“It is about time you woke up.” Nela greeted Braydon as he entered his own study.

“It is late morning, I usually wake up about now. Steven makes sure of it.” He knew that if it were up to him, he would have stayed asleep for much longer. Even if he was not already tired.

“And you slept from late afternoon. You should be more than lively enough to discuss your trip.” Nela waited for him to start as he sat down at his desk.

“You didn’t interrogate Gerald?” He had half an idea what Nela and Rhydian would have done when he left the night before.

“And he regaled us with how frantically different factions were trying to undermine Alima Shuluk’s position. Mainly, though, it was about how good the wine was. He didn’t even manage to learn how many people there were vying for the status of Regent or who any of them were.” Nela had not expected that Gerald would be a great fit for gathering information. But since they were basically by his side for days, trying to get information out of him, it was a little unfortunate that he had not managed to get anything but booze from them.

“That sounds about right. Are Rhydian and Collin coming?” Braydon asked. If he was going to share what he had managed to negotiate with his inner circle, he wanted to do it once rather than three times.

“I sent Maria to fetch him, Collin is probably on his way already.” Nela did not need to send someone to get Collin. If there was somebody that knew when Braydon would be in his study then it would be either Collin or Steven. Steven was his servant and basically his shadow. Collin was his Chamberlain and the man who told the servants what Braydon wanted them to do and kept track of his spending. Most of the time Braydon was in his study, Collin would be with him.

*knock knock*

“No need to wait around on my behalf.” Rhydian said as he came in, followed by Collin. It was easy to tell who was knocking before they entered the room. Rhydian knocked and entered, Nela just entered, everyone else knocked and entered after Braydon gave permission.

“Then I might as well start. There is a list of merchants that we have agreed upon to be allowed to trade between Fiveria and Shuluk, at least officially. There is no way we are stopping Duke Burn from being Duke Burn but at least Alima promised to make things harder for him. Collin, this is that list, if they have sent us a request already then accept it. If not, wait for them to do so. No need to look desperate.” He stated as he handed Collin a list of names. For Braydon, the significant point about his authority over trade was not the money that he could make from it but the influence he would gain. In noble circles influence was a much prised commodity and much harder to gain than money.

“Now for the actually interesting part. Nela, you might have had some guesses about this but Alima confirmed that she is aspiring to more than just her current position. To that end, she has some supporters on both sides.” Braydon had thought that she wanted more but the fractious nature of the Shuluk civil war was not what he had guessed. Were it not for the presence of the child Grand Duke, it would likely already be a war of all against all.

“Which means that the two main ‘factions’ are merely a cover for everyone making power plays and all this talk of loyalty and leadership are just that, talk.” Nela quickly caught on. It was not hard to see that for the rebels that openly opposed the child Grand Duke and his Regent. But it was also true of those who ‘stayed loyal’. They just thought that they had a better shot at becoming the Regent by displacing Alima.

“And I am guessing that this is where you spent most of your time arguing.” Rhydian surmised what accounted for more than 3 of the 5 days spent negotiating into a single sentence.

“Exactly, I have promised that I will ‘lose some of my iron in rebel territory and send word to Alima of the approximate location so that she can tell her allies.” Braydon said with a smug sense of satisfaction. It had taken several days but he had managed to get what he came for in the end.

“What did you get in return.” Nela responded with a flat tone and roll of her eyes. Braydon was just being proud of himself. They knew that he would not give away a benefit for nothing.

“If I find that my iron has made its way into the hands of ‘bandits’, I have her permission to send my men looking for it to protect my reputation. No questions asked.” It was that last part that had taken so long for him to get agreed. Alima had wanted to make sure that she could get him to leave again when everything was over. He wanted to make sure that he could stay.

“Is that why this list has so many Shuluk merchants?” Collin asked.

“Exactly why, it is also why it includes a lot of merchants from Ryder’s faction. I will probably need to appease the King for that though.” There was a reason why those merchants were persona-non-grata as far as the King was concerned. He wanted to raise smaller merchants who had fewer close links to the former Duke.

“Do you not think that he will ask questions about your more ‘prominent’ movements?” Rhydian asked. He knew exactly what Braydon was thinking by sending men to look for iron that he lost on purpose. Once his army was in eastern Shuluk and with the Regent’s backing, the land was as good as his.

“He can ask all he wants once I have the land.” Braydon was not sure what the King would think about him acting like he had in Kirton but across the border. He doubted that he would be counted as part of the King’s inner circle for much longer afterwards, even if his friendship with Ethan and Cinar stopped the King from acting against him.

“I am guessing that we will have to leave a significant amount of iron to the soon-to-be Grand Duchess whilst we do it.” Collin knew how this kind of thing worked. Even if he had given great benefits to Alima in the form of merchants, she would want to make sure that Braydon himself lost his pound of flesh to get what he wanted.

“Oh you know it. Let us just say that the iron I am about to lose will magically be found by Alima for years to come.” It was a recurring Bribe. Plain and simple. If he wanted to keep his acquired lands once she solidified her position it would be a necessity.