“I am not a thief, and my business will be conducted per my guidelines,” Rezkin declared. “If your men lack honor, then they will conduct business under my honor, and you will make sure my honor is preserved. A prosperous economy is dependent upon the men and women who produce goods and services. I will not have them hindered. A prosperous economy means more business being conducted, more deals being made, more goods being moved, more luxuries being purchased, and more scandalous behavior among happy and celebratory socialites. Overall, this means generous profits for the guild.”

The second raised his brows. “You are thinking long term,” he observed. “What is this plan?”

“Foremost, your primary acquisitions are no longer liquid assets,” Rezkin said.

“You are saying the thieves’ guild will not be stealing?” Adsden asked with a slight chuckle. The usurper did not smile. In fact, Adsden did not think the young man’s facial expression had changed even once during the entire visit—not even when he slaughtered the old guildmaster. The thought was sobering.

“I did not say that. I said only that your primary acquisitions would not be material goods. Instead, you will collect information. Information is far more valuable, particularly in the long run. If you break into an estate and steal goods, you only have the income from the black market sale of the goods. If you steal information, particularly information that others would prefer to keep hidden, you may profit indefinitely.”

Adsden smiled broadly. “You mean blackmail.”

Rezkin nodded. “In part. Of course, knowing about affairs, illegitimate children, and murder plots is profitable, but much of the information I require will not lend itself to blackmail. It may, however, reveal trade deals, pending contracts, merchant price manipulation, and economic engineering. Even potential marriages, foreknowledge of council votes or a particular lord’s wine preference may prove advantageous to someone who knows how to put the knowledge to use.”

The second’s brows rose in surprise. “You want a guild of common thieves to become spies?”

“Of course. In the eyes of the affluent, common folk are incapable of organized, long-term economic, political, and sociological manipulation. If a spy is discovered in a noble house, for example, the residents will never suspect the spy of belonging to a larger independent network. They will assume the spy is simply collecting a few extra coins from some other house. Every house has spies in the other houses. It is expected. They all know it occurs, and they usually attempt to discover the spies and feed them misinformation or simply dismiss them. The Serpents will be especially well suited to this task. With your invasion Skills, you can enter places that are not meant to be breached without being seen.”