All useful information. None of it urgent.
Then she reached the final page:
INTELLIGENCE COMPROMISE - PRIORITY
One of your household staff is providing information to external parties.
Subject: Female, mid-twenties, access to your personal schedule and private docunts.
Recipient: Unknown party in the capital. ssages sent via comrcial courier, frequency: twice weekly.
Content: Your daily activities, business operations, financial status, security arrangents.
Confidence level: 87%*
*Recomndation: Imdiate investigation and removal.*
Elara read the paragraph three tis.
A spy. In her household.
Female, mid-twenties, access to private docunts and schedule.
That described exactly three people: Mira, one of the junior clerks, and Lisa.
Mira had been with her for three months. Thoroughly vetted. Gregor had checked her background personally, and her work had been impeccable. Low probability.
The junior clerk was new, barely two weeks. No access to sensitive information yet. Possible but unlikely.
Lisa.
Lisa, who’d been with her since the capital. Who’d followed her to Port Crestfall. Who knew everything—her schedule, her plans, her vulnerabilities. Who had access to her private office, her docunts, her correspondence.
Lisa, who’d seed genuinely loyal.
Elara set down the report and stared at the ceiling.
She didn’t feel betrayed. Didn’t feel hurt. Those would be normal emotional responses, but she didn’t have normal emotional responses.
She felt... inconvenienced.
A trusted asset had beco a liability. The efficiency of her operation had been compromised. Information she’d assud was secure had been leaking to unknown parties for unknown duration.
Problem. Solution required.
She needed confirmation first. The Shadow Guild was reliable, but 87% confidence wasn’t certainty. Acting on incomplete information would be inefficient.
Elara pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began writing.
---
That evening, she called Lisa to her office.
"Your Highness?" Lisa entered, carrying the usual evening reports.
"Sit," Elara said.
Lisa sat, looking slightly puzzled. Elara usually reviewed reports standing or while working on sothing else. Dedicated sitting ant important conversation.
"I need you to deliver sothing to the capital," Elara said, pulling out a sealed envelope. "Tomorrow morning. Personal courier. Don’t send it through comrcial channels."
Lisa took the envelope carefully. "Of course, Your Highness. What is it?"
"Financial docunts for the imperial treasury. They’re requesting updated records of my Port Crestfall operations." Elara’s voice was calm, factual. "It’s ti-sensitive. I need it delivered directly to the treasury office within three days."
"I’ll arrange it imdiately, Your Highness."
"Good. Also—" Elara pulled out another docunt. "—this is the revised schedule for next week. Several etings have changed. Make sure the updated version is posted where relevant staff can see it."
Lisa scanned the schedule. "Your Highness, this shows you visiting the eastern docks on the fifteenth. That’s usually when you review the supermarket’s weekly reports."
"The eting moved," Elara said. "rchant guild requested earlier timing. I’m accommodating them."
"Of course." Lisa made a note. "I’ll update the records."
"Thank you. That’s all."
Lisa stood, bowed, and left with both docunts.
Elara waited thirty seconds, then stood and walked to the window.
Below, she could see Lisa crossing the courtyard toward her quarters. Normal movents. Nothing suspicious.
The envelope Lisa carried was empty. Just blank paper sealed with wax.
The schedule was fabricated. Elara had no eastern docks eting on the fifteenth.
Both were bait.
If Lisa was the spy, she’d try to send both pieces of "information" to the capital. The empty envelope would be obvious fabrication if opened. The fake schedule would reveal itself when no eting actually occurred.
And the Shadow Guild would be watching to see if and how Lisa tried to pass either piece of information along.
Elara had set the trap. Now she waited.
---
Two days later, the Shadow Guild sent confirmation.
*Subject observed visiting comrcial courier office yesterday evening. Sent package to capital address. Paid premium for fast delivery.*
*Subject also sent coded ssage via dead drop in market district this morning. ssage retrieved by unknown party one hour later.*
*Content of ssage unknown, but timing correlates with docunts you provided to subject.*
*Confidence level: 99%*
*Recomndation: Imdiate action.*
Elara read the report in her office, alone.
99% confidence. Essentially certain.
Lisa was the spy.
She set down the paper and processed the information systematically.
Lisa had been feeding information to soone in the capital for an unknown duration. Probably weeks. Possibly since they’d arrived in Port Crestfall.
Every schedule. Every plan. Every weakness. Every financial detail.
All compromised.
The assassination attempts made more sense now. The attackers had known exactly when to strike, where Elara would be vulnerable, which routes she traveled.
Because Lisa had told them.
Elara stood and walked to her door, opening it. The fox knight was on duty outside.
"Bring Lisa here," she said quietly. "Don’t explain why. Just bring her."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Five minutes later, Lisa entered the office, looking confused. "Your Highness? Did you need sothing?"
Elara gestured to the chair. "Sit."
Lisa sat. Her expression showed concern, not guilt. Either she was very good at acting, or she genuinely didn’t know she’d been discovered.
Elara pulled out the Shadow Guild report and set it on the desk between them.
"Read that," she said.
Lisa picked it up. Her eyes moved across the text. Elara watched her face carefully, cataloging micro-expressions.
Confusion. Then comprehension. Then fear.
The paper trembled in Lisa’s hands.
"Your Highness, I—" she started.
"Don’t lie," Elara interrupted. "The evidence is docunted. You’ve been sending information to the capital twice weekly. You used the comrcial courier office on Market Street. You have a dead drop in the eastern market. The Shadow Guild has been watching you for two days."
Lisa’s face crumpled. Not defiance. Surrender.
"I’m sorry," she whispered.
"Why?"
"They threatened my family." Lisa’s voice broke. "My sister, my mother. They said if I didn’t send reports, they’d—" She couldn’t finish.
"Who threatened them?"
"I don’t know. I never t them directly. Just received instructions and threats through ssages." Lisa set down the report with shaking hands. "I’m sorry, Your Highness. I didn’t want to—I tried to send useless information at first, but they knew, they said they’d know if I lied—"
"How long?"
"Since... since the capital. Before we left." Lisa’s voice was barely audible. "They approached a week before your departure. Said they needed soone to watch you, report back. I refused. Then they showed a letter with my sister’s handwriting, and..." She trailed off.
Since the capital. Before they’d even left.
Soone had planted Lisa as a spy before Elara had even decided to leave. Which ant soone had anticipated her departure or had been monitoring her closely enough to react quickly.
"Who did you report to?" Elara asked.
"I don’t know. I left ssages at the dead drop. Soone collected them. I never saw who."
"What did you tell them?"
"Everything." Lisa was crying now, quiet tears running down her face. "Your schedule. Your plans. Who you t with. What you bought. Where you went. Everything."
Elara processed this. Complete intelligence compromise. Months of leaked information.
"The assassination attempts," she said. "Did you know about those?"
Lisa looked up, horror on her face. "No! I swear, Your Highness, I didn’t know they were trying to kill you. I thought—I thought they just wanted information, I thought maybe it was political, keeping track of you for the Emperor or—" She broke down completely. "I didn’t know. If I’d known, I would have—I don’t know what I would have done, but I never wanted you hurt, I never—"
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