The Queen looked at her new Court Sorceress, one of her fake smiles plastered on her face.

  Tanya von Degurechaff gazed back with a cold mien, completely indifferent.

  Calanthé wondered again how she had miscalculated so badly when she requested the girl from Aretuza. Her own mother had been great friends with the current Rectoress and a few other sorceresses besides, so finding a graduate suitable for her purposes had been as simple as asking. Or so she had thought.

  Tanya had seemed perfect. Talented enough to study directly under Tissaia de Vries, interested in little else apart from magic, young, not proficient at mindreading, sequestered in Aretuza for most of her life and without any significant familial entanglements.

  Yes, graduates were supposed to renounce any familial ties, but mages were still humans, even if some of them didn’t want to admit it. Hold a knife to their parent or sibling and most would fold, renouncement of ties or not.

  Yet instead of getting a socially inexperienced recluse that she could mould into a strong ally for Pavetta’s eventual reign, she got a headache.

  ‘What in the devil even was a Source?’

  That had been an ugly surprise. Calanthé had just wanted the girl to spend time with Pavetta since she already knew that her daughter had no talent for magic.

  Instead, she got a lecture about some weird type of witchery and a large amount of knowing looks from the young sorceress, as if Calanthé had any idea what she was talking about.

  It had taken a lot for her utter bafflement not to leak through during that time. She had half thought the sorceress was making things up, but she had eventually found mentions of the so-called Sources after long hours spent ransacking the library.

  In the end, she gave Tanya her blessing to ask Tissaia de Vries for help. After all, Pavetta was her daughter. Calanthé wasn’t willing to gamble with her health, even if much of the aristocracy would start foaming at the mouth if they caught wind of this. When combined with her lack of other children, a civil war became a real possibility.

  Tradition this, tradition that. Their fragile little egos couldn’t handle getting ordered around by a woman is what it was. The old aristocracy had forced her into marrying, yet in a twist of irony, she only gave birth to a single daughter. Two miscarriages later, Calanthé had her doubts about the possibility of another child, let alone a son. Yet what she could not have, perhaps she could give to her daughter.

  So now this blond sixteen-year-old had her by her non-existent balls.

  She had called upon Coodcoodak, otherwise known as Eylembert of Tigg, for advice. He had saved her life at Hochebuz and though he loved to play the fool, he had a good head on his shoulders. Yet the Sorceress had clearly seen through his act.

  Calanthé had seen the amount of attention the girl was paying in court. Court she wasn’t even supposed to be attending, mind. It was her right as a Court Sorceress, but she had specifically asked Haxo to emphasize that she would not have to attend every session.

  The Queen had expected the, by all accounts magic-obsessed girl, to not want anything to do with court, only showing her face the bare minimum amount.

  Instead, she was here every day, attentive.

  There was no way that Eylembert had startled her. The girl had just used it as an excuse to showcase her power, probably to stop Calanthé from getting any ideas. The Queen had played it off as a joke in order to counter her ploy, but seeing the sorceress’s eyes, she wasn’t sure if she had succeeded.

  How she knew that Eylembert was here to help the Queen instead of the dozens of other nobles that had come over the days, she had no clue.

  This left her with a problem, one that she had yet to figure out. Especially when Calanthé could not dispose of the Sorceress. Tanya was not stupid enough not to leave behind a contingency, so there likely wouldn’t be much point, especially when combined with her ties to Tissaia de Vries.

  Ideally, she’d have someone knife the sorceress while she slept and then muddle the waters enough that blame couldn’t fall on Calanthé, but the first thing the girl did was fortify the tower.

  Now the guards were reporting the smell of blood and screeching emanating from the sorceress's abode. Only veterans guarded the place now, many wondering whether they were protecting the tower or the rest of the castle from whatever the sorceress was doing inside.

  The Queen cleared her throat, “Tanya, in truth, Baron Eylembert is not here as a supplicant, he came at my request, to add his advice to Vissegerd’s as Haxo made your request sound serious,” she finished.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  The sorceress obviously knew she was lying through her teeth, but the game had to go on. Though Tanya’s intentions were opaque, it was clear that their interests were aligned, at least for the moment. That the girl managed to find something to hold over Calanthé’s head just a few short days after coming here was impressive, though the possibility of the entire thing just being a fabrication couldn’t be discounted.

  More likely, Calanthé expected the danger to be exaggerated instead of outright false.

  Tanya von Degurechaff’s eyes lit up and a terrifying smile appeared on her face.

  She walked over from her position, exchanging her place with Eylembert, who moved to stand near the silent marshal.

  “Your Majesty,” I greeted her with a bow, smiling politely.

  The Queen raised an eyebrow.

  Unlike my first audience, the young Queen was much more attentive this time, her posture properly regal.

