Guinevere was six the first time she watched her father bribe a man. Most six-year-olds wouldn't have understood. But she did. Gold in. Silence out.
Fourteen years later, somewhere in Drakencrest Keep, she was sleeping against her husband's chest. And somewhere in Drakencrest Harbor, an Alpha King just docked.
Thirty wolves. One unmarked ship. Zero flags. The kind of arrival that starts a war or prevents one.
RULE 20: Buy the gatekeeper. Fuck the diplomat. Ignore the general. In that order. Stealth is a currency that appreciates the longer you hold it. By the time you sit down at the table, the gatekeeper is bought, the diplomat is fucked, and you've already seen the general's hand.
A cloaked figure descended the gangplank before the ship was fully moored. The harbormaster met the figure at the end of the dock. The conversation was brief. A sack changed hands. Gold coins, heavy enough to strain the leather.
