She looked up at him, curious, not enraged like she had been before toward the various suitors trying to bed her for the night. She took a long swig of the whiskey, setting it down. "Alright barkeep. But no interrupting. I'm a woman destined to lose the best job I ever had, and I'm still rather sore about it." She leaned back from her slump against the bar, presenting her low cut robe, white with gold trim, one she filled out quite nicely. She was incredibly attractive, and she was very much aware of it.
Smiling, "I work for a very powerful woman in Raelia. She was born to power and wealth, and unlike many of such people, she did not feel the need to become complacent about it. She worked every single day to raise up and maintain her family, despite the failings of some of its lesser members. She's ruthless behind closed doors and an absolute figure of perfection in public."
Soren listened closely, intently, realizing this was not a story of old. This was powerful, current information. The fact she wasn't stating names was important. He'd already gathered that she had no intention of doing so. This made the information all the more alluring. And the tone of her voice, the twist of her lips, she had true admiration for this woman.
"In her climb, she separated from her family in terms of business. Her interests had become her own, her own alone. When she left the family, she took some loyal staff with her, myself among them. It caused a quiet scandal, only known to the most inner of circles in the elite. But her empire, completely in her control grew, and grew fast. She wished to do something big, something not yet done here in Raelia. She began purchasing a bunch of land, discretely, quietly. Make deals. She said it was to be a surprise, but those of us working for her knew what was happening."
The woman looked up, her face saddened, "She was challenging the Circle for a place among their ranks." The woman took another long drink and Soren topped her off, drinking his own as well. He made sure to not sure surprise, but anyone with any amount of time in Melrath knew that challenging the Circle was dangerous business, especially since there weren't any openings, nor had there been recently. "It was all going well. We had the lands she wanted, we were getting contracts with various companies, buying up supplies."
"Then she fell in love."
Soren heard sadness in these words. He knew what was coming next. "She found a man, a builder, that had somehow managed to sweep her off her feet. She smiled at him like we'd never seen her do before, despite all the arcs working for her. Soon, she was spending more and more time with him, spending less time focusing on her project, focusing on her goals. She began to spend her wealth recklessly, using some land to build a mansion for the two of them, buying some winery out in the villages. It was careless."
She took a deep breath, "The Circle found out. We still don't know how they did, but they did. And they moved against her, against us. Viciously and swiftly. All of her businesses came under attack at the same time. They bankrupted her lover's company. They established competing vineyards around the one she'd bought. They purchased lands around her home and turned them into brothels and bars."
A tear rolled down her face, "She gave it all up for a man. All of us that had given our lives to her. And what did that get her? I tried to tell her this morning that she needed to sell her assets, sell to the Circle as apology, limp away to fight another trial. That was when the spirits decided I was to be punished. Her lover interrupted our meeting to tell her he was leaving her, for a younger woman in our staff. Then he turned on heel and left. She watched him, and his new lover, leave her home from the window. Have you ever heard a heart shatter into a million pieces? It's the most beautiful sound of death. I would never wish it on my worst enemy."
"She turned on me. Asking if I had been fucking him too. Asking if I had betrayed her to the Circle. She threw me out of her house. Out of her life. And I suspect I'll learn tomorrow, out of her business."
She finished her second glass in another long drink, and Soren joined her in that. She looked at him smiling, "I just wanted to always be there for her. To see her succeed. To watch her grow. To be there for it all. She was my sun, glowing and warming me, making everything brighter. She let me down. She let us all down. She burned me, and I never even managed to get close to the flames."
She looked at the bottle, seeing it wasn't even half empty yet. Then she looked around her in the bar, seeing she was the only customer left. The barmaids had gone home and the bartenders were finishing up. She let her eyes fall back on Soren, "I don't want to be..." He held up a finger with a slight grin, silencing her. "Hilda, you and Charlize can go. I'll lock up."
Hilda looked at him in surprise. She was his oldest employee and she'd never seen him once bring a woman back. None of the bartenders had. She nodded, "Goodnight, Soren." She walked around the bar, cutting through the kitchen, to meet Charlize on the other side. Soren stood up, grabbing the keys from beneath the bar. He locked the front room door, snuffed the last few candles. He moved back through the building, doing the same for the back room and the kitchen.
He returned to the bar, carrying a candle in one hand, his ledger and chest of the day's take in the other arm. "Come on... Sorry, I didn't catch your name." She smiled weakly, grabbing the whiskey and the glasses, then slid from her barstool, following him back into the kitchens, up the stairs, and into his apartment, which he locked behind him. Behind the closed door, she whispered in his ear, "Agneta Stormsdotter."
