Princes at Ewin: First Centurion Kosnett, Book 4 by Blaze Ward

Author:Blaze Ward [Ward, Blaze]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knotted Road Press

Twenty-Eight

Personal Quarters, Allemaine Station, Ewinhome

Giscard was pleased with his new quarters. Doysan had taken a new liking to him and upgraded his suite to be commensurate with his rank as a planetary baron. It was nice, having available mistresses again.

He’d been denied even professionals while he’d been something of a prisoner.

Now, he had space. Not that he’d brought sufficient staff with him to fill it, but he had rooms and rooms he could wander into when the mood struck. Giscard considered pretending to take up painting or something, just to have a hobby room he could dedicate to it.

He was in the dining area this afternoon, enjoying a quick snack of meat and cheese that the kitchen had delivered, along with several bottles of nice wine. Giscard could just call someone and they would fall all over themselves to serve him.

It was almost like he was home on Jacoby again.

But being on Ewinhome was better, because Doysan was old, tired, and cranky. Worse, that fool Bereoa had been captured by the outlanders and hauled off, leaving a terrible, gaping wound in the government that Giscard had been able to quietly manipulate.

Bollvize appeared at the doorway now, smiling serenely in a manner that would have a smart man clutching at his coin purse and checking that he had thick enough armor to turn a knife.

“Grab a goblet and join me,” Giscard gestured to the shelf.

He might be Baron, but Bollvize was the master manipulator who had adjusted things around here. Giscard frequently repeated things Bollvize told him verbatim. It helped that Doysan was the one listening.

Thus, better quarters. Better everything, really.

Giscard’s joy was so infectious that Bollvize’s feral smile relaxed. The man poured himself a glass and seemed to relent some.

“It must be good,” Giscard prompted after his man had had a hardy gulp.

Doysan’s favorites got some fantastic wine to drink.

“There has been something of a purge,” Bollvize grinned.

“Do tell.”

“A number of folks who were originally promoted or rewarded based on their connections to Farouk,” Bollvize said. “Your reminder to Doysan prompted him to clean house. Bereoa wasn’t here to stop the man, so more than two score have been sent packing to the planet below. Some fired. Some demoted. Three transferred to the distant corners of the land. Four are currently rotting in jail while the king gets around to assigning them punishments, as he has already adjudicated them guilty.”

“Terrible,” Giscard replied. “Whatever shall we do?”

“Doysan needs friends now,” Bollvize said. “Men who will rally to his cause when other dukes and barons are busy thinking only of themselves.”

“We can’t have that,” Giscard said.

Then he paused. Sobered for a moment, though he’d not had much to drink before now.

He considered the whole situation. It had played out just as he and Bollvize had envisioned, though Giscard had never imagined he would catch that many fish in his net when suggesting a house cleaning around the Court.

Bollvize noted his mood and quieted to watch.

“I am at an interesting intersection, Bollvize,” Giscard noted aloud.

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