“She’s selling to the empire?” Lila shook her head. Natalie was a lot of things, the least of which was opportunistic, but Lila never thought she would stoop that low.
“No, that’s not what I meant. The Holguíns are proud. Chances are if your mother ended her boycott today, Chairwoman
Holguín still wouldn’t sell to her. Long memory and all. It doesn’t matter much, since the vineyards aren’t a key part of their business. She doesn’t need the money, but Natalie does. Her matron would be very interested to hear that Natalie is selling Sangre to the same families who are boycotting her.”
“That’s your plan? She’ll help you, or you’ll tattle to her matron?”
“Why not? The woman loves her blood squad.”
Lila shivered. Every highborn matron had access to a special force, altogether separate from her militia, whose jurisdiction remained valid only on her property. The group handled serious crimes against the family, usually violent and usually perpetrated by a family member. Matrons had begun the practice to deal with internal assassination attempts, preserving their family’s safety when the courts might not get involved due to flimsy evidence. Since High House valued the safety of their matrons, mothers, siblings, children, and the mothers of their children, they had never struck down the practice. The death of an occasional innocent, so long as it kept their families safe, was an acceptable sacrifice.
Low House rarely got involved either, for blood squads rarely touched non-highborn. It was beneath them. It was a job for the militia. Besides, any Low House senator who tried to bring legislation against the practice could kiss his career goodbye.
“I’m surprised you’d threaten a person with that,” Lila said. “Even someone like Natalie. I figured you’d be against blood squads on principle.”
Tristan cut his eyes to Dixon, who’d retreated even further into the corner. “I am. I didn’t say I’d actually turn the information over to her matron. In any case, I have a list of who she’s been selling to, and amounts, sometimes even photos. Even you once, you little sneak. I might not have proof of her other crimes, and she is guilty of much more, but we at least have this much to use as leverage. It will all be useless anyway once Shaw arrests her.”
“When that happens, what’s to say she won’t turn on you and tell Chief Shaw about you for a lighter sentence?”
“Oh, that’s exactly what she’ll do, but what’s there to tell? That two slaves escaped from her family’s compound in Beaulac seven years ago and now live somewhere in New Bristol? I’m sure the head of the Bullstow militia will get right on that.”
Lila sat back in the couch. “Why would Natalie introduce Zephyr to anyone? It exposes her.”
“Because she, like most of the women in that family, love taking slaves down a peg. The idea of me wanting something that she has, even if that something is broken, will be too much for her. She won’t be able to let it go.”
Lila narrowed her eyes. “Why would Zephyr take the job?”
“Because we’ll offer him something money can’t buy.”
“What’s that?”
“An emperor and a princess.”
Lila’s mouth opened. “Maria? Tristan, you didn’t—”
“Of course we did. We weren’t about to leave the girl there. I refuse to let your mother offer her up to the highest bidder. She’s just a child, a fifteen-year-old girl who doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her. She’s done nothing to warrant such a life. Neither did her father, for that matter, at least until yesterday.”
“What will you do with her?”
Tristan thumbed his palm. “What do you think?”
“You want to send her to Germany, don’t you?”
“If she wants to go.”
“That’s treason.”
“If that’s treason, then I curse every patriot. You should, too.”
Lila’s brain pounded against her skull. She needed more of Sutton’s pain pills. “How did you even get her off the compound?”
“There was a lot of chaos when Bullstow knocked on the door this morning. My people nabbed the girl from the scullery in the confusion. Everyone was so concerned about Chairwoman Wilson and her son that no one noticed Maria Kruger. I’m told she came quietly, didn’t even put up a fight. It was sad, really, hearing them tell me how easy it was. She’s so very used to doing what she’s told.”
“So you’re not going to hand Maria and her father over to Zephyr?”
“Of course not. I just need the man to believe it, at least enough for him to meet me.” He caught Dixon’s eye and winked. “You see, we need a hacker who can break into Liberté. He’ll recognize his own bank account number, and I just know he’ll want to take the job. He’ll want the carrots I’m dangling. He’ll meet.”
Chapter 25