hawk & sable

CHAPTER ELEVEN,

HAWK & SABLE | ELEVEN

"AH. WE'RE ALL here."

"If we consist of me, Danna, you and Laurence, then yes. Where is everyone else?"

Irina batted her eyelashes, all innocent-like. Ciri knew better, of course. "Loitering around somewhere. You'll find them if you look hard enough."

"Irina." Ciri laced her voice with warning.

Irina squinted at her. "Why do you always assume I'm involved in something nefarious? It's rather hurtful. I am a princess, you know."

"I always assume you're plotting something because that's the kind of person you are. Where are they?"

Laurence watched this interaction with clear amusement and interest, glancing between the two girls. Irina had a small smirk on her lips, and Ciri looked utterly frustrated. Irina was by nature a schemer and a meddler. She was always subtle about it, too, so Ciri wasn't even sure how many events the princess had planned herself.

"The banquet's a good distraction."

Understanding dawned upon her. "The Treasury Department?"

"And a few personal homes," Irina admitted.

Laurence looked impressed. "You really planned this out, didn't you?"

"Asteria, Myrina and Rhys. Io?"

Irina gave a small nod. Ciri let out an exhale. Danna looked annoyed. "You didn't think to tell the rest of us?"

Irina raised one wry eyebrow. "Did it matter?"

Danna let out a huff and a soft curse from under her breath. Ciri just shook her head. Sometimes, she wanted to throttle Irina. She'd gotten slightly used to it over the years, but not much, and it still often took her by utter surprise. She liked to be informed about things, not thrust into it blind.

"Someday," she drawled, the words slow and quiet, "we're all going to get tired of your scheming."

Irina had the nerve to smirk. "I await that day, Miss Diao. Now. Let's talk about what I actually called you over for. A covert shipment we sent out to Vayante with resources was intercepted. Our mole has struck again."

Ciri exchanged an alarmed glance with Danna.

Irina continued. "Our source in the Meliqueans say the sailors are safe but being held prisoner at Caheris." That would be the tiny island the Meliqueans had taken over near Gira that used to belong to Lasyan. "That, I'm not worried about. We can negotiate their safe return. Melique isn't prepared for warfare with us. They'll cooperate."

"How many people knew about the shipment?"

Irina glanced at Laurence with a nod of approval. "Excellent question. Only a small handful of people in the Military Department. It was a shipment of military equipment."

Ciri was piecing it together in her head. "That's not what you want to tell us. The mole has access to the Military Department too. I don't suppose the Financial one knew."

Irina shook her head. "It was kept under close wraps. There's been no one recently joining the Military Department, and the few people who know are extremely loyal and equally perplexed. I already asked the Duke of Shui Xiang to run me some background checks."

"This suggests that the mole might not be in the Royal Treasury at all, but just someone who may have access to all that information."

"The only people who'd logically have that much information are privy to almost all the inner workings of our empire. If the Meliqueans had someone like that in their pockets, we'd have fallen long ago." Irina held up her palm. "We need to hurry up before too much damage is done. The Royal Treasury. The Military Department. We could be crippled that way."