The house was nearly empty.

Kalo had left the day before, along with his son and the rescued slaves who wanted to resettle on Zon. Andarit was still in Zenith, but she was getting ready for an event that evening. Serenity was already ready; he didn’t know what was taking Andarit so long, it was just another gathering at another noble’s mansion, surely one that was far larger than the modest Lowpeak house. There probably wouldn’t even be any music, so Serenity would simply watch the boring affair in silence.

A knock broke the silence.

Serenity headed over to the door; with almost everyone gone, there was no one else to watch it. Whoever was knocking was within the ward, but at this point the lack of any other warning simply meant they hadn’t tried to enter through anything other than one of the official entrances.

Beyond the door was a small, weedy man dressed in commoners’ clothing. A workman of some sort if Serenity had the styles correct; the clothing was sturdy and functional, clearly used without looking overly worn. Merchants tended to wear fancier clothing.

“You’re not who I expected,” the man stated confidently. “Has Duke Lowpeak already left?”

“Yes,” Serenity agreed. “He headed for Lowpeak yesterday. Who are you?”

The stranger grinned. Somehow, it made him seem even less trustworthy. “Duke Lowpeak didn’t mention me? I’m hurt. Darrin Winterslo is my name. Are you certain you want me to say more standing outside?”

They were inside the ward. Serenity shrugged and activated one of the features he’d included; distorting sound and blurring vision a little was remarkably simple. A few minor changes to the space they traveled through and the speed they traveled at, especially if those alterations shifted, would make it hard to understand. It would use up the mana he’d charged the ward with, but as long as he didn’t have it on for long that would be fine.

“Outside is fine,” Serenity confirmed.

Darrin shrugged. “It’s your neck, not mine. Tell the Duke that someone is asking questions about his daughter and why she wants slaves. Whoever’s asking is putting a lot of push behind it; I’ve heard the question three times today and each time it was supposed to be kept quiet. It’s known that some of them went offworld; there are people giving reasons for that, anything from having them guard a treasure to a slave smuggling ring secretly run by her father. On top of that, there are rumors of a freed slave being caught again; the rumors are wild, but her name’s on all of them.”

Serenity nodded absently. Rumors were dangerous, and it sounded like this was the sort of rumor that could twist and turn on someone before they realized it. It didn’t even have to be true. “Thank you for telling me. Is there anything else?”

Darrin chuckled. “Nah. Tell the Duke he owes me the usual, I’ll expect it at the usual time. This one’s easy, it’s part of the normal service.”

“The Duke headed back to Lowpeak yesterday,” Serenity warned Darrin. He certainly could send a message, now that he’d … well, now that Aide had figured out how to use the Tutorial Quest reward. Unfortunately, he wasn’t certain how long it would take the Duke to get it.

Darrin waved as he walked away. “He’ll know anyway. It’s just the usual.”

Serenity moved the wards back to their usual settings, then reminded himself he’d need to recharge them in the morning. They had enough left to easily last until then, and charging them properly took a couple hours he didn’t have right now.

Andarit met Serenity in the foyer as he turned to go find her. “What was that about?”

“Rumors,” Serenity answered. “Rumors about why you want slaves. It sounds like there’s a lot of speculation. At least, if we can believe Darrin Winterslo.”

Andarit wrinkled her nose. “That irritating man? I don’t understand why Father employs him. He’s always bringing the nastiest little stories.”

“That’s probably exactly what your father wants from him.” Serenity shook his head ruefully. “I bet your father would know just what to do about this, too. Unfortunately, he’s gone, so you and I are going to have to figure it out. My guess is that staying home won’t help anything, so we should go forward as planned. Are you ready for that?”

Andarit shrugged. “What can a few rumors do? I’ll just ignore them and make people feel bad for saying things they don’t know.”

Serenity frowned. That wasn’t his experience with rumors, but what did he know? “If you’re ready, we’d better head out.”

Andarit did not successfully ignore the rumors. Instead, about half of the people at the “party” snubbed her. They were mostly talking about her instead of to her, as far as Serenity could tell. Unfortunately, this included several of the people Andarit usually partnered with for dances, and she didn’t take it well.

It was about halfway through the second hour of the event when Andarit slipped out of the main room. Serenity followed, of course; he wasn’t here for the event that he still hadn’t quite identified, he was here because Andarit was here. She’d helped him find the people he was looking for; he was guarding her in Zon as repayment of that, and if she was about to take some heat for her actions, he’d help cover her for that as well. It was partly his fault, after all.

His responsibility, not his fault, Serenity corrected himself. Fault lay with whoever had kidnapped the Earthlings in the first place.

Andarit seemed to be following directions on a note; Serenity saw her glance down at her hand several times when she came to a door or choice of hallways. Wherever she was going, she’d never been there before. Serenity was going to need to have a talk with her after this was over to remind her that this was the sort of thing to share with your bodyguard. Secret notes were far too good at removing someone from protection if the protectee didn’t tell the guard.

