Sudden Assault
Before leaving my office, Cecilia wrote three letters. They were brief.
Brothers. Come back now. Please—do not draw your swords first. Come to this address and meet me before you do anything else.
— Cecilia
I examined the envelope. “Will this be enough to bring them?”
Cecilia shook her head. “They won’t come.”
“Then what’s the plan?”
She produced three video orbs. “I’ll send these with the letters.”
“All of them? Isn’t that overkill?”
“Yes. Once they see everything, my brothers won’t be able to hold back.”
Her hand paused for a moment. She was right. Evidence can save a person, but it can just as easily destroy them.
I selected the scenes myself. The one for the eldest son. The one for the second. The one for the third. I trimmed them to show only what was necessary. The affairs would be visible, but not enough to shatter them. The family heirloom would appear, but not so blatantly that their blood would boil. The knighting ceremony would be seen, but not so vividly that they would immediately reach for their swords.
It was delicate work. Being a lawyer always is.
Cecilia looked at me. “Senior. What if my brothers draw their swords first? What do we do?”
“Then we lose.”
“Pardon?”
“If they kill anyone, it’s over. The other side becomes the victims.”
“Even those people?”
“In a courtroom, yes.”
Cecilia bit her lip. “Then I need to make sure I tell my brothers. Tell them not to kill anyone.”
I folded the envelopes and set them down. “That’s the most important part.”
Three days later, three ships flying the Valoa banner docked at the harbor. The fastest merchant vessels in the southern Empire—ships that cut through the sea like knives. Three men disembarked. The three sons of the Grand Duke Valoa entered my office.
The eldest clutched the letter in his hand. It was badly crumpled; he had gripped it with far too much force. The second son was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot. He clearly hadn’t slept. The third son said nothing at all. He looked the most dangerous.
The moment they saw Cecilia, they demanded, “Is this true?”
She couldn’t answer. So I did. “It is.”
The eldest turned to me. “You’re Calix?”
“Yes.”
“A lawyer?”
“More precisely, the Empire’s first divorce lawyer.”
He grabbed my collar. The movement was lightning fast. Sailors really do have powerful grips.
“You’re saying my wife did that? That my brothers’ wives did too?”
“Correct.”
His grip tightened. I calmly pressed two fingers against his wrist. “If you keep holding me, you won’t be able to see the evidence.”
A moment later he released me.
The second son shook his head violently. “No. There’s no way my wife would do something so filthy!”
I looked at him. “Don’t say that. I can’t believe it either.”
“Then let’s see the evidence first.”
Cecilia trembled slightly. “Senior…”
“It’s all right. They need to see it here.”
I placed the video orbs on the table. Not everything—just the critical sections. The three men fell silent. The eldest burned with rage, the second remained in denial, and the third grew even quieter. It was textbook. Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance.
Unfortunately, all three still had their hands on their swords. They needed more time to reach acceptance.
The eldest spoke in a low growl. “I’m going now.”
“Good,” I said. “But there are conditions.”
He snarled. “Conditions?”
“No one dies tonight.”
“Why? Are you mocking us?”
“Kill them and it’s murder. Leave them alive and they become evidence.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Murder means the three of you stand trial. Evidence means they do.”
The eldest’s hand froze. The second son stared at me. For the first time, the third son spoke. “Then what should we do?”
“Exactly what I tell you.”
The eldest ground his teeth. “Why should I listen to you?”
“Because right now you all want to kill your wives.”
“Yes.”
“I want to put those people on trial.”
“Is that better?”
“Far better. Death ends things instantly. A trial drags on.”
“Fine. But if you can’t finish it, you die.”
Two days later I stood before the Pearl Mansion. It perched on a cliff, silk banners snapping in the night wind. Light poured from every window. Music drifted all the way down the rocks. It was a beautiful villa.
The Grand Duke had come in full armor. A veteran past sixty, the plate alone must have weighed thirty kilos, yet his back remained perfectly straight on horseback. That was the mark of a true noble. My own father had none of it.
A hundred heavy cavalry blocked the cliff road.
The eldest gripped his sword hilt. “We go in now.”
“Not yet. Three minutes left.”
“What three minutes?”
“Until the perfect moment.”
His face twisted. “Lawyer. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to hold back right now?”
“I do. I’ve read thousands of similar cases at the academy.”
“Is this the same?”
“Close enough.”
He glared at me like he wanted to kill me. “You really are unlucky.”
“I hear that a lot.”
Laughter erupted inside the mansion—bright, carefree, obscene. The eldest’s eyes went dead. The second son lowered his head. The third tapped his scabbard with restless fingers.
I repeated, “No one is to be killed. I cannot stress this enough.”
The Grand Duke asked, “Injuring them?”
“If necessary, injure them enough that they cannot flee.”
