“Mr Mayor, gratutions on your re-ele.”

  Her words hung in the air as the middle-aged man took off his fabric cap and adjusted the hem before pg it ba. “Has it been so long since we st met? I suppose work has kept me busy,” he said.

  She replied with a smile, theured at a seat opposite her—one of tleasant fragrance filled her office, the logs crag in the firepce against the early chills that followed summer’s passing. Despite the fire and the afternoon sunlight falling through the window, a veil of shadow g to her as if a widow, making her smile seem hollow.

  “It has been so long. Master Schulz has his fws, but stupidity is not one of them. As, one must be aware of ones own strengths, and one must be very aware of ones faults. This is something he has backwards. So prideful in his own intelligence, yet quick to dismiss others’.”

  She paused there to open her hands, showing a look of mild exasperation, paired with a heavy breath.

  “I have made goress. It is almost funny how quickly people should promise, that they would feel it a good deal to suffer only one injury than two. Well, in this case, I suppose it is more that they would take an injury now to be spared oer…” she said, falling into thought.

  After a moment of silence, he said, “My Lady?”

  She raised a hand, then brought it back down to drum a few beats. “This is not to be written down. In the ing months, bring attention to your childhood and move to have the Church handle cases where capital crimes have been itted. By Easter, before I head to the capital, I will present the new guidelio be followed ieng. When I return, I shall hopefully have further reforms to be instituted. There is much that happens in the capital which I may only anticipate.”

  He listened, still, his eyes on her mouth as if burning the sight of every word into his memory. “Uood, My Lady.”

  Silence fell heavily in the dim room until such a time that she raised her hand to the side. Footsteps broke out, a cup of steaming tea provided to her. She took a sip.

  “Mr Mayor, the day may e where you shall be required to make a choice between the Nelli family and myself. At such a time, will you choose those who saw your potential, rescued you from the life you so hated, and trusted you with mayorship….”

  He waited a long sed before whispering, “Or….”

  “Would you choose she who, despite the differences in station, respects you.”

  For a short while, she simply enjoyed watg the gears turn inside his head, flickers of emotion in the various twitches across his face. However, sujoyment was only a sedary sideration.

  “Pray not make a decision hastily. For the foreseeable future, there should be o make such a choid I am rather aced to seeing far, far into the future.”

  He gave a weak smile. “Of course,” he said with some lingering strain.

  For a moment, she met his gaze and held it fortably, then she looked down upon the desk with its papers ly anised and a single book to the side. “There are many things I do not tell you as you do not o know. However, I hope you trust that I would only lie to you if it is imperative that you truly believe it.”

  His face showed nothing; his hands on his ps ched.

  She then pced a hand on the book and slid it across the table. “Oh, a present for you—Galileo,” she whispered.

  Hearing his chosen name, fusion touched his brow, only for it to bee surprise a moment ter as her ha, revealing the name of the book. “That is—”

  She put a fio her lips and he instantly fell silent, but his hands did not rest as they tentatively touched the book, as if afraid it would go up in smoke before his eyes, and then tenderly opehe cover, his eyes drinking in the words therein.

  “I have learned all that I o from it, that I hope, in reading, Mr Mayor will uand some of my ret… etricity,” she said, that st word coloured with humour as it left behind a smile on her lips.

  He dared not speak, only nodded his head.

  “Pray do cover it as I believe uest does read Latin and would find such a book… unpleasant,” she said, the word she emphasised this time not sounding so warm.

  “Indeed,” he murmured aook off his coat, ing up the book with the kind of care usually reserved for swaddling babies.

  As if that to be a cue, three short knoded upon the door. “The uest has arrived,” came a muffled voice from outside.

  “Pray do show him in.”

  Without a word, the mayor rose to his feet and held his bundled coat tight. The door then opened and an older maered with her butler behind him. This man’s skin had a touch of bronze and more than a few wrinkles, his hair half grey and half bck, slicked bad held in pce by his cap. While his clothes were muted colours of white, bck, and greys, the fineness of silk could hardly be uated, what other fabrics used certainly of a matg quality. Given the season and how thin it looked, she would have said the fi Merino wool—at least, the fi Spain had to offer to mere merts.

  “Signor Nelli, it is my pleasure to at st make your acquaintance,” she said, the Italian address rolling effortlessly off her tongue.

  He paused in his walking, then broke into a smile as he tinued. “Lady Augstadt, please, the pleasure is all mine. I must admit, I did not know My Lady spoke Italian.”

