I lean forward, eager. This is why I was so desperate to come here. “What do you think?”
“It’s only a guess and a troubling one at that.”
I stare at him until he continues.
“Maharaja Moolek.” He pauses as I absorb the name. Naupure goes on to explain before I can grasp the entire implication. “Why else would the Vencrin overpay for something so cheap? It’s not their style. Vencrin would steal it. Mounds of money? That’s my brother-in-law wanting his hands on firelight.”
I have to get up and move. It helps me think. I pace in front of Naupure’s desk. “Moolek was angry a year ago when Father told him that firelight had replaced lanterns, that we no longer needed to import his ghee. And I wrote the letter saying I couldn’t supply his country,his enormous country.” I gesture to a map on the wall; the one of Wickery, where Moolek’s lands stretch above Naupure and the even smaller Belwar. Moolek sits upon us both like a shoe crushing an ant. “I can’t do it until I find more witches or wizards who can perform the spell.”
“And Moolek isn’t about to send you his best red magic users to help find candidates.”
“Of course not.” I’m past the point of pacing, my hands accentuating each word. “I guess he is just going to hire criminals to take it for himself!”
“This is only a guess, Adraa.”
I turn to Naupure and lean forward earnestly. “A good guess. One that is logical and sound.”Why hadn’t I realized it before?“I just need proof. Let me get it.”
He pauses, probably to judge my anger. I stand upright and lean back on my heels.
“I don’t control you. I don’t think anyone could,” he says.
“But you don’t approve?” I ask with as calm a voice as I can muster.
“Let’s go over the plan step by step.”
I sit again and Naupure pulls out my report. Fifty sheets representing six months of trying to understand and ultimately destroy the Vencrin.
“Let’s start.”
An hour later, I inspect everything again and smile. “I can do it.”
“There is so much that could go wrong.”
“Then I fall back. I go home. I can bail out at any moment.” I point to several places on the map.
“But will you? If you see something going awry, will you leave?”
I know Naupure needs a definite answer. So I pause, look him straight in the eye, and chill my voice. “Yes.” I can’t exactly tell if it is a lie.
Naupure sighs. “I think you should take your guard.”
“We’ve talked about this.” Riya being there would cause suspicion, and she can’t keep the secret from her mother. But I don’t blame Riya. Blood, if I were Riya I couldn’t keep the secret from Mrs. Burman.
“What about someone else, one ofmytrusted guards?” Naupure asks.
I shake my head. “It would cause suspicion in the Underground. The fact that I don’t have friends there makes Sims think he has the advantage.”
“And how very wrong he is.” Naupure stands and extends his forearm.
I maneuver and press my left arm to his. “Thank you.”
He has always trusted me, believed in me more than my own parents do. I may not want him to become my father-in-law, but he is practically my second father already. A bang on the door breaks the moment.
“Yes?”
“Maharaja, the Raja of Warwick is waiting for you,” Hughes says through the door.
Naupure glares at his timepiece. “My brother is early, which means I’m late.”
