WHERE RIVER MEETS SEA | FOUR

  "YOU SEEM TO be the only one who has returned with anything," Aleks remarked. They walked side by side down the street, completely unimportant and invisible to anyone else. Danna wore the ring she'd brought from Sai, the one she'd been pretending was a wedding band.

  "No one knows anything, then?" she asked softly, one hand lifting the basket.

  "Absolutely nothing."

  "We're on our own, then."

  "One person did mention that Mullen recently completely changed his staff team."

  Danna froze for a moment, and he noticed, raising a brow. She replied quickly, "That explains why one of my agents managed to get in without issue. She did report that she joined with another group of servants, but I didn't realise he changed everyone." Another one of Constanza's faults. The girl was truly quite horrid at being detailed.

  "You have an agent in his household?"

  "One. She hasn't figured out much yet. Give her some time."

  "We don't have that much time. Is she a skilled fighter?"

  Danna shook her head regrettably. "She's one of the locals who offered her service. Barely passed self-defence."

  He cursed under his breath. "Damn, then."

Danna said, "I'm going to set two of my agents on the house on permanent scouting and guarding. Two of my best."

  Aleks nodded. "We'll focus on the hunting. Can you get your mole to hand us a copy or two of Mallen's usual schedule, so we'd know when the Black Camellia might strike?"

  Danna pursed her lips. Constanza could probably achieve that, but she wasn't completely certain. "I'll try," she promised with a steady nod. She rarely allowed herself to show uncertainty. Even when she didn't know what she was doing, she had to act like she did. The people must have faith in the leader, and how could they do that when the leader was just as confused as they were?

  Aleks didn't buy it. "If she can't do it, we'll have to track Mallen first. Otherwise, we have no trail for the Camellia."

  Danna nodded. "How long do you think...?"

  He didn't need her to finish the sentence. "She won't drag it out for too long. Not with the treaty so close to being done. It will be within the month."

  "That's still a while," she remarked.

  "Reaching Mallen isn't the issue," he murmured, "it's making it seem like an accident. That would be difficult for her. We capitalise on that."

  "It means it'll take extra planning," Danna said. "More chances for her to reveal herself."

  He said, "We might not have the schedule yet, but I'm sure on one place Leocadio would be at tomorrow."

  She was unimpressed with his observation. "The Meliquean Council meets at nine in the morning. Unless Mallen is an idiot, he'll be there."

  "Which we both know he is not," Aleks said pleasantly. "But the Camellia won't strike there, it's far too public and well-guarded."

  Not even they would be able to easily get in. Which was why they had no plan to. They'll stay outside, where plenty of people would be, trying to catch an eye or earful of what was happening inside. The room where it happened. The room most of the population was shut away from. The fate of millions was discussed behind closed doors by people who rarely had any idea what the population wanted or thought.

  Power of the people her ass. She'd lived in Melique for long enough to realise that the statement was completely false. After so long, she was starting to doubt if it was even possible.

  Her inner cynic had broken out again. Time to lock it back down.

  "We'll see what we can learn from the meeting," Danna mused, "and continue on from there."

  "Sounds fair," he agreed. "Disguise?"

  "We'll plan it when we get home."

《-》

  THAT NIGHT, DANNA prepared one of the guest rooms for Aleks, who took it. Since he'd be there for a while, she told him to customise and decorate however he wanted. If the treaty goes well, she wouldn't be living here for long anyways.

  Truth be told, she couldn't wait to leave all of this behind. Once she headed back, her life as a spy was over. She was willing to assist in politics and all that jazz, but her espionage career must end.

  That was another one of the terms Irina had agreed with when they'd first made the deal. Once I come back, Danna had said with a certainty that shocked even herself, I'm never going there again.

  Irina had frowned then, but she'd realised the conviction in Danna's voice and agreed. The moment Danna was given permission to return, she wasn't coming back to Melique.

