules
Momma K raised an eyebrow
"Uh, sorry, I didn’t an came to his rescue, he said, "I asked her before anyone else could I find there are so few beautiful woh to form complete sentences"
"Yawp," Momma K said, in a perfect coastal Ceuran drawl "Where’s thet spittoon?"
Kylar laughed out loud The truth wasup with an older woan could fend off unwanted advances If Logan had shown up with a young woman as his escort--or none at all--theclothes or nowhen he saw Terah Graesin, a few places beyond Logan, and his laughter died
"Kylar?" Mo?"
He shook hiht, the nattering grasper gasped He ignored her He couldn’t take his eyes off the queen She drank She leaned close to Lantano Garuwashi on her right and shared private observations She jested with a lord at one of the lower tables who’d spilled his wine over his wife She chatted with her brother who sat at her left All the while, her death aiting
Kylar had expected it to explode soon after the croas placed on her head, while she was still standing alone before the lords Now, if he’d put too ht kill others, too Luc Graesin, though a relative innocent, wouldn’t be endary Ceuran would be disastrous
"What I don’t understand," Logan was saying to Mo Jarl’s proposals" The name ave me hope, would you believe an’s face, and Kylar saw the old naive Logan briefly at battle with the Logan who’d spent months in the Hole "I’d believe that was part of it," he said
She sood for the Rabbits--they’re good for everyone Do you kno e Rabbit spends when he visits a whorehouse?" She laughed at the look that crossed Logan’s face "I was being rhetorical, Your Grace Three silver pieces One on drink, two for the girl I e merchant buys wine, a irl I keep more than a crown in profit And when nobles visit? Desserts, dancers, bards, jugglers, aperitifs, fine wines, plus other services you’d probably prefer I not mention I take seven crowns in profit So, if you were a cutthroat an’s cheeks were pink, but he nodded "Point taken" Kylar could barely believe his eyes Logan, talking calmly about the economics of prostitution?
"The problem with how the people have looked at the Rabbits is that they see theerous I see the for money You ohat? half of the, uh, houses of pleasure in this city?" Logan said Moave a feline smirk, and at that expression, Kylar realized that she didn’t own half the city’s brothels She owned them all "And I’ve heard you don’t pay taxes, ever Even if ere able to figure out exactly which an said it, Kylar realized Logan was speaking with the one woman in the city who could tell him--"if we removed them, you would suddenly have a raft of expenses you never had before I can’t iine you’d come out ahead If you were the city’s most astute merchant, would you choose taxes or no taxes?"
"In the past twenty years, I’ve had nobles seize entire brothels no less than fifteen times Banks I had an interest in have been seized ten ti thrown out In a particularly bad year, a certain high noble took a taste to killing whores, and I lost forty-three girls When so six of round, one of them with all of my employees locked inside" The coldness in Mo "So, while we can debate how er sheets can’t explain what it is to find your young protégé has been kidnapped They can’t tell you what it is to live wondering how long it will be before the twist tires of her, and whether he will then kill her or release her Your Grace, I have learned to use this city’s corruption, but I shall not weep to see it destroyed"