“Willem,” said Baron Tielman as he walked into the private room. “Thank you for coming. I wanted to speak to you at that event you held, but… there was no time.”

  “I get it,” Willem nodded knowingly. “Well… shall we?”

  At the same coastal restaurant that they’d met last time, Willem sat down with Baron Tielman, prepared to give him the bad news. The deal had fallen apart, and he’d continue to use the van Brugh name without taking on any of the responsibilities. He had what he thought was a generous concession in mind—reclassifying the funds that he took from the barony as a loan instead of a gift. He didn’t want to bankrupt the barony, especially not when he had something good going. An invasion from the north could ruin everything.

  As soon as Willem had settled in his seat, the baron looked at him squarely and said, “I’m going back to the barony.”

  Willem blinked a few times in surprise. “I see. And… all of this… what’ll you…” he gestured vaguely around.

  “I intend to keep your renouncement of your heritage a secret, but I won’t dispute it.” Tielman looked out to the sea. “Keep your aura well-hidden. You’ll attract the attention of the king if you don’t. He arranges marriages between powerful aura users to keep the noble bloodlines of the kingdom strong.”

  Seeing as Willem didn’t even believe he could use aura, he answered, “That won’t be a problem.”

  “Good.” The baron nodded, looking out across the sea ponderously for a long while. Eventually, he turned his head over. “Who do you think should succeed me?” Tielman asked seriously.

  “You’re asking me?” Willem said, one brow raised. “I don’t know your kids that well.”

  “I know you’re reluctant to involve yourself, but please,” Tielman said. “Help clarify my own thoughts.”

  “Honestly?” Willem leaned back. “They’re all terrible.”

  “Hmm.” Tielman looked at the table. “Elaborate.”

  “Mmm… mind you, these are just my half-baked opinions…” Willem debated how honest he should be, but just decided to be forthwith. “Took me a while to see it, but Lennard’s just a little stupid, easily-manipulated. He’s not a bad person, just had bad influences. Not exactly the person you want as baron, though. Hans is the type of guy that wants the title, but doesn’t want to do the job. He’s going to be a problem no matter what happens. Godfried would probably try to do the job decently, but he’s just a little… eh. Not much appeal, you know? That’s a problem when you’ve got someone like Hans around. Catharina… she’s a van der Duyn, if you care about the name. That leaves Suzanne.”

  “Suzanne.” Tielman closed his eyes.

  “I’m not saying it should be Suzanne, she’s just the only option I haven’t ruled out,” Willem clarified.

  “You were always close with her. She left under her own steam, like you. My brother took her in, at the capital.” Tielman put his elbows on the table, wrapping his fist with the other hand as he sat. “Her departure was part of the reason Viviene and I…”

  “Oh yeah?” Willem yawned, uninterested. “Might as well visit her. Make sure you’ve looked at all the options.”

  “It would be unconventional.” Tielman looked deep in thought. “Thank you for your earnest assessment, Willem.”

  “Good luck in the north,” Willem said. “If you ever find any business opportunities, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

  Tielman faintly smiled. Willem didn’t even notice, but anyone close to the baron could say with utter certainty that it was an incredibly rare occurrence.

  ***

  “I got an excellent deal on a huge shipment of tallow,” said one of the soap makers.

  Guildmaster Gustav came to attention when one of the soapers of his guild said that. He looked at the man.

  “Do tell,” Gustav prompted. “Is one of the ranches outside of the city having an exceptional year, or is there a new opportunity?”

  “No, no. I got it from German, surprisingly,” the man continued. “That man always drives a hard bargain, but he had a huge, one-time shipment that he needed to offload. Thirty-two thousand silver for about three months’ worth of supply.”

  There was some clamor in the Soaper’s Guild—even Gustav was impressed.

  “Definitely a good deal,” Gustav praised. “Even still, we need less and less tallow every year. We need to focus on transitioning to olive-oil based soaps. I’m ironing out that deal with the perfume supplier. If it goes through… the nobles of the capital loved our perfumed soaps. The king himself apparently praised it, but that’s rumor alone. We could be very, very wealthy. We could put Gent on the map, ladies and gentlemen, as a place of industry as much as a grain port city.”

  “Hear, hear!” the men shouted, then drummed on the table to show their support.

  “…but that’s also reason to be careful.” He studied his soaper. “This shipment of tallow… it wasn’t stolen, was it?”

  The soaper raised his hands up. “A little faith, Gustav. It was from German, like I mentioned. He’s no liar. Still, I inquired.” He looked around. “Apparently, Robert’s Chandlery was bought out. The new owner is selling off a lot of stuff, cutting their losses. I got a good deal on a bunch of soaping equipment, too. There might be more.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “What?” Gustav leaned into the table. “Robert sold? To who?!”

  “Uhh…” the soaper was flustered by Gustav’s tone. “I… I didn’t inquire.”

  Gustav clenched his hands together, calming his mind. He’d been angling on a purchase of that chandlery for months, now. A lot of the equipment for soap making and candle making was interchangeable, and they had a valuable abundance of tallow. He’d denied Robert entrance into the Soaper’s Guild, hoping to snatch up his business for cheap as it slowly failed. Chandlery and soaping had natural synergies, using identical equipment and materials in many aspects.

  “Does anyone know who bought it?” Gustav looked between all of his soapers, but he could tell none of them had any idea.

  That meant that someone outside of the Soaper’s Guild had seen the opportunity. Gustav was quite annoyed. It was only natural that soap making and chandlery consolidated, and he’d hoped to be the one to shepherd that change. Whoever had beaten him to the punch was quite the shrewd fellow—perhaps a merchant from the capital, or Valdérie?

