“Is it abnormal to deal with them?”
“Trade has been winding down for the past year as the treaty has become imminent.”
“Why?”
“You really don’t understand much about the political landscape outside of Solaris, do you?”
Eira narrowed her eyes to slits and collected the papers in the order she found them. “I know more than the average Solaris citizen.”
“So not much.”
“Just tell me.” She sighed, shoving the other papers into her uncle’s drawer. Her hand hit the back wall sooner than she expected. It struck her as odd and Eira crouched as Olivin continued to speak.
“The Empire of Carsovia is more expansionary and power-hungry than Solaris ever was. Worse, they have the strength to back it up. It’s a wonder the Republic of Qwint managed to break off at all, and Carsovia has had their eye on Qwint’s peninsula since. Their empress is not a woman who handles slights gracefully, so they say.”
“I’ve heard, and gathered, that a large portion of this treaty is to gain leverage over Carsovia.” Eira ran one hand along the bottom of the drawer, the other along the inside. One ended while the other kept going.
“Exactly.”
“But it’s not a military treaty.” She stood and pulled the drawer out as far as it would go.
“No, it’s not. Entering into an outright military treaty would be too much of a risk for Qwint. But an economic alliance is a strong display of friendship. There’s theimplicationto Carsovia that Qwint, Meru, the Kingdom of the Draconi, all have allies. So it’s best if the Empress of Carsovia doesn’t get any ideas.”
“And Solaris and the Twilight Kingdom want in on all this because not only does it benefit them economically, but also because if Meru, Qwint, or the Draconi fell, then Solaris would probably be next.” Sure enough, there were small scratch marks by one corner in the back of the drawer.
“Exactly.”
Eira paused her searching. “So you think that Carsovia is sending something into these games?”
“I do.”
Eira pursed her lips. She had some ideas, but they weren’t the sort of things that it was wise to just fire off her suspicions for. She needed proof before making any claims.
Olivin interrupted her thoughts. He finally took notice she wasn’t poring over the notes with him anymore. “What are you doing?”
“This drawer has a false back.” Eira pried off the wall at the back of the drawer with apop.
“How did you notice that?”
“I’m a better shadow outside the shadows, remember? Now, what do we have here?” She retrieved a small rod of metal. Without warning, it writhed and wriggled like an angry, sentient earthworm. Eira dropped it, jumping back. The metal twisted, spasmed. It looked as though it were made of clay with a mind of its own rather than metal. “What in the Mother’s name?”
“It’s a shift key.” Olivin knelt at her side, watching as the metal calmed itself.
“I’m not familiar, beyond being able to assume it’s something from the Twilight Kingdom.”
He nodded. “Morphi magic, and a rare craft at that. It’s a way to hide locks. The key only transforms itself into a key, and the lock a lock, when in the presence of each other. They shift to match each other’s shape. It’s not common because it’s incredibly difficult to make and if you ever lose the key, you’re out of luck to ever open the lock.”
“Sounds like it would be a shame for the Pillars then, if we took it.” Eira knelt, pocketing it. “We’ll ask Ducot back in the village about it.”
“What makes you think it’s the Pillars?” He didn’t sound convinced, so Eira gave him a deadpan look.
“Who else would it be?”
“Fair… They’re going to notice it’s gone.”
Eira shut the drawer it came from.Fritz’s drawer. Her uncle wouldn’t be involved with the Pillars, at least not by choice. “Good. They were clearly trying to frame my uncle. They should know I won’t allow it to be that easy to hurt someone I love.”
Olivin stood. He loomed over her without effort, emphasized by his serious, almost scolding words. “Do you know what theycan do? Are you certain you understand what you’re risking by antagonizing them?”