By the time she reached her destination, Serenity had caught up with Andarit. He didn’t say anything; he simply followed a couple of steps behind her. Despite not particularly trying to be silent, he didn’t think Andarit noticed. When she opened the large, heavy door of the room she was heading towards, Serenity caught it and followed her in.

It was a small library. While Serenity considered it small, it was certainly large enough to be significant for a noble on a planet like this where all written works were written by hand. Duke Lowpeak did not have a comparable room in his house in Zon.

Andarit looked around. After a moment of searching, she plopped herself down in one of the several overstuffed chairs between bookcases.

While she was sitting there, a soft whisper drew Serenity’s attention. He saw a bookcase swing forward, but before he could move, Andarit spoke. “Prince Ora?”

Serenity watched, and the man who stepped out from behind the bookcase-cum-secret door did indeed look a lot like Prince Ora. Instead of being dressed completely in a ridiculous amount of shimmer, this Prince Ora was dressed in clothing that would have fit a lower noble like Andarit herself.

He also didn’t hold himself the same way as the man he’d met; if it weren’t for the face, Serenity might have thought this was someone entirely different. Andarit seemed to recognize him, however, and she used the same name he’d introduced himself with back at the dance in his honor.

“Andarit Lowpeak-Heir,” the prince greeted Andarit politely. “Has your family completely given up on its ideals?”

Maybe he only seemed polite.

Andarit’s mouth fell open and she sat there without moving for a long moment before she recovered enough to sputter, “What are you talking about?”

The prince stepped forward and gestured; it would probably have been dramatic if he were wearing a cape, but without one it simply looked like an affectation. “First you deliberately humiliated your peers. Fine; they will punish you for that. Now I find out that you are the laughingstock of the nobles and the Courts for dealing in slaves, even selling them offworld? Nobles do not deal in trade, it is a disgrace to your title. If my father would let me, I would have already stripped you of your Heir-right.”

Andarit sputtered again and didn’t seem to have a coherent response to the accusation. While she was still trying to find her balance, Serenity stepped in.

This was his mess, not hers. She shouldn’t have to pay for it.

“Before you start acting, you might want to get your facts correct.” Serenity didn’t move, but he did smile a little. Andarit might not know how to deal with a direct accusation, but Serenity could stand up for himself. “Andarit didn’t buy any slaves. I did. On top of that, none were traded offworld; I freed every slave I bought.”

The bookcase was still open; that bothered Serenity, because he had no idea who or what was there. He had a feeling that it wouldn’t still be open if there wasn’t someone in there. Was it simply the prince’s own bodyguards? It did seem a little odd for a prince to wander around without guards, but he was certainly not dressed as a prince. Perhaps they were trying to be discreet?

Or perhaps it was simply supposed to be a fast way out if things went wrong?

“You, not Andarit?” The prince’s gaze shifted to Serenity and seemed to sharpen. “You’re the offworlder who saw the Palace enchantment, aren’t you? What did you say your name was?”

Serenity couldn’t remember if he’d said his name or not, but he probably had. He remembered that the prince had given his name, after all. “Serenity.”

The prince nodded slowly. “See me at the Palace tomorrow morning. I’d like to talk to you about the Palace enchantments; you may bring Andarit or not. If you do, be certain that she will be silent and bothersome; if she speaks, she will be dealt with.”

Prince Ora’s eyes turned to Andarit and he shook his head. “As for you, Father has mused on whether or not keeping Lowpeak alive is worth the trouble. The only reasons we haven’t let the Courts fight over which one will get your land and dungeon as a new noble family is the loyalty you’ve shown and the taxes you pay. It would be a good lesson to the other noble Houses to not get too far above themselves. Be certain you continue both, for your other actions show that you will be as bad as your father, otherwise. Perhaps worse; even the nobles would be happy if your seat were lost, were it yours.”

The prince nodded at them, then disappeared into the bookcase-door without waiting for a reply. It swung shut behind him.

Perhaps the prince wasn’t so different from the somewhat crazed man Serenity had met at the dance after all; that certainly sounded like someone with a less firm grasp on reality, or perhaps simply one with so much power he didn’t have to care that others thought he was a tyrant. In Serenity’s experience, there was no such thing as a tyrant that powerful; it would work for a while, perhaps even a long time, but eventually tyranny was its own end.

As the Final Reaper, he’d been that end more than once. Perhaps that was why he didn’t consider it all that realistic?

Still, he wasn’t the Final Reaper anymore, and in this case the prince did have some power, even if it wasn’t as much as he thought he did. Serenity had the feeling that Duke Lowpeak was well aware of the strain between his family and the royalty; it would explain some things.

Among other things, it would explain part of why Duke Lowpeak maintained a good relationship with Order’s Guild. They’d have a place to run if their defenses failed. Serenity was confident the Duke didn’t expect to use that plan and had other plans in place to defend his Dukedom, but it was also obvious that he didn’t want to use them.