I entered the bakery. A saliva-inducing fragrance of freshly baked bread filled my nostrils.
I gazed up at the tall ceilings with murals painted at the top depicting what I presumed was Ashford's original hometown on the eastern coast.
As a twelve-year-old, when the bakery had just opened, Natalia Ashford moved around the tables, helping her mother. She also often chatted with the servants and staff of the customers. But most importantly, she listened. She listened in on conversations and began to share the gossip she overheard with favored customers that bought or tipped more than usual.
News of Natalia spread, and people began to visit the bakery specifically to hear some exciting bits of gossip. And they were willing to pay handsomely for it.
"Hello, welcome! How may I serve you today?" A smiling young man in a red vest asked. "If you want to purchase baked goods, the line is outside."
"I'd like the special menu, please," I said, recalling the code word.
"Certainly. And did you wish to make an appointment or…" The young man looked down at his sheet. "If you're available now, I can seat you out back."
"Now is fine." I smiled.
"Wonderful, please follow me." The young man led me through a short hallway into the inner garden where wisteria trees bloomed.
A young maid passed us on her way out. I suspected she was one of Natalia's 'butterflies' given the heavy pouch of coins in her hands.
Natalia's gossip operation had proliferated from its original roots seven years ago. Natalia couldn't be out and about gathering gossip anymore and instead established a network of 'butterflies,' as she called them. A butterfly was anyone that, when they heard any interesting bit of gossip, would share it with Natalia and get a cut for their information.
"Natalia Ashford, I have Luca Frey to see you," the young man announced.
I flinched. But I suppose it was expected that they knew who I was.
"Very well, bring him in," a sing-song voice called out from behind the purple wisteria coverings.
"You may enter." The young man brought me around the wisteria trees to the table and placed a menu with golden ridges before me. "Your special menu."
On the other end of the table sat Natalia Ashford. She looked just as I last remembered, albeit looking much cheerier than the last time I had seen her. Her round face with rosy cheeks was framed by a head of curly golden hair. Her eyes twinkled, and her mouth seemed perpetually turned up in excitement for the next juicy bit of gossip.
I averted my eyes from her and glanced down at the menu.
200 silver Deux coins for a House Brew of Tea.
That was the cheapest menu item. Below it, the prices expanded until reaching the bottom, where one could pay a phoenix eye gemstone for a Royal Tea and Breakfast.
The prices were obviously a facade.
"First time? Need help ordering?" Natalia reached over and pushed the menu down from my hands, flat on the table.
I nodded honestly.
It was true. It was my first time.
In my original life, I had never interacted with Natalia Ashford as a gossip broker. I had only gotten to know her at the end of her life. And I was her noose.
She had unfortunately shared some gossip about someone she shouldn't have. A vile and prideful man willing to hire the likes of me to take care of a young woman who dared say something undesirable about him.
"Alright, I will explain the prices." She smiled, and her long purple nail tapped the menu.
My jaw clenched.
I didn't intend on coming here for this very reason. Sitting across from this young woman in a beautiful wisteria garden was strange. The last time we had sat across each other was inside a dark, damp cellar.
And yet here she was now, cheerfully explaining the menu to me.
What would she think if she remembered what I remember? Would she scamper away in fear? Thank me for a merciful and painless end? Or pretend it all away as a bad nightmare?
"Luca?" Her bright voice brought me back from my increasingly darkening thoughts.
"Yes, I apologize. Got lost in my thoughts."
I shook my head and focused my attention on the present.
"As I was saying…." Her nails tapped the menu. "The House Tea is essentially something you can find fairly easily yourself. The fee is for the expertise of getting this from here."
Ah. Basic gossip that anyone would likely know. I translated her subtle explanation.
"As you move down the menu, the request might be harder and harder to find. Sometimes requiring more pricey expertise. And thus the price reflects it."
Her purple nail trailed down the menu, reaching the end.
"We have off-menu items, but know those are at even higher prices. Ah! And one important thing. We try to obtain the most authentic ingredients, but sometimes mix-ups occur. We do not take responsibility for any false goods that may occasionally appear."
In other words, gossip was not always accurate. She wasn't an information broker. She just knew the latest gossip.
"However, if we find a forgery, we'll inform you. Some patrons like forgeries as well… even preferring them. It's a matter of taste."
I smiled at the irony.
Unfortunately, it was one of these false gossips that had landed Natalia on my work schedule in my original life.
"Forgeries are still forgeries. It might be prudent to be wary of them, for your own sake," I suggested. It was a cryptic hint on how she might avoid ending up in a similar fate as she had in my original life.