  They'd planned it out with a bit more detail earlier over dinner. Where they'd go, how they'd go. There was no hope for either of them sneaking in, but maybe they could hear something anyways. The people gathered there might know something they didn't. The council building would be a centre full of all kinds of gossip, theories, and some truths mixed in all of it.

  That was what they were seeking. These rare truths that might be uttered by some unsuspecting passerby. Or maybe they'd get lucky and someone with insider information would be loitering around.

  They'd be discussing the treaty anyways, so Danna had to go either way. She might as well go and study the faces of different politicians in an attempt to realise how the meeting had gone, and which side the council was swinging towards.

  She so dearly hoped that the treaty was signed soon. Otherwise, part of her was truly considering defecting. She couldn't handle any more of this. She'd tried to stay positive at first, even if it didn't seem like it, but it hadn't worked. Day after day, the reality of her situation had weighed upon her, bit by bit.

  I am completely and utterly alone.

  And then, like an angel from the heavens: Aleksandr Volkov. This boy-god with a smile like a wolf and a tongue sharper than a blade. Who saw right through her as if she was wholly transparent and didn't use it against her. This boy who was somehow there through her darkest days and nights, watching over her.

  Fate, Danna sometimes murmured to herself at night when she thought about him and what he was doing. Perhaps the gods are real.

  Strange, then, that they hadn't appeared to me before this.

  They were one room apart. And Danna was still thinking about him. There had to be a problem there, truly.

  She glanced at the window, shielded by the dark curtains she'd picked out when she'd first arrived. Three years. She'd been living here for three years. He wasn't much better. She doubted he'd even stepped foot in Novokuluga for more than two weeks in the past while.

  But that was far more than enough self-pitying and wallowing in her sad life for today. She had to sleep. She'd already been missing far too much slumber in the past few days with all her work. Tomorrow required focus. Concentration.

  None of which she could truly achieve without a few good hours of sleeping.

  When it still didn't work, she crawled out from her bed and crept into the adjacent room.

  "Danna?" he called out, voice croaky. He rubbed his eyes. In the shadows, she saw him slowly sit up.

  "I couldn't sleep," she told him, as if that explained everything.

  He nodded, though, patting the spot next to him. So she crawled into the covers with him, taking comfort in the warmth of his body. "Nervous?" he asked with a chuckle.

  "Worried."

  "You're always worried. Stop worrying."

  "Easier said than done."

  "It's not, really. Sometimes you just have to... turn off your brain."

  "I'm not you."

  "You don't have to be. Anyone can do it. You just like to thrust responsibility on yourself. Stop that."

  She let her hand draw circles on his arm. "Those things are my responsibilities. I can't escape them."

  "There's no shame in taking a break." He turned to face her, eyes still closed, lips pulled up in a slight smile. "Relax, Danna."

  "We have to hunt down the Black Camellia."

  "Leave that for tomorrow."

  "It's already tomorrow."

  "You just refuse to comply with me, do you?" he laughed. "I like that about you, do you know that? But sometimes, it gets really annoying."

  "Can't blame me. You're usually wrong."

  "But sometimes... I'm correct. And when that happens, you have to believe me."

  "Go to bed, Aleks."

  "I was. Someone decided to interrupt me."

  She whispered, "Sorry."

  "No, no, don't apologise." One arm wrapped around her. Danna lowered her head and smelled the lilac soap she used on his hair. "You have nothing to apologise for."

  "Seriously," she said again, now with more determination. "Go to bed. We have an assassin to hunt tomorrow. We don't want to make any mistakes."

  He laughed, "We never do."

  "Very arrogant of you."

  "I'm just confident in my ability, that's all."

《-》

  THEY ROSE WITH the sun. Danna went downstairs first to cook while Aleks went to her wardrobe to pick out a proper disguise. Since Danna had both male and female spies, she had plenty of clothes for both.

