‘No, of course not,’ I said. ‘Lady Dennan, though, Konrad’s sister. What the fuck is she supposed to have done?’
‘I have no idea,’ Ailsa said, ‘but Lord Vogel does not sign arrest warrants for no reason. At this moment the entire governing council is under suspicion. Someone in Dannsburg must have made common cause with the Skanians, and it is our job to find out who.’
‘So down to Ilse she goes, then, is that it?’
‘Is there something you’re having difficulty understanding, Tomas?’ Ailsa asked me, her voice turning cold. ‘We are the Queen’s Men. The City Guard may arrest people in public, but when it needs to be done quietly and out of sight, that is our job. When hard questions need to be asked in the dark, that is our job. We are the Secret Guard, if you will. This is what we are for.’
‘Aye, I know that,’ I said, and I decided that I had already said more than was wise. ‘I’m not questioning my orders. I’m just worried, that’s all. Maybe it’s the soldier in me, but I can’t get my mind off the Skanian threat. I remember what you told me about them, and about what will happen to us if it comes to war.’
Ailsa smiled at me then, and I thought perhaps I had rescued the conversation just in time.
‘It won’t come to war,’ she reassured me. ‘We just need to root out the collaborators, make it impossible for them to send another assassin.’
‘Aye,’ I said. ‘Aye, that’s good. I worry of a night, that’s all. Bad dreams. Sorry, I . . . I know I shouldn’t be here.’
‘It’s all right,’ Ailsa said. ‘I know the war left you . . . well, yes. There it is. I’m glad you still feel you can bring your concerns to me, Tomas.’
Good, that was saved, then. Ailsa would perhaps report that her battle-shocked husband was having nightmares about another war, but no more than that. I thought that had probably been expected anyway. One thing was clear as day to me, though.
She wasn’t telling me the truth.
Chapter 19
Root out the collaborators, my arse, I thought as I walked slowly back towards the Bountiful Harvest. What we were really doing was removing the Prince Regent’s support network, one person at a time. Vogel was working his way through the old guard on the governing council, finding reasons to arrest anyone who still respected the prince. I thought I understood why.
I couldn’t shake the fear of war from my mind, whatever Ailsa had told me. A country at war needs strong and stable leadership above all else, and if we didn’t have that in the Prince Regent then by Our Lady’s name we had to make it look like we did. A united and loyal governing council would go a long way to achieving that.
I was met at the end of the road by Fat Luka. He had Oliver and Emil with him, and all three of them were mailed and wearing swords. I stared at them in surprise. Luka was red in the face, and he had obviously been hurrying.
‘There you are,’ he said, bending over as he tried to catch his breath. ‘Thank the Lady for that!’
‘How the fuck did you know where I was?’
‘Brandt sent a runner to the Harvest to tell me,’ Luka said. ‘Lady’s sake, boss, you shouldn’t be out on your own.’
‘Why not? I’m a fucking Queen’s Man, Fat Luka. We as good as own this city.’
‘Aye, you’re a Queen’s Man,’ Luka said, lowering his voice so the lads wouldn’t hear. ‘You’re a Queen’s Man who disappeared six of the Palace Guard not so long past. You think they didn’t have mates? You think soldiers don’t gossip? You can fight, I know that, but not half a dozen armed off-duty guardsmen, you can’t. No one can, not on their own. What the fuck do you think would have happened if they’d been following you? Your Queen’s Warrant won’t stop a knife in the back and that’s all there is to it.’
I blinked at him in surprise. Fat Luka was giving me a telling. I wouldn’t normally have let that pass, but this time I had to allow that he was right. I hadn’t even fucking thought about it, and that shamed me. The Queen’s Warrant made me untouchable in law, that was true enough, but perhaps I had got to thinking it made me invulnerable too. That, as Luka so clearly pointed out, was absolutely not the case.
‘Aye,’ I said, after a long moment. ‘Aye, you’re right. Thank you, Luka. I’ll be more careful in future.’
Luka nodded. ‘Good. Look, boss, Anne said . . . well, it ain’t my place, I know, but you and Bloody Anne didn’t ought to be falling out of each other’s favour. Not now, not here of all places. This city might look safe but it fucking ain’t, and we need to stand together.’
Again, I had to admit he was right. Luka was nobody’s fool, after all.
‘I mark you, Luka,’ I said. ‘I mark you, and I’ll make it right with Anne.’
He nodded, and together we started back towards the Bountiful Harvest.
I’ll make it right with Anne.
I wondered exactly how the fuck I was going to do that.
*
Brandy was usually a good place to start.
Luka had gone to eat with Oliver and Emil, but I hadn’t been hungry. I went into the common room to buy a bottle as a peace offering, and there I found Rosie doing the same thing. She gave me a level look as I walked up to stand beside her at the bar.
‘Where’s Anne?’ I asked her.
‘In our room,’ Rosie said. ‘She’s got the arse with you and no mistake.’
‘Aye, I dare say she has,’ I said. ‘She tell you why?’
‘Yes.’
Rosie got a hard look about her then that said she wasn’t any happier with me than Anne was.
‘Maybe we ought to talk, the three