She smiled back.
"Don't you worry about me. Now, what would you like to order?" She leaned back in her seat and took a sip of her tea.
"I'd like an exchange, actually," I stated. "I have some ingredients you might find of interest. In return, I have some needs I'd like fulfilled as well."
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With all my knowledge of the future, there were sure to be a few bits of gossip Natalia would find of interest.
Her smile broadened.
"Very well, depending on what you have, I'll reciprocate accordingly."
I cleared my throat.
"Tonight at the royal ball, Crown Princess Evelyn and my brother Micah Frey will be poisoned with champagne."
Clank.
Natalia's cup dropped to the saucer. Her eyes looked around our empty surroundings. Confirming we were indeed alone, a wide smile reappeared on her face.
"Well then. That was juicier than I expected. I can think of a few people that'd be interested in that information. But how do you know this?" Her arms crossed over one another. "As you said, I need to beware of forgeries."
"Gavin Graves. I overheard him talking about it. He's involved in it. He has one of the royal wait staff and two guards in his pocket."
Natalia licked her lips, nodding. She appeared to believe me, likely having a separate piece of information I lacked.
"And why come to me?" she asked. "Isn't your brother involved? Ah. Or are you two still not speaking?"
I blinked.
Was my fight with my brother that well known? I didn't even remember the petty dispute, yet even the Gossip Queen of Genise knew about it.
"I didn't want to trouble him," I said. But, it probably made the most sense to bring him into the fold. He was the victim, after all.
Natalia clicked her tongue.
"As a free piece of advice, you should talk with your brother. Family is important, and I think we both know which of you two is the intelligent one. If his life is in danger, you should let him know. Now, what was it that you wished to learn?"
Her facade of the tea and goods ordering was dropped. It was a silly thing anyhow, given it was just the two of us.
"The waiter," I stated. "I need to find out which of the royal waiters will poison Micah. Where they live and all the details. And why would they do it? I'm presuming he was blackmailed. Likely to do with his family or a loved one."
Despite not even remembering his face, I made a presumption about the waiter. In my experience of my original life, nine times out of ten, when a servant of a powerful household took action against their employer, it was only in the face of extreme blackmail. Servants serving powerful families were typically well paid and if caught, they would be met with the most severe of punishments; oftentimes delivered by me. In the face of these two factors, they'd only harm their employer because one of their loved ones was being used against them.
There was a ten percent chance that a servant was planted there from the start to harm the powerful family. Still, I was willing to bet it was the earlier possibility with the waiter.
Natalia smiled.
"So you're looking for any gossip around any waiters that have been acting oddly as of late?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"Well then. That wouldn't be too hard. I'll send a bird to your residence shortly today when I gather the intel. It won't take more than three hours."
"Wonderful." I gathered to stand up but stopped. "Ah, did you happen to hear anything about the Misfortune Sisters? They disappeared this morning after giving two readings."
Natalia slumped back in her chair with a smile. "I have… But you'll need to exchange more information with me or buy it off the menu."
"Very well," I replied. "I can tell you what the first fortune was."
"Oh? Go on." Natalia placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her palms.
"Kaiden, a servant of the Frey household for the last fifteen years, went and saw them this morning. The Misfortune Sisters told him a misfortune that made him decide to make an attempt on Micah's life. However, he failed because I stopped him."
"Luca Frey, your brother certainly has a lot of assassination attempts on his head, doesn't he?"
"And I'll stop each and every one," I said. "Now, what have you heard about the Misfortune Sisters? Do you know where they went? Or why they left?"
"Mmm…" Natalia frowned. "Can't say I do."
I felt slightly disappointed. I had hoped Natalia might have had some information. But I knew from the start she wasn't an information broker. Gossip was her specialty.
"I can tell you a little about the second reading, though," she said.
My ears perked up.
"What do you know?" I asked.
"Oh please, don't get so excited. I'll feel bad. I don't even know what the second reading they gave was, but I know to whom they gave it."
"Who was it?" I felt my heart rate quicken. If I knew who it was, I could find and question them and piece together where the Misfortune Sisters had gone.
"Mmm…" Natalia picked up her tea and took a sip. "It's a soldier part of The Order. He's been rising quite quickly through the ranks, but he's not quite so important, so you probably wouldn't know of him."
"Do you have a name?" I asked.
"Yes, I do indeed." A smile appeared on Natalia's lips. "Grandov Lyman."
I felt the hairs on my arms stand up.
How and why was Grandov—the same Grandov I knew—involved?