“An exorbitant amount,” he said, raking a large hand through his hair in a frustrated motion that would account for how messy it’d looked earlier. “I’ve just come from my club. Markham was stripped of his property by Lord Canning himself and discharged with disgrace. He was accused of conduct unbecoming an officer under court-martial and found guilty by the viceroy for levying his own taxes on the locals and running a smuggling ring.”

“Good heavens,” Sarani whispered.

“He has a mountain of debt, which means he’s desperate—at least enough to threaten a peer with extortion.”

“Will you pay him?”

“No,” Rhystan said, causing her heart to tumble to her feet. “Scum like him can’t be stopped. He’ll just keep coming back for more.” He paused, seeing the distressed expression on her face. “Do you trust me, Sarani?”

They were the same words he’d said to her a lifetime ago in Joor.

Sarani stared at him, seeing nothing but sincerity in those steel-blue eyes. She sucked in a breath, searching them. He held her fate in his palm.

“I do.”

Twenty-Two

The first part of his plan required a bit of stalling on Rhystan’s part. He accomplished that by having Longacre deliver an official letter from the bank to Markham’s rented apartments, stating that the requested funds would take some time to gather. A week was the best he could stretch it to without making the man suspicious, but he was leaning on the fact that the disgraced vice admiral needed the money.

The second part required more finesse. Finesse because Rhystan wanted nothing more than to beat the man to a bloody pulp for daring to blackmail him. But he needed something on Markham—something that would make the bastard sweat. In the meantime, he’d directed Longacre to pay off Markham’s creditors and consolidate his debt.

From what Gideon had dug up, the man had a reputation for being a swindler, and he had a number of enemies. Someone would want his pound of flesh, and Rhystan was prepared to supply it. Unless, of course, Markham agreed to stand down. The duke would deal with Talbot summarily, too, but that was for later.

An eye for a fucking eye.

He stared at Sarani, who had insisted on joining him at the Green Stag where he was meeting Gideon for an update on Markham’s enemies. She caught his look across the wooden table and sent him a jaunty grin over her mug of ale.