Tricksters Queen Read Online Free PDF

said as she followed the older woman down a hall in the service wing of the house, where the nobles never went. "I knew it was only a matter of time before I won you over."
    Junai glanced back at her. "Some of your pack of spies are waiting in the meeting room," she said. "The men will come soon. And this is your personal office." She halted at the last right-hand door in the hall and opened it to reveal a decently sized workroom with maps and slates on the walls. Aly guessed it had formerly been used to store furniture, but now it was ready for her use, complete with a large worktable, chairs, writing supplies, and that glimmer of hidden magical spells for security.
    Junai closed the door to Aly's office. "The general meeting room is here." The raka opened the door on the left-hand side of the hall.
    Aly walked in to find a much larger room, with a counter along two walls and a series of cupboards along the wall shared with the outside passageway. A number of chairs of all shapes and sizes filled the open floor. Six of them were occupied by the women of Aly's pack. All looked up at her: Boulaj, the plump sisters Atisa and Guchol, pert Kioka, lovely Eyun, and little Jimarn.
    Guchol grinned at Aly. "Oh, good! Duani's here."
    Atisa slipped to the floor to stretch her legs in a split. "Does that mean we may go home now?" Her black hair tumbled over her face.
    Aly plumped herself into a chair. "If you want to go home, you may, my ducks, but you'll miss using the training I beat into you this winter. Where are the lads?"
    "Here," a man said as seven of them entered the room. Junai closed the door as they traded greetings with the women and found places to sit.
    "Gods bless us," Aly began as they quieted. "Our pack is reunited and the stakes have gone up." All of them nodded. "I trust you’ve been good lads and lasses and kept up your exercises when you were not under my eye?" She raised a brow as she looked around the room.
    "We've been checking the backgrounds of all the new people in the house, those that weren't chosen by Ulasim before our ladies' exile," Yoyox said, smoothing his mustache. He was nearly as fine a pickpocket as Aly "And using the gossip network set up before the family got exiled. It's good. Quedanga, the housekeeper, she's supposed to just pass messages along, but she's experienced at collecting gossip from the common folk. She gets word from servants, slaves, artisans, priests—and they're everywhere."
    "Then we'll leave Quedanga to send messages and manage the people she knows best, since we'll be dealing more with the palace and the military," Aly said. "She knows she's to pass on what she gathers to me?"
    "Yes, Duani," Yoyox said so meekly that Aly had to laugh. "To add to our ranks"—he waved an arm to include his comrades—"we have fifteen men we've been training the way you want. Most are in this house. Some belong to households on this street, so no one will think anything if they visit us often. And we've the tunnels under the house for when we don't want to draw attention to our comings and goings. Every man has been approved by Quedanga and Ysul, just like everyone who lives here."
    "We have another eleven women," Jimarn added. "All in this house for the present. We have started to teach them codes, searches, and theft."
    Aly nodded. This was also what she'd trained them for. Each of them had been examined by Ulasim and Ochobu before he or she was allowed to study with Aly, and she had educated them all winter. One of those series of lessons had been about choosing and teaching new recruits. Aly could not constantly look over people's shoulders here in the city, when she would have to spend most of her time gathering and studying information. She had to depend on her trainees' judgment. Now school was done, and her pack had their own work to do.
    "How are your recruits doing?" she asked.
    "Well," said Yoyox. "Very well."
    Everyone nodded. Aly had learned that the raka already understood the