Page 71 of Paladin's Faith

Irritation sparked. She knew that she was angry because their lead had proved so much less worthwhile than she’d hoped, but she couldn’t keep the annoyance out of her voice. “Why? Because you don’t approve?”

He might have been a statue carved in marble. “It is not my place to approve or disapprove.”

Perversely, that made her angrier. Damn him for not giving me a fight, even when I want one. She took a deep breath. Stop. It’s not his fault that the lead dissolved. A good commander does not take her disappointment out on her people.

“I am afraid that Maltrevor may be dangerous,” said Shane. “There’s a darkness in him. More than in a normal man.”

Marguerite rolled her eyes. “And what do paladins know about darkness? Brothels are full of perfectly normal men who happen to like to spank their lovers or tie them up or whatever.” She turned to Wren for backup, and met wide-eyed astonishment.

“Really?” said Wren. “I mean…that’s a thing? Really?”

Oh gods above and below. Marguerite put her face in her hands. This is what comes of having six older brothers who kill people for a living. She briefly contemplated explaining recreational sadomasochism to Wren, then contemplated throwing herself from the battlements instead.

Though it might be worth it just to see if Shane expires of embarrassment on the spot…

And just like that, her anger and disappointment cracked apart, replaced by hilarity. Marguerite felt a laugh rising inescapably in her throat. “It’s a thing,” she assured Wren. “And some of those perfectly normal men will happily pay money to be the ones tied up and spanked. People are complicated.”

“Wow.” Wren’s eyes were as big as saucers. Shane stared fixedly at the ceiling, his face so absolutely blank that Marguerite was afraid that he was going to faint.

“Look,” said Marguerite, standing up, “the thought of going back into the Court right now makes me want to tear my hair out. Let’s go have a soak and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Shane reached out a hand as if to stop her, paused, and pulled it back. He looked from Wren to Marguerite, fraternal horror etched in every line.

“I’ll be gentle,” Marguerite assured him.

“But…”

“It’ll be fine.” She slid her arm through Wren’s. “C’mon, let’s get a bottle of wine sent over. It’s noon somewhere, right?”

“Definitely.”

She shut the door on the sight of Shane dropping his head onto his folded arms in utter despair.

They sat around the room that evening, making further inroads on another bottle of wine. The soak in hot water had been relaxing enough, but despite hours of heavy thinking (and another hour of heavy drinking) Marguerite was no closer to a solution.

“Maybe there aren’t really that many Nallans?” Wren suggested hopefully.

“If anything, there are more,” said Shane. “I visited the library.”

Marguerite raised her glass in his direction. “Anything good?”

“Most of the recent novels were checked out before we got here, so I can’t speak to the collection.” A rueful smile flickered across his face. “Apparently nobility does not respect a waiting list.”

“They wouldn’t.”

“However,” the paladin continued, “it has a great many books on peerage and genealogy.”

Marguerite nodded. “No surprise there. This is one of the biggest marriage marts around. You’d want a quick way to check up on any prospects and make sure they were who you thought they were.”

Shane nodded. “The highland groups are not nearly so well-documented, I fear, but looking through what information there was, I found Nallans listed in nine separate counties. And that was just those that had attained ranks of minor nobility.”

“Saint’s balls,” muttered Wren.

Marguerite poured the last of the wine into her cup. She was still depressingly sober. “Without knowing what county to start in, we’re stuck checking every single ford. We’d practically have to go from door to door, convincing people to talk to us. It would take months.” She snorted. “Mind you, the Sail won’t have it any easier, it’s just that they can field the manpower to knock on a lot more doors.”

“Can they?” asked Shane. “Do they have the people?”

“Mmm.” Marguerite rubbed the back of her neck. “That’s a good question. They can certainly get that many people, and in short order, but I don’t know how many are deployed in the highlands right this minute. Probably not that many. It’s not a major market that they need to keep close tabs on, so few existing operatives, and if you have an army of strangers wandering around, you risk your quarry getting wind of it and relocating.”