Fear, unease, nerves, tension.

A far cry from the happy atmosphere of my party. I wish all this slaughtering could bring me back to that time of music and bright lights. That’s what I’m fighting for. I tell myself that at the end of all this blood and tedium are more of those carefree nights. It’s the only thing that allows me to keep calm as I stare at the representative of the people responsible for my most pressing problems.

This Slaid isn’t the most impressive man. Not at all what I would imagine of a hunter with his balding head and large gut. But I suppose it’s a good thing they sent someone like him rather than a hotheaded fighter. This is a man who looks like he makes a living crunching numbers, not valorously running into battle. That’s the kind of man I want to talk to. The one who will weigh the odds and can swallow a temporary loss for the greater good.

“But before we start, we should all have something to eat.” I wave for Geneva to start serving food, alongside two of the Teppin women. It was a stroke of genius, deciding what to do with the family. Making them work for me is a poignant display of power, stating in a way that words can’t that the hunters cannot depend on the power of the crown to intimidate me while keeping the lord close so he can witness our abilities.

I won’t be in this house forever and this conflict is far from over. Not to mention my troubles with the crown waiting in the bush. In the future, having a respected voice to speak for me, one without a vested interest like Marquis Guiness, might make things easier. I believe that if the Teppins can be made to understand our power and, more importantly, our motives, in regard to the fact that we have no ambitions of power within the kingdom, that the lord will be a useful ally in the future.

There’s also the fact that having nobles serve me is amusing. They weren’t very enthusiastic when I made the suggestion, the lord himself protesting quite spiritedly. I simply put them in a room with Geneva with instructions for her to convince them without the use of her magic or violence.

It only took three minutes before the matriarch and the youngest daughter were ready to cooperate. Another five for the fiery older daughter. An impressive fifteen for the stubborn lord. The first time I saw him in a servant’s dress, I burst into laughter, the ridiculous sight alleviating most of my bad mood. Lord Teppin didn’t share in my humor. I’m sure if he could have, he'd have strangled me.

“This isn’t a typical strategy for negotiation,” Slaid says as a plate is set before him and a cup of wine from the lord’s stash is poured. “I think you’re meant to keep the other guy uncomfortable so he makes mistakes.”

“You making a mistake is exactly what I’m trying to avoid,” I reply before taking a sip of the tea prepared by Rey. I set the terrible brew down immediately. “Again,” I tell her, sliding the cup toward the young woman.

“I…” Her dark eyes flick toward the succubus standing by the serving cart before her shoulders sag. “Fuck,” she mutters under her breath, at a volume she likely thinks I can’t hear, before she grabs the cup and takes it away. She moves to take the cup in front of Marcella, but the merchant waves her away and motions for the younger sister, Leeona, to pour her a cup of wine.

“Can you eat and talk?” I ask the hunter as the Teppin women step away.

“No reason why I shouldn’t,” he replies while digging into the food. An unusual way to start negotiations but the simple truth is, people are more reasonable when they’re full and happy. “Let me be honest, your ladyship. I’m not much of a negotiator. Or a hunter. I’m here because I’m both a man of the north and a resident of this city. I can see the whole picture, as it were. I know exactly how fucked we are if we go against the March but I’m also here to safeguard Quest’s future.”

Oh, thank the saints! Finally, finally, someone reasonable and not afraid of solving the problem. “That’s great Slaid, because I could say the same for myself. There’s no getting around the March but I’d rather not destroy the kingdom in the process of settling it.”

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He nods and takes a long drink of his wine. “Alright. Should we start with what you want or what the guilds are willing to part with?”

I imagine those are vastly different things, but not in the way he thinks. “I don’t want or need anything from the guilds.”

The hunter pauses, staring at me incredulously. That’s right. With the March as an excuse, I could strong-arm a king’s ransom from the guilds. Take enough wealth to support a family through a dozen generations. That’s what they’re scared of, ready to go to war for. But it’s not what I want.

“I couldn’t care less about the guilds, this city, and the stupid debt. Unfortunately, one of your people did something stupid and the duke wants his due. I’m here to collect what’s owed, not a crown more.” I stress the last sentence, staring him in the eyes until he nods in understanding. “And I could do with a building, nothing too big but nothing modest either. Can you convince the guilds of that?”

“…you’re being very reasonable, Lady Tome. If it were just me, I’d take that deal in a heartbeat. Probably spend the rest of my life singing your praises too. But it’s not just me. The guildmasters don’t like being intimidated. With the mess going on in the north, they aren’t afraid. Not of you, not of the duke. There are a lot of extremists in the city. People who think Quest doesn’t need the kingdom or the problems that come with it. They’re using this mess as a platform to talk about going independent.”

A pressure starts to build between my brows. There’s always something else, isn’t there? “That has nothing to do with me.”

“Wish that were true but it has everything to do with you. You’re the face of the enemy. The thing to rally against. Hunters are fighters. They’d much rather be told to fight than run, to struggle rather than lie down. Almost as bad as Victory that way. And you’re the thing to fight.”

Rey sets down another cup of tea in front of me. I take a sip only to immediately spit it back into the cup. “Again,” I hiss, pushing it back toward her.

“Oh, come on! It’s perfectly…” Her words trail off. I don’t have to look up to know my succubus is doing something. From the corner of my eye, I see Rey shudder. Then she takes the tea and walks off.

“Speak plainly,” Alana says. “Can you stop the guilds from making trouble or not?”

Slaid turns to her, eyes narrowing. “James daughter? Guessing the bastard from the look of you.”

I’m about to rebuke him for his callous tone but my wife-to-be knows me too well. Her blue gaze spears me, silently urging me to keep my mouth shut. I abide by the silent request, knowing how important it is for my knight to defend herself. “A James is a James,” she says. “The only thing that matters is that I’m here to collect Victory’s debt.”

“True. Well, my lady, I’ll do as you say and speak plainly. No. If you would agree to the guilds’ offer, I’d be confident in ensuring peace but just speaking it would be an insult to the ancestors.”

“What are they offering?” I ask, curious.

“Ten thousand crowns.”

That…is not a small amount of money. Ten thousand crowns could buy my father’s village and run it for a decade. It could buy the Teppin estate twice, maybe three times over. Saints, it could probably buy the estate Kierra used at the Grand Hall.

But for the March, which entitles the winners to everything the losers are, it is a pittance and, as Slaid said, an insult.

“They’re mad,” Alana hisses.

“They don’t understand,” the hunter counters. “To them, we are demanding their legacies for no reason at all. To men and women who fight for gold, the idea that an entire city would die for insubstantial tradition is absurd. They don’t think they can beat Victory, but they do think that they can put up a fight, so much fight that it makes fighting unprofitable and the north will give up.”

“Like we’ve given up fighting a war we’ve made no progress in for five hundred years.” Yulia finally speaks up and her words are grim, eyes disinterested. There’s a pause as the room waits for her to continue but she doesn’t contribute anything more than a bad mood.

“I have a question.” Kierra stops cleaning beneath her nails with her blade and smiles at Slaid. “You knew you couldn’t stop a conflict. So, what are you here for?”

“It better not be for the free food,” I grumble. That might actually piss me off.

The hunter sighs deeply. “It’s nights like this that make me wonder if maybe I should have stayed in Victory. Crazy as they are, they don’t do despicable things like this. To answer your question elf, I’m here to do what needs to be done and save these idiots from themselves. I’m going to give you the group leading the charge to go to war with the north. If you take them out, the resistance will lose its most extreme voice. Might collapse entirely.”