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I, like a spider, watched in wait. They'll send more flies into my web. They always did.

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Feargus

Amalia still smelled like worms, even through the crate Councilwoman Faust stashed me in. Let's be honest: it wasn't the first time I'd had to skirt the Drop so that was business as usual, and so you know, it's the official reason why Strachan are small.

The Nav helped Councilwoman Faust unload me from the embark, though to be fair, the Councilwoman was probably strong enough to lift the embark itself, but it was nice of him. Shoddy knees are shoddy knees, and the woman was getting up there in years.

It wasn't long after the Councilwoman finished checking in at the Administrator's office that the man we were supposed to meet showed up. I couldn't get a good look at him through the crack in the crate, but he had a silky voice, and whatever relationship he had with Faust, they were on a first-name basis. She called him Alexander.

Anyhow, there was a bit of a logistics issue getting my crate into the wagon, but it was short-lived. I was looking proper forward to seeing Strauss, reckoned he was probably getting lonely. But it was the middle of the night, and we had somewhere to be beforehand. While we rode, the Councilwoman popped the top off my box, and I had a nap.

I'll spare you the conversation where I learned about the Anima. Reckon you've heard that about twelve times now, so you can imagine my reaction was probably similar to or a combination of any one of my mates' reactions. The important thing is, Alexander had a fully stocked bar. I sipped a drink he called a "Piglet" and then I sipped another one. Councilwoman Faust imbibed in a glass of wine, if you'd believe it. I'd never seen her so relaxed as she was with Alexander, so, I'm going to let you in on a secret. That's the point of this story, isn't it? Secrets, I've got lots.

Back in the day, Councilwoman Faust and Alexander were bumping uglies. Now, I don't know if they still were—but if they were, good for her. Faust's partner died not long after they had their only kid thirty-some years before. A tumble down the stairs in the Amali spire, of all things. His death was a big deal, because unlike many of the Assembly who'd pick the most powerful or best looking Partisan out of the lot and breed with them, Councilwoman Faust and her husband were bound. From what I understand, they actually liked each other. According to the other Amali, she was never the same after that.

"More than keeping him alive, I need you to test his patience," Faust said.

Is that so? I sipped my Pig. "Tell me more."

"His patience, initiative, reasoning, social ability, and so forth."

It wasn't my job to ask why, but I usually did because sometimes they actually answered. "Why?"

"Because we believe you, and Rhian Sinclair, are exactly what our efforts need to succeed on the outside, and you will need others, like Andrei Strauss—people you trust, who trust you, and who can be relied on. But Andrei is…"

"Green," I finished.

"And if he hasn't come as far as I believe he has," Faust continued, "then it won't work. We've tried this before, Feargus. There's always someone: who can't handle it, whose mind shatters, who betrays, who becomes power-hungry, who becomes a monster."

Alexander raised his thick, bushy brows. The man was smoldering, let me tell you. But he nodded like he'd seen it all before.

"And that's not been our biggest hurdle," the Councilwoman continued. "Most give up. The final straw, and they run. But Rhian Sinclair is…"

"The most stubborn person in the world," I finished.

"Determined." Councilwoman Faust sipped her wine.

"No offense, but what makes you think she'll even be on board with you lot after everything you've put her through?"

"Because she will have been right, and who doesn't like being right? Besides—there'll be the opportunity to help many people, and she corks a bleeding heart. She can't help herself."

True stories. "So, why can't we tell Strauss about the Anima?"

"It'll only trigger his anxiety while you help him along on his quest. If he succeeds, he'll discover on his own, and it will all feel inevitable. The Anima should leave him and any one of you alone until you start poking into their business. For now, we control the variables."

Alexander nodded. "The other Anima tend to prefer their easier, more predictable targets. And I will do what I can to keep my sister under control in the meantime."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Your sister?" I asked.

Alexander sighed and gestured to the painting over the fireplace. It was of a brunette, about sixteen, maybe seventeen. She had the most interesting amber eyes, and her chin-length hair was trimmed short above her eyebrows. She was smiling.

"She seems nice," I said.

"Lidia is incredibly dangerous," Alexander answered. "But she has a fondness for priests. She won't hurt him—not yet."

