“There’s a pair of Astoblite ships in the harbor. Maybe they’ve already invaded.”

Vree frowned at the two vessels tied side by side at the north pier. “In those? They’re probably small traders delivering exotic wines and…” Her frown deepened. Born in barracks and having spent her entire twenty years in the army, she was ill equipped to come up with another exotic example.

“Perfumed oils,” Bannon offered when it became obvious she wasn’t going to fill in the blank.

“You’re fixating on those full body rubs, aren’t you?”

“I hear they’re very good for working knots out of stiff muscles,” he said cheerfully as they started walking again. “We can’t do our job if we’re all knotted up.”

“You can’t do your job if you’re lying naked on a slab.”

“You’d be amazed at what I can do lying naked on a slab.”

“I’m not that easily amazed,” she snorted, hip checked him, and snickered when he had to dance to miss a pile of horse shit on the road.

The South Reaches had no walls and no gates, but at the edge of town the Shore Road passed between two pairs of heavily muscled young men in black uniform kilts and tunics. “The governor’s guard,” Vree murmured as they approached.

“Think they can use any of that hardware?” Bannon asked at the same volume.

All four carried short swords in black-and-silver sheaths and two daggers, one on their belts and one sheathed at the edge of their black greaves. Their collective size was impressive and drew many admiring glances from other, less discerning, travelers. They made Bannon, who was taller than Vree by almost a head, look scrawny.

Everyone else on the road had passed unchallenged, but a massive hand beckoned the siblings over to the east-side guard post. Since there was no easy way to tell what they were, Vree wondered if the guards were more perceptive than seemed possible and had realized they were a threat or if they were about to indulge in a little soldier baiting. She was betting on the latter and figured it was pretty much a sucker bet.

“So, what have we here?” The guard who spoke had the smug, self-satisfied air of a bully who’d aged easily into a brute. He waited until the other two guards crossed the road to join the huddle before continuing. “It seems we’ve stopped a couple of the Empire’s brave soldiers. Looks like they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, don’t it?”

His crew laughed.

“You two do a little looting and then decide to grace the South Reaches with your ill-gotten gold?”

“Actually, we spent all our ill-gotten gold on a couple of magic beans that turned out to be total crap.” Bannon grinned at the glowering faces. “We’re just here on leave.”

“This is an expensive place. Let’s see your coin.” The leader poked a sausage-sized finger at Bannon’s shoulder and missed by a hair’s breadth. Which was exactly how far Bannon had moved.

“No coin,” he said, still grinning. “Just a letter of credit from our marshal.”

At Bannon’s gesture, Vree pulled the letter from her belt pouch and handed it over. She wasn’t worried about it being destroyed, since she had every confidence in being able to take it from the big man’s hand if he made the attempt. Of course, he wouldn’t survive the attempt, so she hoped he was smarter than he looked.

He scowled at the piece of vellum, lips moving as he puzzled out the larger words. “Why would you two skinny grunts rate a letter of credit?” he demanded when he finished.

“Services rendered. At the battle of Bonkeep the two of us were personally responsible for the deaths of the enemy commander and his entire staff.”

“Yeah. Right.” But his gaze kept dropping to the letter. “Reeno, search their bags.”

They were carrying the bare essentials, the sorts of things any soldier on leave would carry. When Reeno got a little rough with her kit, Vree murmured, “Gently,” at him and, when he looked up, she smiled.

She caught her bag before it hit the road and didn’t bother correcting him when he pretended he’d thrown it there on purpose. After all, from a distance “thrown there on purpose” looked very much like “dropped from nerveless fingers.”

“There’s nothing, Orin.” Reeno barely looked in Bannon’s bag before giving it back. “Just, you know, clothes and stuff.”

“No weapons?”

“Their daggers…”

“I can see that!” Orin glared at Reeno and then at them. “Letter of credit, eh? Maybe someone who deserves this ought to use it.”

“You’ll have to kill us to keep it,” Bannon pointed out.

“Orin!” Reeno nodded toward the traffic still passing by on the road. Toward witnesses.

Orin pretended to crumple the letter up, but when neither Vree nor Bannon reacted, he thrust it back at Bannon. Vree hid a grin at his expression when he crushed air instead of Bannon’s hand. “I’ll be watching you.”

“Not a problem.”

“Not a problem?” Vree repeated as they moved out of eavesdropping range.

“Hey, at least I didn’t threaten young Reeno’s manhood.”

“All I did was smile at him.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“You told them that we were here as a reward for taking out an entire command staff.”

“We did.”

“But that’s not why we’re here.”

He patted her fondly on the arm. “You really suck at this lying thing, don’t you?”

“Forget it, Bannon.” Vree wrapped her hand around her brother’s arm and dragged him to a stop as he started up the broad front steps of the Cyprus Garden Inn. “We are not staying here.”

“Too small?” He frowned up at the pale pink walls and wide louvered windows thrown open to catch the late afternoon breeze. “I was hoping for cozy, but-hey-elegant’s fine if that’s what you want.”

“Don’t be such a slaughtering smart-ass. This…” She jerked her head toward the two story building, conscious that they were under scrutiny from the inn’s atrium. “…is too expensive.”

Bannon touched his belt pouch where the letter of credit had ended up. “We’re on the emperor’s coin, sister-mine. And besides,” he added before she could respond, “this place is used to soldiers who’ve had a run of luck. It’s where Shonna stayed.”

“You asked her?”

“I did. Now if you really want to stay in some bug-infested dive with sweet piss all in the way of…”

“Here’s fine.” Releasing his arm, she started up the steps. If it was good enough for Shonna, it was nothing more than they deserved.

“Still angry about her trying to gamble away your coin?” Bannon asked as he caught up.

“Sod off.” Of course she was. And he knew it. And that was why he’d brought them to this inn. She’d be upset about how easily he could read her except there wasn’t much point; a lifetime of training had all but taught them to think with one mind.

They had a pair of adjoining rooms at the back of the building, small but clean. Included was unlimited access to the hotel’s bathhouse and one meal each day of their stay.

“I like the sound of the bathhouse,” Vree admitted, going into her brother’s room. She’d already tested the strength of the balcony railing and noted all lines of sight to her window. “It’s hard to stay unnoticed when you stink of the road.”

Stripped down to his sling, Bannon stared up at her from his sprawl on the bed. “I stink of the road?”

“We stink of the road.”

“I just got comfortable.”

“There’ll be bath attendants.”

“Easy enough to get comfortable again.” He grinned as he stood and scooped up his kilt. “Lead the way, sister-mine. A bath, a meal, and visit to a carpet shop,” he continued as she led the way down the backstairs. “What more could a man want-except maybe a full body massage with scented oils.”

“We’re working.”

“Not exactly. Not yet.”

Her bath attendant was as taken with Bannon as his was.

“Your man is quite the flirt,” she sighed, absently passing Vree a soapy sponge.

“He’s not my man; he’s my brother and be my guest.”