Shield's Lady

carefully.
    “What will you do if the academy is not willing to relent?” he asked.
    Her smile vanished into a rather grim line. “Then I’ll be trapped here in Serendipity. I have thought about it a great deal and I’ve decided Etion Rakken is right. It would be better to stay here if I can’t take my rightful place back home.”
    “This Rakken,” Gryph said, “he’s already made such a decision for himself?”
    Sariana nodded. “He has resigned himself to his exile. He is very successful here and he takes what consolation and satisfaction he can from that. If I am forced to stay, I’ll probably marry him.”
    Gryph reached out reflexively with his free hand and snagged a huge whispflower. His fingers closed around it, plucking it from its stem and crushing it into a pulpy mass in the blink of an eye. Sariana stared in shock.
    “What are you doing? Those are Lady Avylyn’s prize whispflowers! She’s planning to enter them in an exhibition next week.”
    Gryph opened his hand and looked down at the smashed petals. “Accidents will happen.”
    “That was no accident. You did that deliberately,” Sariana accused.
    Gryph shoved the evidence into his jacket pocket. “Maybe Lady Avylyn won’t notice if one of her precious flowers is missing.”
    “If she does notice, I’m certainly going to tell her who is responsible,” Sariana threatened.
    Gryph laughed softly. “Little tattletale. You’d inform on me?”
    “In a flash.”
    He shook his head, still grinning. “What? No loyalty at all to your poor, underpaid employee?”
    “What has my poor, underpaid employee accomplished since he started this job?” she demanded.
    Gryph was slightly taken back by the way she had switched the topic. “As a matter of fact, I’ve subcontracted out some work to an informer. A man named Brinton. He’s one of those very useful people who knows every back alley in Serendipity. And he makes a living selling information to those who are willing to pay to know some of the things that go on in these alleys.”
    “A clanless man?” Sariana asked, obviously appalled. “A criminal?”
    “Not everyone has the advantages of belonging to a respectable clan, Sariana. In spite of the social philosophers’ fine plans, society is a long way from being perfectly structured. Here in the west the rules get bent a lot. You know that. I doubt we’re all that unique. Don’t you have any clanless people in the eastern provinces?”
    “Well, yes, but to actually deal with such a person. . . “
    “You’re not dealing with him. I am. To tell you the truth, Brinton’s not such a bad sort. His information is usually highly reliable. If a rival clan hired someone to steal the Avylyns’ prisma cutter, the chances are good one of Brinton’s many sources will have heard some rumors to that effect.”
    “I don’t like it,” Sariana stated.
    “You don’t have to like it or dislike it. It’s done.”
    She chewed on that for a moment. “When will you hear from this Brinton?” she finally asked.
    Gryph smiled grimly. “I’m glad you have enough common sense to be able to accept the inevitable. At heart you’re a practical woman. That’s a useful trait. As far as your question goes, I’m not sure when I’ll hear from Brinton. He does things in his own way and in his own time. It shouldn’t take him long to find out if there are any rumors going around about the cutter, though.”
    “I’d like to get this matter settled as soon as possible.”
    “I’m aware of that fact, lady. But you’re going to have to be patient.” Gryph paused until he had her full attention. “Unless you’d like to fire me and continue the investigation yourself?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. I wouldn’t know how to conduct such an investigation and I can hardly go to the town guards with this.”
    “Not if you want to keep the matter quiet,” Gryph agreed blandly.
    Silence settled on Sariana for a long moment. Gryph could practically hear the thoughts churning in her head. But when she spoke she surprised him with her question.
    “Why did Lady Avylyn address you as Lord Chassyn the other morning in my office?”
    “The title is mine by right. I’m a direct descendant of a Prime Family of the Shield class. Our class may be an insignificant one in your eyes, with no equivalent in the east, but it is a legitimate class here in the west.”
    She looked at him curiously. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
    “Didn’t you?”