“I can’t deny that,” Roque said before stuffing more food in his face.
Dimri had been surprised when Roque had appeared at his office door with a tray of sandwiches.He hadn’t known what to think of it, and he still didn’t, but he couldn’t say that he hated spending time with Roque, at least when they weren’t bickering over their plans.Unfortunately, it was what they did most of the time.
There was a sense of urgency to this mess.Roque didn’t know all of it, but Dimri still hadn’t heard back from his surviving spy.He still didn’t know if they’d managed to leave Ramiel’s palace and was on the way here.The spy was protecting themselves, which was what Dimri wanted, but it made him anxious.He also disliked that someone on their side was feeding Ramiel information.After everything Berith had done for so many people, it didn’t feel right.
Nothing in this situation felt right.Dimri suspected that nothing would until the war was over and Ramiel had been defeated.
He hoped that would happen as soon as possible, which was the reason he needed to find the spy.Once they knew, they could start plotting.
“You know, this would be easier if you told me who you think the spy is,” Roque said.“I promise I won’t go find them if that’s what worries you.I learned my lesson.”
“Did you?”
Roque raised a hand and wiggled it.“More or less.I promise I won’t approach the spy, though.Remember that we have the same goal.We want to protect Berith and his family.”
Dimri sighed and leaned back in his chair.“His name is Abath.He’s one of Berith’s family’s servants.He’s been working for them for years, and they all trust him, including Berith.”
Roque blinked and slowly put down his sandwich.Dimri winced at the thought of it touching his documents, but he didn’t say anything.He could see that Roque was shocked, which wasn’t a surprise.He had to know Abath.
“He’s been working for Berith almost as long as I have,” Roque said.
“Which is why he has easy access to Berith and his family.The princess loves him.”
“I know that.You really think it’s him?”
“I think it’s a possibility.”
“Why?”
“Well, he has the means.He spends all of his working days close to Berith.He knows where everything and everyone is.”
“I get that, but why would he do that?”
“Because he needs money.”
Roque frowned.“What for?He knows that if he needs anything, Berith will help.Everyone does.”
Berith treated everyone in his territory with the same respect.Even though he didn’t view most of the palace servants as family, he cared about them.He always made sure they had time to rest and that they were paid more than adequately.It wasn’t something most princes of Hell did, and it was one of the reasons so many people were loyal to him.
“He gambles heavily, and he has debts,” Dimri explained, even though he felt like he shouldn’t.This wasn’t something Abath would want most people to know.It was why he’d been hiding it.Unfortunately, hiding something like that meant that he was vulnerable to people hiring him to find information about the prince or even a way to harm him.
Roque flopped back against his chair.“I can’t believe that.”
“Be that as it may, I can assure you that I’m not lying.Abath is close to Berith and his family, and he has a good reason to work for the enemy.I’m not saying he doesn’t care about Berith or that he’s happy with what he’s doing if he’s the spy, but he probably feels like he doesn’t have a choice.”
“How do you want to do this, then?Should we confront him?”
Dimri briefly closed his eyes.“I thought you’d learned your lesson.Confronting people doesn’t work.”
“I know that it didn’t at the tavern, but this is Abath we’re talking about.He would never hurt a fly.”
“Youthinkhe wouldn’t.No, we can’t just talk to him.We need to watch him...maybe feed him false information that he can send back to Ramiel.We have to find a way to confirm that he’s our spy before we do anything.”
Roque’s mulish expression was back on his face, which meant that Dimri wouldn’t like what he was about to hear.
“Abath is family.We should talk to him.If you don’t want to, I can do it.”
Dimri reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose.This was going to be another long meeting, wasn’t it?