“Reasonable.”
I liked the old man. I checked my watch. “Thirty seconds.”
The music swelled. Footsteps mingled with the sound of clinking glasses, laughter, and noises that might have been moans or screams.
I drew a slow breath. “Ten seconds.”
The eldest drew his sword. “Five.”
The second son closed his eyes. “Four.”
The third son pressed his lips into a thin line. “Three.”
The Grand Duke raised his blade. “Two.”
The cavalry held their breath. “One.”
I snapped my fingers. “Zero. Let’s go.”
The front gate exploded inward.
When people are caught in their sins, they fall into three categories: those who run, those who cry, and those who rage. The Pearl Mansion contained all three.
Some tried to leap from the windows. It was a cliff. Jumping meant death. Others wept. They would have been better off putting their clothes on first. Still others shouted, “Do you know where you are?”
I looked at the shouter. “This is the Pearl Mansion, property of the Grand Duke Valoa family.”
“And knowing that, you still dare break in?”
“That’s exactly why we’re here.”
The eldest stopped in the center of the hall. He had seen his wife. She wore the family heirloom necklace and almost nothing else. He dropped to his knees and vomited.
I tossed him a handkerchief. “Step aside, please. You’ll contaminate the evidence.”
He bared his teeth. “That bastard—”
“No. I can destroy him far more effectively.”
Still breathing hard, he asked, “With the law?”
“Yes.”
“Will it take long?”
“It will.”
“Good.” He stood. “Make them suffer for a long time.”
“That is the direction I intend to take.”
I clapped my hands. “Everyone freeze!”
No one froze.
The Grand Duke drove his sword into the floor. The boom silenced the entire hall.
I spoke again. “Everyone freeze. As of this moment, this mansion is an active crime scene.”
The second wife shrieked, “Who do you think you are?”
“A lawyer.”
“What authority does a lawyer have?”
“Your Grace, I request control of the heavy cavalry to preserve the scene.”
The Grand Duke answered curtly, “Granted.”
I turned to the cavalry. “Separate the three wives. Do not place them in the same room. Tie the wandering knights individually. Hands in front—do not cover their mouths.”
The eldest asked, “Why leave their mouths free?”
“They need to make mistakes. Secure the servants one by one. Do not intimidate them; simply prevent escape.”
The second son muttered, “I smell hallucinogens.”
“Excellent. Seal every bottle and glass. Do not touch them. Only two gloved servants may move.”
I summoned the chamberlain. “Bring me the Pearl Mansion visitor log. If you claim it doesn’t exist, you will be treated as an accomplice.”
“I’ll bring it at once!”
To another servant I said, “Bring all financial records—payments to the knights, to the bards, to the apothecary. Everything.”
“I know nothing about that.”
“People who know nothing rarely answer so quickly.”
The servant’s face went white. “I’ll fetch them.”
“Good.”
I approached Cecilia. “The originals?”
She answered in a small voice, “Behind the bedroom closet. A servant hid them there.”
“Lead me.”
We found five orbs inside an old perfume box. Not excerpts—the originals. I took out a magical sealing sheet. The spell affixed itself to the spheres.
“Originals secured.”
Cecilia exhaled. “Is it over?”
“No.”
I looked deeper into the room. A treasured sword lay on the table, still sheathed. The wandering knight had not been wearing it. I stopped in front of the blade. The Grand Duke followed me in.
“Were those bastards carrying this?”
“No.”
He looked at me. “The sword was not simply handed over.”
“Correct. It was used—to create the appearance that authority had been granted.”
The Grand Duke’s eyes turned to ice. “Speak plainly.”
“It means they impersonated the head of the family.”
The air in the room froze.
“My authority? In my own house?”
“Yes.”
“My own daughter-in-law?”
“You understand quickly.”
The Grand Duke laughed. It was not laughter. It was the sound a blade makes the instant before it touches a throat.
“Lawyer. You said we must not kill them, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I understand a little better now.”
“Thank you.”
“We should keep them alive.”
“Because they must stand trial.”
The Grand Duke stared down at the sheathed sword in silence.
The three wives had been placed in separate rooms. I visited them one by one.
The first wife recovered her composure fastest. Shameless, as only a noble can be. “If it’s a divorce you want, we can arrange that.”
The second was much the same. “Compensation can be handled by our families.”
The third still didn’t grasp the situation. “What exactly do you plan to do to us over a little indiscretion?”
In the final room I lifted the sealed bottle of hallucinogen. Blue liquid swirled inside.
“We will grant the divorce.”
The third wife laughed. “Then it’s over.”
“No.” I raised the bottle to eye level. “This is only the beginning.”
I placed it inside the evidence box. The lock clicked shut—a clean, satisfying sound. The sound of a trial beginning.