At the Queen_s command

"I would be more inclined to believe you if you were not clearly so pleased with the situation."

Nathaniel grinned. "I might be taking some satisfaction in it."

"And on this matter you and I need to discuss?"

The woodsman frowned. "'Pears the Count got some notions in his head about Rachel and me. More than gossip notions."

"That would be because I told him about you after he asked."

Nathaniel's rifle rested easily in folded arms. "I'll grant you got spine to just up and say it that way. Said anything else, I'd a-thumped you."

The Prince opened his hands. "Nathaniel, you told me of your situation in confidence, and I do respect that."

"But you thought sharing it with the Count was just fine and dandy?" Anger gathered on Nathaniel's face.

Vlad did not back down. "I employ you as my agent. I am responsible for you. I am responsible for your actions. What you told me was told in confidence, because you trusted me. You trusted me not to hurt you, and I have not. The Count has his duties, and they require him to trust you, too. He could only do that if I disclosed things that would counteract any gossip he heard about you."

Nathaniel shook his head. "How do you know you can trust him?"

"Does he seem like the sort of man to gossip about another man's affairs?"

"Hain't seen nothing to suggest he is, but he could be fooling you and me."

"He could, but he knows the worth of a man. And he knows two things about you. One, I value you as the best woodsman in Mystria. Second, he knows that if social opprobrium was something you cared about, you would never go near Temperance again."

"You still oughtened to have said nothing."

Vlad blinked. "Do you think he could not have learned everything?"

"Not the truth of it."

"But close enough that he, being clever, could have figured it out." Vlad started ticking points off on his fingers. "Rachel Warren has two children. Ason, six, Humble Warren, who looks nothing like his father and a daughter, three, Charity, who, poor thing, looks too much like her father. Her husband has hired people to watch you and watch his wife. He cannot prove anything, but there's scant few people in Temperance who aren't certain what is happening."

Nathaniel ran a hand over his mouth. "I reckon what you say is true and all, but you oughtened not to have said nothing."

"I am sorry I broke your confidence, Nathaniel. I would not have done so if matters of very great import did not hinge on it." The Prince squeezed the other man's shoulder. "One thing you may not understand is that most people who hear the stories don't think badly of you. They know what happened. If Zachariah Warren was shot dead in the middle of Sunday services, half the congregation would claim not to have seen anything, and the rest wouldn't agree on what had happened."

Nathaniel shook his head. "I wouldn't never murder him."

"I know." The Prince nodded solemnly. He believed Nathaniel, and even believed that Nathaniel believed his words, but then Nathaniel didn't know of the Prince's other violation of trust. Four years earlier, when Nathaniel and Kamiskwa had been out on a hunting expedition, word had come that Zachariah Warren, in a drunken rage, had beaten his wife and exerted his marital rights. Vlad had bought the silence of the two female servants in the Warren house and had sent them to his mother's plantation in Fairlee.

He also summoned Zachariah Warren to Government House and explained very carefully how, if he ever hit his wife again, his business would burn to the ground. The Prince informed him that no bank in Norisle would ever again grant him any sort of credit, and the Prince would see to it that he was driven into utter ruin. Vlad had assured him that the only way he would be able to care for his family was to kill himself so they could be awarded a private pension for widows and orphans.

Warren had blustered, claiming he had every right to use his wife as he desired. The Prince had countered that he would use his office to do to Warren whatever the merchant did to his wife. "Which do you wish to be happier, Mr. Warren-yourself or the Crown?"

After some deliberation, Warren saw the wisdom of Vlad's counsel.

Had Nathaniel ever learned what Warren had done, there would have been no stopping him from murder. The Prince valued the man too much to allow that to happen. If he ever learns I knew… It was a calculated risk keeping that secret from Nathaniel; but one the Prince had no choice but to make.

The Prince smiled. "I sometimes place too much importance on these affairs of state. Were I in Launston, I would be more used to them. And, truth be told, learning I am to wed is a bit confusing."

Nathaniel nodded, his anger apparently abated. "Packet boat got in with the tide. Had a letter from your father. The Princess asked to be allowed to bring it to you. Didn't figure it would hurt none."

"That's fine." Vlad smiled. It would doubtless be a letter of wise advice, urging calm, deliberation, and prayer. Always prayer. "Any other news?"