  “Could one of you ask Robert the next chance you get?” Gustav looked at his soapers. “I don’t like missing out on things like that.”

  By now, everyone understood that Gustav had been trying to acquire Robert’s Chandlery. They nodded, giving words of assurances.

  Maybe this was nothing—a one-off fluke, never to be repeated. Still, he should bring this to the guild assembly. He didn’t want some hotshot merchant from the capital coming here and ruining business for everyone else. The other guilds should be aware that something might be coming.

  Best to pull weeds before their roots went too deep.

  ***

  Viviene swirled her spoon through her teacup to mix her sugar, thinking of what had happened the past few weeks.

  Nearly everything went as Willem had said it would.

  There were a few aspects that he’d failed to consider—namely, that some members of the Soaper’s Guild would be interested in some of the excess equipment that would no longer be needed due to their downsizing. That was a surprise on the positive side, however.

  The tallow sold very quickly to waiting customers. The Brewer’s Guild had jumped at the opportunity to acquire their apiaries, entering into a deal to provide beeswax for free. The brewers had no need of the wax, after all. It had taken some time, but she’d even found a merchant willing to sell the candle molds to a distant city where chandlery was still a viable business.

  Willem had spent 15,000 silver. After selling everything, unwinding the debts, paying severance costs, and paying her own share as the liquidator… he’d wound up with profit of around 500 gold, or 6,000 silver. A 40% return on his investment. Had he refused the severance costs, it likely would’ve been over 50%.

  “That was a rare opportunity,” Willem had said when she’d pointed that out to him. “It won’t always be this good, especially not when we get bigger. But… like I said, there’s a lot more you can do with small sums of money.”

  Still, he’d seen the opportunity. Viviene herself hadn’t seen the path until she was actually walking it. Provided he was right about scented candles doing well, there would only be upside from here on out. Robert had been too emotionally attached to his family’s business to see the route out, apparently. Sometimes, a shakeup was what a business needed. She supposed if everyone acted intelligently 100% of the time, there’d be no winners and losers.

  “Mother? I think it’s stirred,” Catharina said sweetly.

  Viviene looked down at her teacup, then at her daughter. She’d been stirring the entire time, totally lost in thought. She pulled the spoon out, setting it aside.

  “Are you well? I know that being around father might be hard for you,” Catharina continued with a bittersweet smile. “But he’s gone now. Perhaps that can cheer you up.”

  “Really?” Viviene laughed. “He gave up on bringing Willem back into the fold? I hadn’t even noticed.”

  Catharina shook her head. “Godfried said he can’t justify staying away from the castle for so long. The king might take notice, if he hasn’t already.”

  “I hope the king does,” Viviene said with a smile, enjoying her thoroughly-stirred tea. “Anyway, why did you want tea with me?”

  Catharina stared into her own cup. “What do you think about an older person courting a younger one?”

  Viviene raised her good eye’s brow. “Is this about you and Count Ventura? He’s… what, ten years older? I’ve seen worse in arranged marriages like yours. My cousin married some sixty-year-old.” She sipped her tea, then added, “They die quicker, on the bright side.”

  “What about an older woman and a younger man?” Catharina pushed. “What if, for example, your cousin was male, and had married a sixty-year-old woman?”

  “That…” Viviene laughed heartily at the picture. “…would be rather amusing.”

  “And what if your male cousin was the one who actually wanted it, who was pursuing it?” Catharina continued quickly.

  Viviene laughed harder. “I didn’t think a few years in this dingy port city would make you have such amusing notions, Catharina. Were you always this imaginative?”

  “I really need advice, mom.” Catharina rubbed her temples. “What if this wasn’t a ‘what if?’ What if the woman in question was a wealthy, incredibly kind widow that I know?”

  “Mmm…” Viviene couldn’t restrain her laughter. “What if he’s a serial seducer, Catharina? What if he seduces old widows, marries them, and then waits for them to perish before moving on to the next? Oh, the horror… what if he comes for me some day?”

  “Comes for you?” Catharina grew deathly pale, staring into her tea cup without saying a word. The sight of it only made Viviene laugh even harder.

  “Sweetie, you read far too many books.” Viviene shook her head with a sigh, unwinding from the laughter. “The only men I’ve met that are willing to settle for old women are typically old men themselves, and that means they’re either decent or incapable of getting a young one. It’s usually the latter.”

  “And what if it’s really love?”

  Viviene giggled with glee at the notion. “Well, sweetheart… he sounds like a fairytale prince. The young men I’ve met are all very concerned with appearance. Anyone who can overlook a wrinkled face and sagging breasts would be a man among men.” She tapped the mask covering her face. “Since I put on this mask, the number of times I’ve been called ‘Belle of the Blade’ had dropped to near zero. I lost my skill and looks in one fell swoop, and I’m too old to have children. Consequently, I lost all of my value as a partner. You don’t see me swamped with marriage proposals, despite my wealth.”

  “Still…” Catharina looked uncertain, turning her teacup about its saucer.

  Viviene leaned in. “Why not let it happen? It’d certainly be interesting. Usually you hear about old men taking young mistresses, but this? My, my… the eunuchs in Valdérie would have a lovely time with this story. Besides, if she’s a widow, her children—if any—have probably already inherited most of the family’s wealth. Succession is generally patrilineal, after all. What’s the big deal?”

  “You really think so?” Catharina almost looked persuaded.

  “Trust me.” Viviene picked up her teacup. “Go through with it. And keep me up to date, too.”