Page 57 of The Study of Poisons
“I care very much. Enough that Sven knew if things got too hot, he could contact me, and I’d send reinforcements or we’d just shut the entire operation down. It wasn’t worth his life.”
“But…” Trevar sighed. “Sven was greedy, too. He enjoyed his role too much and ignored the signs that it was getting hot.”
“Exactly.”
Trevar rubbed his face. “I tried to warn him.”
“And?”
He dropped his arms. “He thanked me. Said he could handle it. But he didn’tfeelthe change.”
“The change?”
“Yeah. You know…” He tapped his chest. “A vibe. The city normally hums, but the pitch changed. Weird, I know.” Then he grabbed the bars in sudden terror. “It’s not magic! I swear!”
“Relax. I know. It’s your intuition. You know the city and the people so well; your unconscious picks up when things change.”
Trevar slumped against the bars. “Whew.”
And now Valek needed to assess the extent of the damage. “After Sven died, did you come straight here?”
“No. Sven said to take the back alleys.” He gestured to his blood-soaked uniform. “I doubt I would have gotten far looking like this.”
True. “Did anyone follow you?”
“I don’t know.”
Valek had to assume the black market dealers left a watcher to see Trevar’s reaction, which meant they knew he headed for the castle.
“No, wait. Someone followed me right after I left Sven’s store. I thought it was one of the attackers, so I ditched them as soon as I could.”
That gave Valek a few more options. “What happens to the baiters when a black market dealer is shut down?”
“We’re hired by the other dealers. Well, the good ones are.”
“I want you to return to the city and see if anyone will hire you.”
“But they might think I’m working for you!”
“And if they do?”
“They won’t hire me, and the other baiters will ignore me.”
“In that case, return here.”
“Why?”
“I’ll hire you as a spy. You’ll be trained and sent to other cities on missions.”
“Why me?”
“Sven vouched for you. Said you have the chops.”
“He…” Trevar took a deep breath. “He taught me some cool stuff. Like stuff about body language. I knew a little, I’d always get a certain…sense about a shopper, but, wow, once he explained it, my success rate doubled.”
“Spy training will include more cool stuff,” Valek said with a wry grin.
“But what if I am hired and my friends don’t shun me?”
