Gold by Lisette Marshall EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Lisette Marshall
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
‘Let me understand this correctly,’ Tamar said, rubbing her temples in a
helpless attempt to push back an emerging headache. Before her, every
single inch of her desk lay covered in parchment – crawling numbers and
endless lists. In the middle, most disconcerting of all, the copy of an
administrative report that had arrived from the Higher Riverlands this
morning. ‘According to Donovan’s official administration, this year’s
export of grain to the Empire is less than half of his export of last year?’
In one of the visitor’s chairs, Reziko nodded, a grim expression on his
weather-beaten face. Tamar glanced at the letter again.
‘Do we have any reason to assume his grain production might be lower
than in previous years?’
‘We did some quick calculations,’ Reziko said, his voice unusually curt
even though it retained its usual hoarse, nearly whispering tone. ‘If we
assume his kingdom’s own grain consumption has remained roughly equal,
his production would have to have decreased by about a third to justify this
apparent decrease in export. I haven’t found a single reason to assume
they’ve had such a dramatic year on their farms.’
‘And he hasn’t been selling more to the other kingdoms?’
‘Quite the opposite. He seems to have been importing slightly more from
us than in the last five years. I’m not sure about the Peaks and the Lower
Riverlands, but my sources in Copper Coast suggest he has definitely been
buying far more from them than in past years.’
‘Oh, gods,’ Tamar said.
Her Spymaster remained silent, his leathery face an impassive mask of
unpleasant conclusions. She rubbed her temples once again and repeated,
‘Gods.’
‘We may be misunderstanding the information, of course,’ Reziko added,
cautious as always. ‘But from what we’re seeing so far, it seems at least a
possibility…’
‘That he’s not actually executing the sanctions against the Empire that we
all agreed on,’ Tamar finished, closing her eyes. ‘Keeping his export taxes
low, and reporting a lower volume in order to pretend he did indeed raise
them despite the lower numbers in his tax administration.’
‘Yes.’
‘Who sent this letter exactly? One of his dukes, you said?’
Reziko coughed. ‘Kieran.’
‘Of Stormwall?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Well,’ Tamar muttered, opening her eyes again. Kieran of Stormwall –
the young duke who had, against all odds, led the army of the two
Riverlands kingdoms to victory at the last military confrontation with the
Taavi Empire. If Donovan was indeed keeping the door open for Maiva –
worse, if he was buying up grain from the other kingdoms to sell it to the
Empire without the agreed raise in prices – she could imagine Kieran
wouldn’t be thrilled about it.
‘He won’t be the only one unhappy about the situation, if this is indeed
what is going on,’ Reziko said. ‘Especially the older dukes – the ones who
remember how violent these conflicts became before we had the alliance
with the other kingdoms – they’ll be disgruntled about it.
For More Read Download This Book
EPUB