  “Haxo only told me you had something important to discuss. Well? Is the tower not to your liking, perhaps? A lack of virgins?” Calanthé spoke languidly.

  “My accommodations are more than satisfactory, Your Majesty. It is, unfortunately, Nilfgaard which brings me back here,” I replied.

  “Oh?”

  I nodded, getting right to the point, “On the way to Cintra, I was attacked. They were professional soldiers, with proper equipment for dealing with mages. Expensive too,” the Queen was frowning now, “Interrogating the survivors, I learned that they were sent by a man named Coehoorn, though my source unfortunately, expired before he could tell me more,” Calanthé grimaced at that.

  “I had also found coinage of unknown origin on one of the assassins. Upon arriving here, I have endeavoured to decipher the meaning of both, “ I continued.

  “Nilfgaard,” Calanthé interjected.

  I nodded once more, “Yes. The Coehoorns are an older noble family of Nilfgaard, while the coin was a floren, their national currency. When combined with the knowledge of Nilfgaard’s appetite for expansion northwards, it paints a clear picture. Mages, generals, and monarchs have always been the best targets when one wishes to weaken an opposing military.”

  Silence reigned for a few moments while Calanthé frowned intensely, “In other words, you believe Nilfgaard to be already laying the groundwork for war, despite the distance.”

  She tapped the armrest of her throne thoughtfully, “Ebbing is a shithole,” she said bluntly, “The peasants there have trouble deciding whether they hate the nobility or the royals more, while the nobles are busy killing each other and lining their pockets to notice much of anything, their minds occupied by the succession crisis. A nation ripe for conquest. Metinna and Nazair, however, are both strong enough. I do not know enough of Maecht to comment, but I believe you understand my point.”

  “I’m not here to prophesize doom, Your Majesty. Even if Ebbing surrenders tomorrow, it’ll be years if not decades before Nilfgaard is in a position to truly threaten Cintra. Yet, if Nilfgaard has already started preparing, then Cintra must match them, lest all your best commanders find their throats slit before Cintra’s army even begins to march. The fact that they knew to target me at all means that they are already significantly ahead of us.”

  Calanthé leaned closer on her throne, “A counter-intelligence agency? Not a bad idea, von Degurechaff, and a feasible one. Yet, who would build it? Cintra has never had a need for spies,” she paused, “And if you suggest yourself, I will have you thrown out of a window.”

  Well, an intelligence agency. Restricting it to Cintra in the beginning wasn’t a terrible idea, though. Honestly, I had expected it to be a tougher sell with how strongly that chivalry nonsense was embedded in Cintra. It was good that the Queen was sensible.

  That Calanthé did not want to hand me such power didn’t surprise me either, nor had I been planning to suggest such a thing.

  Tissaia wouldn’t have been terribly happy if I did that, for one, even if the Brotherhood itself was much more lenient with that sort of rule-bending. I had a few personal projects of my own too, even ignoring Fregenal’s stolen spells and the tower. Reverse engineering the flight spell of my past life was one of those, years in the works. Flight spells existed in this world too, but they were much too cumbersome, as well as somewhat impractical and frankly, lacking, compared to those of my previous life.

  No, I was content to focus on magic, so I shrugged my shoulders, “Your Majesty would know better than me, though I would suggest choosing someone whose loyalty cannot be doubted. Someone with a small family or without one at all would be preferable as well,” I paused, giving the matter some more thought, “Should Your Majesty wish it, I may be able to broker a consultant from Redania’s Secret Service.”

  Along with Kovir, Redania was said to have one of the best intelligence agencies on the Continent. With not only a member of the Brotherhood but my older sister-in-discipleship under Tissaia in the royal court, the task was not impossible, even if I wasn’t especially keen on asking Philippa for such a favour. However, convincing Calanthé of my value would be worth it. While Redania would have to give up some of their own methods, the influence they’d gain in Cintra in exchange would not be insubstantial, should they choose to send someone competent, so I doubted that convincing Philippa would be a big issue.

  Calanthé made a face, “Should I hand Vizimir the keys to the keep as well?”

  “A consultant, Your Majesty, nothing more,” I spoke calmly, “Naturally, it would be necessary to keep such a person completely divorced from the true functioning of the agency. Nonetheless, it would still give Redania great insight into your new organisation, but they are unlikely to be a threat any time soon. Still, it is something to consider,” I finished.

  The benefits of having professional help in establishing Cintra’s intelligence agency were obvious enough that I chose to not mention them. Unless the Queen could conjure up some kind of genius, Cintra would need help to get such an organisation running in a reasonable timeframe.

  “I will think about it, sorceress, but there is one thing you are forgetting. Eylembert, if you would be so kind as to explain.” The Queen proclaimed after half a minute of silence.