I dumped the Piglet down my throat. I really should have pushed for fifty per cent. I didn't like the idea of messing with my friend—wait, who am I kidding? I loved the idea of messing with my friend. This was the greatest job I'd ever been assigned. And, at the same time, mine and Rhian's dreams were coming true. By the sounds of things, we'd get to flip Palisade the big bird in a big way.

So, Councilwoman Faust and I got sloshed. A class act, that one. She told me Councilwoman Blanchett only eats six almonds for breakfast, and that one time they only had five, so she sent Partisan in charge of the kitchen to solitaire for a week.

Alexander puffed on a pipe. He couldn't drink, so the night was probably a lot less interesting for him than it was for us. Councilwoman Faust cracked open her second bottle of wine, and I'd just finished my fifth Pig. Sprawled on the couch, I wondered:

"What's her problem, anyhow?"

Faust sighed, slouched in the wing-back. "It's not her fault, but—it is. She's a grown woman capable of looking in a mirror, and yet—she is the product of a long line of ambitious but decidedly incompetent egoists. It's a wonder her children are such lovely people."

I'd seen them all around. Adair was mine and Rhian's age, then there was Adeline, and the youngest, Alice, who was only around three years old at the time. Being the Councilwoman's kids, they'd all been raised at Palisade. They all had different fathers, and only Alice's was still alive.

Aye. Secrets and gossip, it's what I'm good for, so strap in.

Oh, right.

We fell asleep in the library.

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Seeing them, not seeing me. Soon, it would begin. And I, like a hunter, ready to outfox the fox.

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Fun fact, Councilwoman Faust was in Amalia for much of our time dealing with the business in Oskari. There were a few exceptions, but aye, imagine that. For a while, she was staying at the estate with Alexander.

The next morning, I introduced myself to the butler, Peter, who hadn't been around the night before. Faust had said I should be using one of my aliases while in territory, and with anyone that wasn't her or Alexander. So, that's how the Mister Finnegan affair got started, and just so you know: Peter still thinks my name is Jack.

Over breakfast, Councilwoman Faust explained the last part of her plan for Andrei—to give him an old key and send him to Leberecht.

"What's the key for?"

"It matches the description in our artifact records for the key to the keyhole in the mountain."

"The what?"

"It's said to have been a property—well, one of a number of properties—belonging to the Vonsinfonie brothers."

"?" I said.

As far as I knew, the Vonsinfonie brothers were a pair of make-believe musicians who were said to have changed the world with their song. There were children's stories, fables, poems—pretty well any medium you could think of, but in none of them were they actually real. There wasn't ever any illusion of that. The stories were mostly uplifting, but in all of them, Sebastian dies at the end, and that was the reason for Sebastian's Law. It always did seem strange to me that we honoured a law dedicated to a couple of phony brothers, but I'd just assumed the story was created around the law instead of the other way around. You know, something to justify it to the people.

"The Vonsinfonie brothers are very much real," Faust clarified. "Though by all accounts, Sebastian is dead, and Zacharias hasn't been seen for centuries."

"So, he's—?"

"Well, if he isn't also dead, then yes, Zacharias is one of the Anima."

"No kidding." Was it too early for a Piglet?

Alexander said it wasn't too early for a Piglet, and he left to make me one.

"So, what's behind the door in the mountain, then?" I asked.

"I don't know." Faust fished the key out from her bag. "I've only just obtained the key myself. It was found on Andreas Strauss's body when he died, unbeknown to me until recently. It's been in Councilwoman Oranen's possession. I expect you to report back on his findings."

She didn't share how she got the key from Oranen and I didn't ask. Some things are better not knowing. "Aye, 'course."

Faust set me up with the permissions we'd need for getting into Leberecht—for me and for Strauss. Few folk on the outside ever got to see the city on the inside, and even fewer of those folk were Strachan. The Iron Hand had a pair in their service, but they were otherwise mainly Amali. I'd heard there were chocolate fountains.

I mean, I doubted it, but also—what if?

When Alexander returned with my Piglet, Faust was examining the key. He passed me my drink, and then stepped over beside her.

"I've seen that key before," he said.

"Where?" Faust asked.

"At the Widow's Peak. There's a portrait of Zacharias Vonsinfonie on the upper level. He wears the key around his neck."

So, that was interesting.

I ate my breakfast, drank the Pig, and Peter drove me and Faust to Oskari later that afternoon.

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The man in the box. The one in over his head. Where there are two there will be more. There always are.

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