Page 30 of The Study of Poisons
“When you sell them for two silvers instead of five silvers, word spreads.”
“And we’re still making a profit?”
“Yes. They cost us five coppers each. We’re earning five coppers and a silver on each sale—a hundred and fifty percent markup.”
“Nice.”
“It’s a shame we’ll have to shut down some day. We could fund dozens of operations with the proceeds.”
“I’m working on it. You know the Commander…”
“The word stubborn doesn’t quite work for him. He’s beyond that.”
Valek agreed. “How’s the competition?”
“Grumpy. They still have their loyal customer base, but it’s a matter of time before those people start demanding to buy goods at my prices, which they can’t do, so those shoppers will come to me.”
“And then?”
“I expect anger, accusations, and verbal threats.”
“Accusations?”
“For being a sting operation. When none of my buyers are arrested, I’ll get another surge of customers along with thugs sent by the other dealers to warn me off. When that doesn’t work, they’ll resort to violence.” Sven held up a hand. “By then, I’ll have enough of our corps in place to stop them and make them ‘disappear.’ I’ll be a legend.”
“Now who’s having fun?” Valek teased.
Sven continued with his tour, lifting lids and showing Valek the contents of the various crates—silk, perfume, whiskey, and jewelry.
“Do you have any Sitian weapons?” Valek asked.
“Of course. I just received a shipment of cloud-kissed daggers from Delip.” He removed a footlong knife from a small box. It had a metal sheath decorated with black swirls. Sven handed it to Valek.
It was surprisingly light. “Cloud-kissed isn’t an impressive name.” Valek pulled the knife free. Engravings that matched the design on the sheath decorated the double-edged blade.
“It was manufactured by the Cloudmist Clan in Sitia. They’re known for their high-quality blades forged from local ore. Each of their daggers have been ‘kissed’ with their seal of authenticity.” Sven pointed to a glyph on the top of dagger’s pommel. “Only their weapons are marked with that seal.”
Valek peered closer. “It resembles a mountain peak above some clouds. It looks easy to copy.”
“The design is, but the entire hilt is misted with…I’m not quite sure what the material is, but it’s…grippy. And no one has been able to replicate it, so fakes are easy to spot. Try it.”
Tiny soft bumps coated the hilt. He grasped it as he would during a fight. It fit perfectly in his hand as if custom made. The material stuck to his skin, but not in an unpleasant way. Itwasgrippy. “This would be great for those with sweaty palms, or for fighting in the rain or when you have blood on your hands.” He practiced a few lunges. It weighed nothing compared to his other knives. He was in love.
“It’ll give anyone an advantage,” Sven agreed.
Including his enemies. If Brent had a cloud-kissed dagger, it would have been harder for Valek to yank it from his grasp. “How many of these have you sold?”
“None so far. They’re too expensive for the average black market buyer. But I suspect once word gets around to the collectors, I’ll sell a few.”
“I need to take this one along.”
“To help with your cover as a connoisseur of knives?”
“Sure, let’s go with that.”
Sven laughed. “Will I ever see it again?”
“Only if you anger me.”
