Harold reeled as if wounded. His face paled and he took a full step back from me. He stammered, jaw trembling, trying and failing to form words.

Dirk, alongside me, cocked his head, eyebrows rising in surprise of his own.

Harold gathered himself enough to speak. "Y-young master… You can't mean that. Dodge is priceless… it's impossible to calculate its true value. It's vital to the whole business, to the entire network. Without Dodge… the losses across the network would be… incalculable…"

I said, "Sit down, Harold. I can explain."

The older man shook his head, though he wavered. "Your father would never have wanted this. He didn't build this empire only for it to be pawned off. And to what end? Until recently, you haven't scratched the incomes of your business interests as it stands. They've been piling up. There are major banks that count your wealth as half of their assets! Granted, you're spending now, but… but… what could you possibly hope to gain by doing this?"

Again, I said, "Sit down, Harold." But this time I moved gently to his side and guided him to a tree stump. With easy pressure I convinced his body to sink to the log.

He muttered, "Your father would roll over in his grave at this… the very thought… you can't do this to him. I know he wasn't the figure in your life you might have wanted him to be, but don't do this just to hurt his memory."

My eyebrows went up, but then I felt my brow furrow. I had never intended or imagined this move to be something I was doing against him or his memory. But what I couldn't say, was that I didn't give a fuck about… him. He wasn't my father. Not by blood or by action. I had been cultivated, that was clear, selected from a draft of poor young nobodies with Griidlord ancestors. He, Sempronius, had never shown love to me simply because there was no love to give. I had felt used my whole life because I had been. The empire I inherited from him held no nostalgia. I did cherish the security of the wealth it provided, but it was a tool for me to use. It was my turn to wield.

Instead of expressing any of this, I said, "Let me explain. This is a move to save the business, not destroy it."

Harold looked at me, trembling.

Dirk said, "This doesn't seem like a conversation I should be privy to. This seems to be between yinz and Harold…"

I put a hand on his shoulder. "This is sensitive information. What I'm about to do will affect the lives of thousands of people that work directly or indirectly for me. This would be deep in the realm of secrets. The amount of money that will change hands when this is completed will be… I can't even imagine it. If somebody knew I was about to do this, then they could only begin to imagine what I intend with the wealth. Some might say it foolish for me to have this discussion in front of an outsider. The thing is, Dirk, I want to talk to you about more than the… Bloodwulfs… I want to speak about other, more private things…"

I trailed off a moment, holding his gaze. He nodded, nearly imperceptibly. I spoke of the Blood and he knew it.

"I'm going to bare this secret in front of you, make myself vulnerable to you, put you in a position of the deepest trust. Because I hope that you will be willing to do the same for me."

He dipped his chin again, acknowledging my meaning, narrow eyes reserving any commitment.

I turned to Harold. "We're at war with Buffalo, yes?"

Harold said, "Of course…"

"That war could expand at any time to include other cities, am I wrong?"

"You're not wrong, young master. I just don't see—"

I pushed on, "The Green Men seem to be everywhere. They have forts and hideaways. An army at least 100,000 strong has gathered in Buffalo, but we can't know what other hordes are drifting in the wilds."

Harold didn't say anything, but I thought I saw realization.

I said, "Dodge lies close to Denver, close to the Empire. As this war progresses it will be vulnerable to Green Men, to enemies here in the east, there's a non-zero chance that hostilities could expand and we could find ourselves enemies of the Empire itself—"

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It was Harold's turn to cut me off. "That would never happen."

"It probably would never happen, but the number of scenarios that see Dodge being seized by a rival power are growing and growing. I can't defend it personally, not so far away, not while waging a war here. Boston can't defend it, not with everything that's happening."

Harold's brow sank and his eyes drifted to the ground. He said, "You want to sell to the Empire… so that the Empire will have an interest in guarding it too."

He seemed defeated and saddened.

I said, "It doesn't need to be a total sale. But it does need to be a large enough sale that powerful people in the Empire have a vested interest in protecting the city."

