“It seems there are rumors that goods are still being bought and traded from the Crescent Continent.”
“Despite the trade ban?” Vi asked after washing down a particularly hasty bite with a gulp of water.
“Likely because of the trade ban. Nothing drives prices like scarcity and perceived rarity. It’s making tokens from the Crescent Continent even more valuable in the West, according to one trader I spoke to.” He paused, taking a sip from his own goblet. “Poor man, thought I was going to arrest him for selling illegal goods.”
“Did you?”
“What? No.” Andru looked at her, looked away, then looked back. “Even if I had the authority, do I strike you as someone who could apprehend anyone?”
Vi laughed at his apt self-assessment. “No, you don’t…” And she liked him more for the fact. “So how are these goods getting here?”
“That’s the question I had the hardest time answering. What we know is that it must be a network—people meeting on both sides, likely in neutral territories in the barrier islands. Nimble, well-guarded ships. Ever since official trade stopped, the barrier islands have become rife with pirate activity.”
“Do we know who might be leading these networks?” She could already speculate that the elfin’ra may have smuggled himself on one of these illegal trading vessels. Perhaps he had allies Vi could uncover. Or, at the very least, she’d know how the red-eyed monsters were moving to report to Taavin.
“Forgive me, all I know is hearsay, suspicions, and rumors.” He sighed, looking at his lap.
“Tell me,” Vi commanded gently.
“Perhaps… the Le’Dans.” Andru looked back up to her, gauging her reaction.
If he had been expecting her to be upset or offended by the notion, he was wrong. “It’d hardly surprise me.”
The Le’Dans were one of the oldest families of the West, only rivaled by Vi’s own lineage through her grandmother—the Ci’Dan family. They had warred across the ages in feuds that read as everything from thrilling adventures to tragic romances. But in modern times, the Le’Dans had become essential to the crown, holding the purse strings of the West through their jewelry empire and being an essential voice of confidence in the remnants of the Western Court.
Despite all that—no,becauseof it—Vi knew exactly what the Le’Dan family was: shrewd business people who never found themselves on the wrong end of a deal.
“There are rumors they’re still getting fresh stock. They claim any Crescent jewels entering the market are from their vaults, but in reality… well…”
“People aren’t convinced,” Vi finished for him. He seemed uncomfortable at the notion of accusing one of the most powerful families in the Solaris Empire of illicit deeds. Vi couldn’t exactly blame him.
“My father included.”
“Oh?”
“He had me look into some things while I was in the Crossroads on the way here. Jayme and I stopped there as a halfway resting point.” The Crossroads was at the center of the Solaris Empire—a large city housing the intersection of the two major roads that connected the major capitals of each of the Empire’s four regions. “It was Romulin’s idea that I should start with the Le’Dans, given their clout. So I went to investigate one of the Le’Dan stores for myself.”
Andru had stopped looking at her as he spoke. The casual, calm nature he’d had when he’d first arrived vanished completely. This was the shifty-eyed man she’d met at the stables weeks ago. What she’d taken then as suspicious behavior, she now recognized as extreme discomfort.
“What is it?”
“I found nothing there.” But he radiated too much anxiety for that to be true.
“There’s more…” Vi pressed as gently as possible.
Andru looked at her through his upper lashes. She leveled her gaze at him. For as friendly as they were becoming, he was not exempt from her command, and she wasn’t afraid to pull rank if necessary. She just hoped he’d tell her of his own volition instead.
“Your highness—”
“Let’s not go back to formalities, Andru. At least not in private.”
“Vi…” He was practically squirming with discomfort. She would have spared pity for him if she didn’t so desperately want to know what he was hiding. “Does Jayme know the Le’Dan family?”
Vi sat a little straighter in her chair. “Why?”
“Well, when I went to investigate… I found her already there. I… I’m sorry. But I followed her.”
“Go on.” Her food was entirely forgotten.
