Scavenge the Stars (Scavenge the Stars #1)(40)

“You smell like alcohol,” she said before he could greet her. “Good night, or rough night?”

Cayo thought back to the troubling events of the countess’s party, his encounter with Philip, saying good-bye to Sébastien. “Rough.”

“You’ll get no sympathy from me.” She leaned back and closed the file she’d been studying. “Although I hear you’ve reformed your ways since I last saw you. I’m sure your father is thrilled.” She grinned, but like her eyes, it held no warmth. “Then again, knowing him, he’s just found another thing to be disappointed in.”

Cayo couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh or sigh. Nawarak had always been like this, ever since they were children. She was the daughter of his mother’s best friend, and his mother had always called Nawarak his cousin despite the lack of blood connection. And, much like a cousin, Nawarak took pleasure in finding any opportunity to poke fun at him.

“I’m not here to listen to you trample on my character,” Cayo said.

“Then why are you here? And at the ass crack of dawn, no less?”

Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Cayo leaned forward and placed the black lump of the counterfeit coin before Nawarak. She lifted an eyebrow at it.

“Wonderful. I just cleaned my desk, but please, feel free to sully it again.”

“Do you know what it is?” he asked in a hushed voice.

She picked it up and inspected it. After a moment, she used her thumb to flip it up into the air and caught it.

“Counterfeit sena,” she said.

“Yes!” He gripped the armrests of his seat, leaning even closer. “And I can tell you where it came from: the Slum King.”

He held his breath, the weight of potential crushing his lungs. The potential to put an end to the Slum King’s reign and make sure that nobody else ended up like Bas. The potential to sever his engagement with Romara.

Then Nawarak shattered that potential with a laugh.

“Cayo, we already know.” She flipped the fake coin at him, and he fumbled to catch it. “We were on a lead with the case, but it’s been put on hold.”

“Put on hold? Why?”

“Ash fever.” Nawarak leaned back in her seat, looking tired. “Some of the officers have it, and two have already died. One of them was actually on the counterfeit case. About a third of us are looking into the origins of the fever, in the event this is some sort of pathogen-like weapon being wielded by the Rain or Sun Empire.”

A wave of cold swept through Cayo’s body. “Why would they attack us?”

“You know they hate each other.” She shrugged. “And they’ve been fighting over Moray for dozens of years. The city is a pawn to them.”

“But isn’t there a…whatever it’s called, a statement of neutrality?”

The Prince of Moray was often called a figurehead, although his family were the last remaining vestiges of Rehanese royalty. When Rehan became a republic, the family had been able to buy the colony of Moray from the Rain Empire on two conditions: that they demilitarize, and that they remain neutral between the empires. Naturally, the Sun Empire didn’t take kindly to this, and skirmishes had cropped up over the years.

But thanks to the prince, the casinos in Moray had flourished, bringing in enough money to rebuild the colony into a proper city-state. Over the last few years, though, Cayo had noticed wealthy citizens without business ties leaving Moray’s shores. Something had changed—the first cracks in the gilded facade of the city, a rot hidden under the cobblestone.

“Good to know you paid some attention during your home-schooling,” Nawarak drawled. “But neutrality means nothing when a multination world power wants control over the best trade routes.”

“So you think they’re preparing for another war?”

“I don’t know. All I can say is that we have more serious issues to face than some fake gold cycling through the gambling dens.”

Cayo looked down at the black disc in his hand. This small, worthless thing had cost Sébastien his eyes. Had driven him to pain and fear and suffering, and now self-imposed exile.

“What if I help with the case?” he asked. “I have plenty of contacts in the Vice Sector, including the Slum King himself.”

Nawarak tried to hide her surprise. “You fancy yourself a for-hire detective?”

“Maybe not that, but someone who’s invested and wants to bring Salvador down. Also…if I bring you information, I want to be compensated for it. Like a reward.” Enough to buy Soria’s medicine.

She stared at him in confusion, but eventually she shook her head. “Well, who am I to dissuade you from community service? Just don’t, you know, kill anyone in the name of the law or something equally ludicrous.”

“I’ll try my best.” Already his mind was racing with ways he could find dirt on the Slum King. “Do you have any leads for where I can start? Something the officers may have found before putting the case on hold?”

“I don’t have access to that information, but my best guess would be to find any sailor who’s spent a long time at sea and made port within the last few months.”

“That certainly narrows it down, thank you.”

She gave him her sharp grin again. “Hey, it’s all part of the job when you’re a for-hire detective.”