Yuze was bent over a pile of papers at his desk when she slipped inside. When the door clicked shut behind her, he looked up, immediately sliding a blank page over whatever he was working on.
Which stung.
Snake was his most loyal agent; there was no one he could trust more than her and yet he persisted in keeping her at arm's length.
Yuze gave her a small smile, strained at the edges. "Snake, why are you still up? You should rest while you can."
He was always so stressed, because he insisted on doing so much himself instead of sharing the work with a partner.
"I'll need to send you back out soon. Fox noticed a change in travel patterns for two of the larger tribes." He put his quill down and rubbed his temples. "It could be nothing, but we need to know for sure."
"Are you sure you don't need me here?" She glided closer, put that extra sway into her hips that always had her marks mesmerized. "Fox could go, and I could help you here."
Yuze blinked. "Help here?"
"With the Soliel's." She stopped at the edge of his desk. Eirian had been perched on it that night, far closer to him that Snake had ever dared.
Yuze sighed. "Gods, I don't even know where to start with them. I can't believe they just showed up. Eirian's furious."
For more reasons than he knew, Snake mused.
"They must have a good reason." Snake suggested. Did he want to know? The original requestor hadn't specified that they didn't want the information shared. The sea didn't generally care about anything but getting the information themselves. It made them a reliable customer and predictable.
And predictable people were controllable.
"We'll find out soon enough. Eirian went to talk to them after dinner."
"There are other ways to find out."
Yuze shook his head. "Waste of effort. They're not going to keep it a secret from Eirian."
And was Eirian was just going to tell them? Because she'd been here so long and they were all just so close.
The jealousy feels like poison in her veins. She'd thought she was above that kind of feeling, but apparently not.
"It might be good to hear it from someone else. Just in case…" She trailed off, waited for him to agree. "It's always important to have multiple sources to verify intelligence."
But Yuze didn't and something dark twisted in her.
He was so quick to trust this person he hadn't even known a few months ago. Wasn't even listening as she tried to offer him help, advice.
Fine.
If he didn't want her help, Snake wasn't going to throw herself on a sword.
Yuze would realize sooner or later that Snake the only one he could count on.
Maybe this would speed that up.
Hopefully, it would be after Yuze made a fatal mistake.
"Do you need any help?" She couldn't help but ask. One last chance for Yuze to fix himself.
But he shook his head instead. "Go get some rest."
***
In the ceiling of Yuze's office, Fox snorted softly.
Snake was being too obvious. Yuze may be oblivious, and by now Fox is convinced its partly on purpose, but he won't stay that way forever.
For a professional spy, Yuze has a soft heart that he's not all that great at hiding.
It makes him a good person but leaves him wide open for manipulation and attack.
Fox had honestly written him off years ago and was impressed Yuze had managed to outlast his expectations.
What was Snake doing spying on the Soliel's?
She was up to something. Fox hadn't bothered finding out what before, because Snake's romantic interest in Yuze had always kept her occupied and her loyalty mostly guaranteed.
But if she was doing something else…
Fox couldn't risk someone like Snake stumbling on his own project and based on the stiff posture that Yuze was missing, her inching closer and closer but stopping herself just out of reach, Snake's feelings for Yuze were starting to affect her judgement.
Snake was the type to find ways to make herself important and if she tried to impress Yuze…
He watched Snake storm out of Yuze's office and then crawled through the passageway and dropped into the hallway.
Snake made her way swiftly into the stairway and Fox cut down another hallway and another set of stairs to catch up to her on the servant's level.
She'd grabbed a cloak somewhere along the way and made her way out of the castle through a servant's entrance.
Fox crept along at a distance, heart pounding with the awareness that Snake was nearly as experienced as a spy as he was. One misstep and she'd realize immediately that she was being followed and if she realized it was Fox…
Well, he hadn't imagined he'd have to fight her this soon. Maybe if Yuze ever ended up on the wrong side of his plans, but the chances of that were slim.
The bigger issue was if Fox did kill her, he couldn't accurately predict how hard Yuze would work to find out what happened to her and that, that could get in the way of Fox's plans.
Snake was made her way across the western bridge, heading towards the food district where grocery and restaurant shops catered to the families of the soldiers who didn't eat at the mess.
And the pubs that catered to the soldiers off duty.
Snake slipped into one of the lower-class establishments, the ones the Court was always debating shutting down but somehow managed to cling to life.
Thankfully, Fox knew this one pretty well and he managed to make his way in through the backdoor, just in time to see Snake duck into a backroom where the games usually took place.
By law, gambling was illegal in Sorrow, but that law was generally only enforced in conjunction with other charges or because someone in the High Court wanted to take down someone specific.
Lord Ye and his father had both turned a blind eye provided the gambling didn't result in any fighting or violence.
And since everyone turned a blind eye to it, it was a great place to meet in secret.
~ tbc