Harold was quiet. He was nominally a butler, the head servant to my father, and now to me. But he had always been more. He had been the right hand of the most powerful businessman in the whole world. Not only had he absorbed the wisdom of Sempronius—and prick though he might have been, Sempronius knew a thing or two. Not only that, but it was impossible to think, that in his position, at the ear of Sempronius, that Harold's own wisdom and judgment hadn't been a powerful tool in the generation of the vast business I now controlled. It was why he had so naturally slipped into the role of steward after father. Sempronius's death.

I waited. I would not interrupt him forming his own insights.

He didn't lift his gaze from the ground, but after a moment his head began to nod slowly. "I should have seen this. With you now in the position you're in, a political figure, a military figure, the business could so easily become a target. I should have seen this. I should have been the one advising you."

I said, "You were busy. I ran off with my Griidsuit and gave you the whole thing to run, more or less, plus a castle to build."

Then it was that he lifted his head to meet my eye. His eyes were glassy.

I said, "I know it's hard. You were part of making it. The business is your baby. But if we try to hold it too close then we'll lose the whole thing. They'll take Dodge, and the network will collapse. We'll lose everything, again, like with the Horde, but this time be unable to recover from it."

Harold said, "I was there when it was only a few caravans…"

I said, "I know. And I know that our last… conversation… wasn't a pleasant one. But I love you, Harold. I know how hard this will be for you. I wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't the right thing."

Harold nodded again. "It is the right thing. But we can't sell Dodge and expect to be safer."

It was my turn to cock my head in surprise.

He said, "The entire venture, the whole network. There are trading posts, caravans, other little towns. Dodge isn't the entirety of it. Your interests are not just exposed in Dodge. Yes, that's where the greatest vulnerability lies. But it's everywhere really, isn't it? Not just your interests. We have thousands on our own payrolls, thousands more work as agents and merchants. If the business collapsed, why… why it might affect millions of lives."

I said, "Then we democratize it. You're right. The whole thing. How much?"

Harold didn't hesitate. "As much as possible. We want backers who are deeply, deeply invested. Retaining full control would be ideal, so I'd like to say 49 percent."

I said, "You'd like to say it, but you're not so sure."

Harold said, "More would be better. Yes, Empire merchants would make the most valuable buyers. They wield great power in the systems of the Empire. You saw how Cassius brought Empire soldiers and a Griidlord when he travelled to loot Dodge. The Empire legal system is explicit and iron-bound. If you sell a portion of it and become part of that system, then even if you warred with the Empire itself, they would be slow to break a contract. But, slicing portions off to sell to interests elsewhere—Dallas and Miami come to mind—would add protection. Yes, as you said, democratize it. Make it a business without an identity."

Dirk continued watching us, gears turning behind his eyes, assessing the scale of what I had revealed to him.

Harold's instinct kicked into higher gear. He, like me, had come to rest on the cushion of knowing that we had so, so much at our fingertips. He was anxious to lose the resources. "The enormity of what could be earned like this is… I don't know if I can possibly put a value on it. It's unlikely you'll ever be able to get what the shares are truly worth, but even a portion of it would be an enormous influx of cash. You could offset the loss in revenues from the loss of shares. Those banks I spoke of, stable ancient institutions, you could purchase parts of them. By the Oracle, you could purchase entire banks. And land, you could expand there. And other trading interests. I'd imagine there would be many that would be eager to have the son of Sempronius as part of their decision-making process… You'll lose revenue, whatever you do, but reinvesting like that could buffer the losses and make your holdings so much more secure…"

I smiled thinly. "I fully intend to do that. It would be wise and healthy to do something like that, with a portion of the sales price."

"A portion, young master?"

I felt heat run up my neck. I wondered if they could see the excitement in my eyes. I was taking my own agency. Somewhere—it was hard to say—when Lauren was killed, when I discovered the truth about Sempronius and my mother, maybe further back, when I saw how clearly Balthazar was controlling me… no, when Katya gave me the knife. That was the moment. She challenged me. To be a prince or a puppet… I'd started controlling my own destiny. And this, the sale of the business, the enormous capital it would put at my disposal, that would be a tool of my agency.

I said, "Just a portion because, you see, Harold, I have plans for that money."

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