A man hid in the darkness of the night. It was Tommy, spying on House Beckford. Given that he was using his magic to erase all noise, no one detected his presence.
Tommy reached his destination, pausing as he heard a voice.
“Yes, Lord Bernard. I shall hand them the usual reward.”
The voice belonged to a man named Karl, the closest attendant to the marquess and head of house, Bernard Beckford. Servants across the land were aware of how capable Karl was; the young man had established a name for himself on Beckford’s land.
“Yes, yes, very good. So, when will Lord Slade’s money arrive?” Bernard asked.
“Not soon. I’d wager about a month from now, after their next sale of goods,” Karl replied.
“Damn it! I won’t be able to get Cherry the ring she demanded in time!”
“Relax, milord. We can use the earnings from our last sale as a deposit.”
“Is that so? You should’ve said so earlier! What will I do if someone else gets it before me?!”
“A ring with that price is not one that others can easily purchase,” Karl said. “And I’m sure the Cameo Corporation will give you, their most valued customer, special priority if needed.”
“F-fine then,” Bernard conceded. “Can you get in touch with them about the ring right away?”
“Of course,” Karl replied with a seemingly benevolent smile. “By the way, Lord Beckford, we have received an emergency report from one of our officials requesting immediate funds and resources to repair a bridge in our territory.”
“A bridge?! Just rebuild the damn thing! That sort of busywork will get in the way of my sweet time with Cherry! Fire that man immediately!”
Tommy had heard that Bernard spent entirely too much money on his favorite lady, but his sloppy behavior was even more horrid than he’d imagined. He held back a sigh.
“Mm. Very well, as you wish. Now, excuse me while I contact the Cameo Corporation.”
“You do that.”
Karl left the room, soon followed by the eavesdropping Tommy. Tailing Bernard would likely only lead to witnessing scandalous scenes with his lover, Cherry, and probably no discoveries regarding Étoile. If Bernard himself were capable of hiding information about the circus this skillfully, then he’d be the greatest actor in the land—but that was simply not the case. Tommy had learned that the hard way over the last few months, his investigations turning up a whole bunch of nothing.
“That dim-witted windbag…” Karl muttered under his breath, a satisfied grin rising to his face. He proceeded to do some paperwork in his office, then retired to his private quarters. After Tommy confirmed the room was entirely empty, he made his move. He infiltrated the office and searched Karl’s desk.
Aha! Keeping himself from saying that aloud, he looked through the document he’d found. He wrote down the information, put forgeries in place, and made to leave. But before he could, he sensed the presence of someone else and jumped.
A tiny blade pierced the floor next to him. It appeared that the brunt of the manor’s security was focused here, not on the marquess. Assassin after assassin poured into the room, poised to strike at Tommy. He took a deep breath.
“Great. Guess I’m gonna have to charge extra for this one.”
He struck them down one by one, but his vision grew dim as their number only continued to increase.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next morning, one of Tommy’s underlings sat on a bench in town. Shops opened up for business while common folk walked the streets—an exceedingly normal sight. The only abnormal thing, as far as the man on the bench was concerned, was his superior’s absence. No matter how long he waited, Tommy never arrived. The man furrowed his brow, confused as to why his boss was late. Could he have been captured?
He only mulled over it for an instant. If Tommy had been captured, then staying at this rendezvous spot was dangerous. The possibility that news of this meeting had gotten out was high. And even if that wasn’t the case, the fact that Tommy hadn’t shown up on time was enough proof that he’d run into some kind of trouble. What could have happened to him?
He had to figure out the reason for Tommy’s absence. He left the meeting place, met up with reinforcements, and made his way to the second designated meeting spot. He split duties with the backup, one man entering the building and the other scouting their surroundings from the roof. When the backup informed him that there were no signs of unusual activity nearby, he entered the building.
He immediately caught sight of Tommy from the other door. He was in bad shape, his whole body stained red from bleeding wounds.
“Tommy?! Is that you?!”
“Keep your voice down,” Tommy croaked with a pained smile, then fell over. His underling rushed over and caught him before he hit the floor.
“Are you all right?!”
“Yeah. Just had to deal with some annoying pests,” Tommy said.
“I’m just glad you’re here. Don’t move—I’ll perform first aid.”
“Thanks. Sorry to bother you.”
“No, no, your safety is nothing to apologize for.”
“Can’t believe I got out of that hellhole alive. It was way more than I signed up for,” Tommy griped. “I’m never going back to a place with security like that again.”
Once his wounds had been tended to, he gave orders to all of his subordinates who were present.
“I’ll stay here,” his underling said. “You can’t move around yet, right?”
“Sure can’t,” Tommy replied. “Sorry, I need to take a nap.”
Tommy was deeply grateful to his men as he fell into a much-needed sleep.