  Aleks decided to dress like an impressionable young dandy today. Someone who'd want to know more about politics but didn't know much about it at all. An optimist. Basically, the exact opposite of who he actually was.

  Roles who were so different from how he was were comically easy to play.

  He didn't bother telling her to bring weapons. She'd do that. But... he needed some, and he didn't know where she kept it.

  "Danna, I might need to borrow a knife or two," he announced, leaving the clothes he'd picked out for himself and her in the shabby parlour.

  Without turning to face him, Danna plucked out two knives from the stands on the kitchen counter.

  Of course she kept those right in plain sight. Aleks wasn't even that surprised. He picked both up, inspected them. Sharp. Very sharp. He'll hide those in his clothes someway or another.

  "I picked clothes."

  "Thanks." Her answer was curt. That meant she was trying to concentrate and he was bothering her. Aleks took the cue and vanished down the corridor once more. The curtains in the parlour were, of course, pulled tightly shut. There was no natural light in this house, he realised with a smirk. The amount of money the Saians must spend to support Danna's lighting habits alone...

  Well, they deserved it. You didn't send someone of Danna's quality into a shithole like this. Even the most jaded, experienced agents often refused missions to Melique. Danna wasn't just any agent. She was a lady. Her blood was as blue as any other aristocrat. Being half-Meliquean didn't change that, especially when her mother had been Meliquean aristo too. Having to send her more money barely filled in the dent of what they owed her.

  It was then Aleks remembered one of the conversations he and Danna had had years ago. He'd asked, then, why she agreed to any of this. Her answer had been simple. Frighteningly simple. Duty.

  He pointed out that duty did not mean risking her life.

  I owe them, she'd replied then. I might not even be alive if not for them.

  He'd frowned. The Saian?

  She had nodded and said nothing, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He hadn't pursued that conversation, since he'd left the day after. Maybe he'll ask again later tonight, when today's mission was complete.

  He placed the knife on the table in front of the couch, somewhere obvious so neither of them would forget and accidentally hurt themself. He quickly changed into the new clothes. Of course, these weren't just ordinary clothes. Someone, maybe Danna herself, had sewn plenty of compartments and pockets into it. Perfect for hiding gears.

  He found the ones that must have been for knives and slipped his in.

  She'd finished cooking breakfast by then, so they ate their meal in silence before she went upstairs to change as well. He'd picked the clothes a young, unmarried woman of an upper-middle class family would wear. Some of those young girls were growing more and more interested in having a hand in Meliquen politics. Danna would fit right in.

  Sometimes, he forgot that she was only twenty and him twenty-two. They both seemed decades older.

  Danna slowly tied her hair up in a chignon, not of the Saian style, and said, "We'll leave in a bit. Don't want to be there too early either."

  He nodded. People would start gathering at around seven. It wasn't even six. They had a few more minutes, since the trip would only take around an hour. They'd go separately, of course, on different horses. Same route, most likely. No one would find that suspicious.

  "Keep an ear open," she instructed.

  Aleks grinned. "I'm not one of your agents. I know what to do." Part of her nature was to mother those around her. Perhaps because she never truly had a mother figure of her own.

  She'd only given him shattered pieces of her past. He knew her birth mother had died early and that her father had not been an intelligent man. Her stepmother had been cruel, and the three girls had often run away from home, but never quite going far away enough. After years of it, Danna's father had died when she was twelve, and her oldest sister, Megara, had taken control of the barony. Their stepmother was practically banished. Lady Megara had been able to take care of both of her sisters above it all, and since she'd been a student at Lady Kuroki's school as well, sent Danna there.

  Danna never quite told him whether her older sister had been a spy as well. From what he knew, the younger one, Hebe, had never stepped foot in the institute. Still.

  "Excellent." Her mind was clearly not here today. He didn't mind. She was probably thinking about the mission, planning every tiny thing out ahead of time. "Go get ready. I'll meet you here in ten."