Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 4)

(The fun thing is that he's still super hungry but he doesn't know he can sit at hearths now and hang out with people)

"She did. You've got dangerous enemies, if that's to be believed." Gaius paused. "We could be loosely considered to be brothers in-law, I think. We're both uncles to Ky, now. Should you need shelter or an alleviation of the threat, I could try to work something out."

“I do appreciate that,” Zander said, inclining his head. He hesitated. He certainly wasn’t going to offer what he did, but, “If there’s particular information you need, I could try to help you find it out. I’ve got a rather large network.”

"I appreciate that greatly; I expect I'll take you up on that offer quite soon, if you have any information regarding Ithicus Tarr."

“Oh, that little fuckhead,” Zander muttered. “Yeah. I know about him. People are throwing themselves at him left and right. From what I hear he’s paying whatever you claim you’re worth, without checking if you actually are or not. “I can get names, if that’s helpful? It’ll take me a few weeks, but I can do it.”

"Thank you. I believe I'm about to go to war with him on my niece's behalf, so I need to gather intelligence quickly." And hopefully some of that would be enough to end that mongrel for good.

“…different niece?” He nodded towards the office. This was about to get a hell of a lot more interesting if he needed to bring an entire House to its knees to keep her safe.

"Lyra. The tall, serious one with the lighter brown hair. She was his bride three months ago, but Tomhas took her home last month."

Zander cringed. Why the fuck would Tomhas have agreed to marry his own daughter off to a man like Tarr? He had a flutter of doubt now about whether he approved of this adoption after all. If he’d sell his biological daughter off to the highest bidder, what would he do to his adopted one?

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, keeping all those judgments to himself. He’d be watching Tomhas far more closely now, though. “Sounds like a wildly unfortunate situation on all accounts.”

"I'm at fault, partially. Tomhas was afraid of what I might do if I won the war, so he..." Gaius gestured. "I didn't approve of that at all. I should have ended the war the moment it happened, but I pursued it and now she's been hurt. This is my way of rectifying that mistake."

“I’ll help however I can,” Zander said with a nod.

"I thank you for that." Gaius sighed and looked towards the office door. "This is not what I imagined this month would be like, two months ago. Funny how quickly things change." He blinked, remembering Pratik. "What do you know of a Pratik Chrenko?"

Zander’s gaze snapped up. Goddamn was he going to have to go after him, too? That wasn’t a battle he wanted to pick in this lifetime or the next. “He is trouble. Has he aligned with Tarr? I heard he was up this way but I don’t know who he picked.”

"He's aligned with me, actually. Do elaborate; how is he trouble?"

“Oh.” Zander leaned back in his chair. “In that case, no trouble at all. He sees a job all the way through — won’t be swayed by a higher offer to turn on you. And he’ll keep his word to you. There are some things he won’t do, but he’ll tell you that to your face.” Zander scratched the back of his neck, thinking. “But I’d count it good fortune indeed that he aligned with you. He is good. If I had one man in this world I don’t want to go up against, it’d be him… I mean, I would, if I had to. Don’t get me wrong. But I wouldn’t be happy about it and I might not walk away from it. He’s a force to be reckoned with no doubt.”

"I'm very glad to hear that." Gaius relaxed. "He seemed an honorable sort of person when I met him, and moral as well. I almost feel bad for what I put him through." Scratch that; he did feel bad. Slavery wasn't a joke. Provided Pratik made it back to Serpent Keep, he would be in a real state, as would the Seer. And the poetry reading hadn't been particularly kind of him, either.