  “There are many things regarding myself that but a select few know of,” she said, only to cover her mouth as she tittered. “As, I ot cim to know much Italian but for the pleasantries. As much as I would love nothing more than to walk among the living history left behind by the A Romans, I have accepted my title, so it is only right I it to g my people with poise and wisdom.”

  He chuckled. “Truly, My Lady uands our heritage well. However, to call them A Romans—there is o split hairs. For all these Greeks call themselves Roman, which of us does not call them Greeks?”

  “Indeed, it is an unnecessary fusion,” she said, theured to the seats. “Pray do sit. Mr Mayor has asked for water, would sir have any requests before the meeting begins?”

  As if only now notig the other ma, the old man looked at the mayor. “Ah, yes, Christian, you are here today.”

  “It is, after all, a matter that the mayor would o be aware of to correctly enforce,” she said.

  “Yes, I suppose so,” he said and gave his a rub, then turned back to her. “Well, if we are making requests, I wouldn’t suppose your father left behind anything appropriate for these kinds of business meetings?”

  She gave a small smile. “Of course,” she said.

  Without a word, her butler moved over to a et; meanwhile, her guests took their seats, the old man taking a moment to find a fortable position.

  “I heard that Ricker hasn’t looked well retly, so I only hope it’s good news.”

  She waited for her butler to hand the man his drink. “My thanks, Mr er,” she said and he gave a bow a. “Signor Nelli, may I speak frankly?” Her gaze pointedly settled on the mayor.

  “I trust My Lady’s judgement on what he may hear,” the old man said.

  “Then it is like this. I discussed the matter with Master Ricker and, uandably, he is against loosening the monopoly. Although I offered him money—he is not a fool. He knows how good his situation is and that a pile of now would only lead him to his own ruin.”

  The old man chuckled, tapping his . “Perhaps I have uimated him.”

  She gave a wry smile, then tinued. “Of course, I have the final say in these matters, yet I am my mother’s daughter. Force is most powerful when it is a threat. Rather, I looked at the situation and realised that, instead of adjusting the monopoly, a promise could be made.”

  “Oh? What kind of promise?” he asked, leaning ba his seat.

  “To begin with, the goal of the Nelli family is to sell fine cloth. The purpose of the monopoly is that only the guild may trade in fine cloth. These two things, while trary at a gnce, are in fact perfectly aligned,” she said and raised an eyebrow.

  He took a moment to sider, then calmly said, “We would simply have to sell the fine cloth to the guild.”

  “Precisely,” she said, her hands ing together in a cp, then they rested oable, her fingers entwined. “Master Ricker, he did not find this a satisfying promise. His expectations of the market are rather outdated. To alleviate his worries, I made a itment to c any decrease in the guild’s revenue.”

  One sed, two, three passed in silehen the old man’s ughter bubbled up, a croaking ugh that grated at the ears. “I would be rather impressed if the guild’s revenue dropped after selling our fine cloth alongside their own. My Lady certainly does take after her mother,” he said with a broad grin.

  “Please, sir ftters me,” she said, l her gaze for a moment, then she brought it back up. “Pray do not think me cruel. That is, I have no iion of leaving the guild to its demise.”

  “Oh? My Lady has pns within pns?” he asked.

  She gave a single ugh and a weak shake of her head. “It is nothing so grand,” she said, her voice growing distant before she then cleared her throat. “I would not trust Master Ricker with this matter. Perhaps, he is wise to not trust me either. It seemed to me that we needed a kind of mutual assurahat we shared the same goals. So, as my show of siy, I have purchased the guild.”

  He waited for her to tinue and, when it became clear she would not, he asked, “What is to be his show of siy?”

  “That is, of course, to be self-evident in the bookkeeping,” she said with a slight smile.

  “Of course,” he said, returning her smile.

  “Regardless of any other details, I hope that, this way, the Nelli family may have full trust that deals shall be honoured and have fiden the iated amounts and prices. Thus, I have met the ditions of our arra,” she said.

  Silence fell. The old man, still sat ba his seat, regarded her with a critical gaze. She her flinched nor shrank away from it, simply meeting his gaze. “My Lady must have a certain trust in Ricker’s abilities to take on such a risk.”

  “The trust I have is solely in myself,” she replied.

  His lips quirked. “My Lady has such trust in herself?” he asked.

  “Should I not? My mother left me writings and my father, for the little time I spent with him, taught me well. This trust I have is na is the reition of who I am and what my legacy shall be. Sir, please, I shall be insulted if I am thought too incapable to run a business when I am free of such burdens as taxes and tariffs and have monopolies that I may enforce with whatever means I deem necessary.”

