SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

By the next morning, Rhosyn had recovered enough that Trafalgar stopped checking her hands whenever she reached for something.

The shaking was gone, and the night before he had told both her and Zafira what Vaelis finally admitted: Ilyra had carried the cup to Nyssara every evening, Meer had prepared what went into it, and Vaelis removed the attendance pages afterward to protect his younger sister.

He also explained what he found about Emric Varn, the warehouse lease and the dead man’s name continuing to appear on documents after his burial.

By breakfast, Lucard au Vaelion was the problem still sitting in Trafalgar’s head. Before speaking to him, Trafalgar went back to Ithanne’s office and asked for the observer records. Lucard’s arrival was easy to find, formally recorded beside the recognition of his position.

Trafalgar copied the date, then asked for Nyssara’s death record and the departure entry for Halvic Meer. He laid all three beside each other and read them twice.

Nyssara had died two years earlier. Meer had left Meraval three days after her death under Kesh Varlan’s special authorisation. Lucard had arrived only months ago. The thought came immediately: ’So Lucard couldn’t have set this up here.’

The conclusion should have simplified things, but it only removed Lucard from the beginning of the chain. The questions around House Vaelion itself remained.

Trafalgar returned the records and found Lucard on an upper gallery overlooking the inner ring, alone near the curved glass with a document open in one hand.

Lucard closed it when Trafalgar approached. ”You’ve been looking for me?”

”Yeah. I wanted to check something before I came here, and now that I have, I need your opinion.”

”All right. What exactly did you check?”

”Your arrival date. I wanted the dates in front of me before I spoke to you.”

There was a brief pause before Trafalgar continued. ”Nyssara died two years ago. Meer left three days later. You arrived months ago, so whatever happened to her started long before you were here.”

Lucard watched him for a moment. ”And you thought I might have been involved?”

”I thought there was a chance. You’re a Vaelion sitting inside Myrrhvale territory during a succession where somebody could be interfering from outside. I would’ve been stupid not to check.”

Lucard’s expression changed immediately. The relaxed look disappeared, and for the first time since Trafalgar had met him, there was genuine irritation in his face.

”I’m here because I was invited as an observer. So are you. Zafira du Zar’khael has been living in this city longer than either of us, and nobody seems particularly interested in accusing her family of murdering Nyssara.” Lucard folded the document in his hand. ”What exactly are you trying to say?”

Trafalgar held his gaze. There wasn’t much point circling around it anymore.

”Does House Vaelion have anything to do with what happened here?”

Lucard stared at him for several seconds.

”Be careful with that question.”

”I’m asking you, Lucard. I’m not standing in a council chamber accusing your family.”

”You’re still asking whether my house arranged the murder of the head of another Great House.” His voice stayed controlled, but the irritation remained. ”That’s not a small question because you happened to ask it in private.”

”I know.”

”Then what do you have?”

Trafalgar didn’t answer immediately. Giving Lucard everything would have been idiotic, especially after asking that question. But there was enough he could say without mentioning Rhosyn or what she had recovered from the flooded warehouse.

”I have people who keep leading to people who can’t be questioned. A man connected to one part of it dies, and his name keeps being used afterward. The company behind him is already gone. The records behind that lead somewhere else, and that trail disappears too.”

Lucard watched him carefully now.

”And you looked at that and decided Vaelion.”

”I looked at outside interference, then found a Vaelion sitting inside the succession. I checked you before I came here. You arrived months ago. Nyssara died two years ago, and her physician left Meraval before you ever set foot in the city.”

”So you’ve already proved I couldn’t have done what you’re accusing me of.”

”Personally, yes.”

Lucard’s jaw tightened slightly. ”That’s not much better.”

Trafalgar ignored that and continued. ”Forget Vaelion for a minute. If you wanted to do something like this, what would you do?”

Lucard frowned. ”Something like what?”

”Influence another Great House without leaving your own name anywhere near it. Move people, money, cargo, whatever you needed. Make sure that if somebody started looking afterward, they couldn’t walk straight back to you.”

Lucard remained silent for a moment. Some of the anger stayed in his face, but now he was thinking about the question rather than the accusation behind it.

”I wouldn’t let anyone see the whole thing. If I needed something moved, the person arranging transport wouldn’t know why. Whoever received it wouldn’t know where it originally came from. If money was involved, that would go through somebody else again.” Lucard looked directly at him. ”You keep the work separated.”

”How separated?”

”Enough that losing one person doesn’t damage the rest.” Lucard’s tone had become colder and more practical. ”The man at the bottom knows who gives him orders. Maybe the next man knows one person above that. Nobody needs the entire chain.”

Something in Trafalgar’s head stopped.

Rhavel Sorn, bleeding against the remains of a brick pier beneath the second ring.

Every man in the line knows the one above him and nothing past that.

Trafalgar looked at Lucard differently.

”What?”

”Nothing.”

Lucard watched him for another moment, clearly aware that something had clicked into place.

Trafalgar looked through the glass toward Meraval below. The explanation made more sense than he wanted it to. If the structure had been built properly, every useful trail would end before it reached the person who had started everything.

”I think that’s enough.”

Lucard picked up the document he had set aside. ”Then if you’ve finished, I’d prefer not to see you again for however long this succession still takes.”

Trafalgar looked back at him.

Lucard looked genuinely annoyed now. ”I’m starting to understand why my little brother gets so irritated whenever your name comes up.”

Trafalgar didn’t respond. There was nothing useful left to say, and after the question he’d asked about House Vaelion, he couldn’t exactly blame Lucard for wanting the conversation over.

He left the gallery with the structure Lucard had described still turning over in his head