"I'm taking a tremendous risk just meeting with you. Whatever you have to say, it better be worth it…"
Roch's words hung heavy in the air of the small back room at the Hanged Gull, and no one denied the truth of them. At the same time, Rose Marie had to give a reluctant measure of respect to the pair of lords who sat directly across the table from them.
The Blackwell lords had taken a tremendous risk as well, coming into the belly of the beast for a meeting instead of summoning the Marksman's Wager and its master to some distant, ostensibly neutral isle where they could easily lay a trap.
"For the risk," Mervyn said, reaching into a pocket in his heavy cloak to retrieve a small purse that he tossed casually on the table in front of Rose Marie. "That's yours for giving us the time and hearing our words. It doesn't obligate you beyond hearing what we have to say."