  Although he did not show any remorse, his chuckle came out thin. “My Lady misuands. I am simply a mert and so I think in terms of risk. Regardless of how petent My Lady is, men like Ricker have a knack for turning silver to copper. By the time My Lady checks the books, he may well have draihe guild of every kreuzer and—”

  “He shall be arrested, executed, his assets forfeited, his immediate family expelled, and his extended family iigated for a windfalls. If it his found that either of his two sons in the guild are involved, they shall also be executed. The w is very much clear on the price to be paid for stealing from me.”

  She spoke as if speaking of the weather, her toral, every word clear, and her face showed ion but for the polite smile she always wore as a dy.

  With all that said, she raised her hand in a loose gesture. “Money is not a I have, it is a oners have, so I cater to their s.”

  “Of course, My Lady. We give our thanks for catering to us,” he said, toug his cap. “As, we may only aspire to have such protes for our businesses. It is all too easy for a mao… abuse our trust, as it were.”

  “If the Nelli family ot solve su issue, I doubt anyone else may. However…” she said, trailing off with her gaze sinking down to the table.

  The silehat fell settled, dragging on until such a time that he sat forward in his chair. “Does My Lady have thoughts oter?”

  She looked up at him, an apologetic smile toug her lips. “I would like to meet with a Vist Erberg in the year. He is the one who helped design and implement the ges to minting ws a while ago, which has proven most beneficial to trade and erce. If I may meet him, his advi this matter, I would think, should prove insightful.”

  “Lord Erberg… yes, if anyone would have thoughts oter, it would be him,” he said, rubbing his . “Unfortunately, it is the case that we may only act within the ws, so we rarely sider how such ws may be ged to assist us. Our efforts are best spent w towards lower tariffs and taxes, after all.”

  She nodded along, then said, “This aside, I have produced the relevant dots. If sir would like a moment to review them for any errors….” At his small nod, she cpped her hands three short times and the door opened almost immediately. “May uest be shown to the dots.”

  Her butler bowed in the doorway, awaiting the guest to escort.

  “Ah, would sir be taking Mr Mayor as well?” she asked.

  As if only now remembering their pany, he looked over at the mayor—who had sat so still this eime, coat bundled on his p, fak—and then shook his head. “I am sure Christian shall be told what he o know at the appropriate time.”

  So her butler escorted the old man away, leaving the offi silence.

  After a minute, she finally broke it to say, “Oh yes, Mr Mayor, I think it is about time for anrand bazaar.”

  His mouth gave a half-hearted smile. “My Lady finds herself so idle?” he asked.

  “No, rather, it shall be Mr Mayor’s turn te it. Of course, I would still hold a petit bazar for the nobles and such. Sir would be pnning for those of lesser means.”

  He sat there for a moment, then lowered his head with a weak chuckle. “My Lady thinks too mue te such a festivity.”

  “Do I?” she asked, tilting her head. “I gave myself but half a year and had no previous such events as direct reference. If anything, sir should be insulted at my assessment—or perhaps he thinks too mue.”

  Chug agaiook off his cap aed it on the bundle. “I dare not think too much or too little of My Lady. She simply is,” he whispered.

  “Well, it is not like I would expect sir to devote all of his efforts to this for the year,” she said, her gaze drifting to the window. “My notes will be more than suffit to emute the previous success. However, deys may happen and so to begin now means that sir shan’t need my assistance. Of course, if something does e up that requires my assista shall be there. Not to mention, any mistakes shall only serve as praise for my skills, so there is o worry over perfe.”

  “My thanks,” he said dryly.

  The fire crackled, logs burning with their pleasant st, the afternoon’s sunlight spilling through the windows. “Does sir think the head of the family will approve my deal?” she asked.

  “Alonzo will, but Virgil I am less sure of,” he said, barely above a whisper.

  She softly smiled. “Indeed, Mr Mayor is sharp. Alonzo has spent his life as a mert whereas Virgil has spent half his life as the family’s head. How the Nelli family has survived this long, while other mert families rise and fall, is that Virgil knows the family’s pce. Rather than reach above their station, he prefers to pull their business partners down to their level.

  “It is for that reason I know Virgil will accept. The Nelli family… my father did not marry my mother by ce. Let us leave it at that. This deal, it humiliates me. I am giving up power for money. Although I have the King-given right to iate trade with fn rulers, I am instead iating with mere merts.”

  Her words did not go unheard, as quietly as they were said, a secret shared with him and the crag fire. A secret that brought a simple question to his lips: “Then why?”

  “Because, Mr Mayor, I trust myself.”

  Nothing more o be said.