Chapter 6
The Informant's Plea
Valerius encounters Elara, a street-smart woman with connections to the underworld. She offers crucial information about the smugglers' routes and a potential meeting point for the princess, driven by a past debt.
The air in the tavern was thick with the mingled scents of stale ale, sweat, and desperation. Valerius nursed a watered-down wine, the rough wood of the table cool beneath his fingertips. Outside, the city of Eldoria hummed with its usual nocturnal rhythm, a stark contrast to the gnawing unease that had settled over the castle since Aurelia’s disappearance. The royal guard, led by the perpetually scowling Lord Commander Thorne, had scoured every inch of the palace, their heavy boots thudding with a predictable futility. They searched for an abductor, a thief, a desperate fool. Valerius, however, knew better. He saw the carefully placed breadcrumbs, the subtle omissions, the almost imperceptible ripple of manufactured panic.
A shadow fell across his table. He didn't look up, merely took another slow sip of his wine. "I'm not buying what you're selling," he murmured, his voice low.
"You're not here to buy, Detective," a woman’s voice replied, surprisingly steady, devoid of the usual tavern bravado. "You're here to listen."
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