The Almighty Dominance novel Chapter 742

Alex came onto the fourth floor with one sheet of paper and set it face down on Beatrix's desk.

"Before you turn that over," he said, "tell me how Red Tower makes its money."

Beatrix looked at the paper, then at him.

"Fire," she said. "Everything that burns on purpose. Every forge in the state runs on a Red flame-charm, and every one of those charms has to be renewed by a Red magician every month, for a f*e. Same charm in half the kitchens in New Avalon."

"Every month."

"Every month, for five hundred years." She shrugged. "It's the best business in this country. Nobody stops cooking."

"Black."

"Cleanup and curses." Beatrix ticked them off. "You want a building taken down, a field cleared, a warehouse of spoiled stock disposed of — you hire Black, and they charge what they like because nobody else does that work. And then there's the other half."

"Say it."

"Curses." Her mouth thinned. "Hexes for hire. A merchant pays Black to put something on a rival's shipment and the rival's cargo rots in the hold. Everyone knows it happens. Nobody says it out loud, because everyone's either bought one or is afraid of one."

"And Ferrowgate?"

"Ferrowgate is bleeding. The Boosting Sticker took half their equipment line and it isn't coming back." Beatrix paused. "But they've still got the Meridian."

"The flying car."

"The flying car. Kessler's grandfather built the first one and this whole country has been buying them for sixty years. It's the only thing left holding that company's name up." She looked at the paper again. "Why are you asking me things you already know?"

"Because I wanted to hear you say them in order," Alex said. "Turn it over."

...

There were four lines on the page.

Beatrix read them twice. Then she set the sheet down very carefully, the way you set down something that might go off.

"This is a target list."

"Yes."

"Alex, this isn't a product plan. Every single one of these is aimed at somebody."

"That's what a target list is."

She picked it back up anyway.

"Flame core," she read. "Talk."

"A brick. Sits in a forge or a stove and burns as long as you want it to." Alex sat down across from her. "No charm. No renewal. No monthly f*e, no Red magician at your door on the first of the month. You buy it once and it lasts a year. Cheaper."

"How much?"

"Twenty dollars."

Beatrix went still.

"A Red flame-charm is nine dollars a month," she said slowly. "Every month. Forever."

"I know."

"You just ended their business."

"I built a better stove."

"Alex."

"Next line," he said.

...

"Breaker rod." Beatrix's voice had gone flat and careful. "That's the Black one."

"Clears a field in an afternoon. Takes a building down in sections instead of all at once, so you can sell the stone afterward instead of paying somebody to cart it off." Alex leaned back. "Black charges four thousand dollars for a warehouse demolition. The rod costs sixty and a farmer can use it himself."

"So half of Black's income."

"Half."

"And the other half?"

Alex didn't answer right away.

Beatrix read the third line out loud, and her voice changed on it.

"Curse-breaker."

"Yes."

"Explain that one to me very slowly."

"It's a charm. You wear it." Alex kept his voice level. "Any hex Black Tower has ever laid stops working. Any hex Black Tower lays after this stops working before it lands. It doesn't compete with them. It deletes them."

Beatrix put the sheet down.

"Do you understand what you just described?"

"I do."

"No, I don't think you do." She stood up, walked two steps, came back. "The other three are business. Cruel business, but business — you make a better thing, people buy the better thing, that's the game. This one isn't a product. This one is you standing in the middle of the Arcanum State and announcing that Black Tower's curses don't work anymore."

"They don't."

"They believe they do. That's the entire thing. Half of Black's clients pay them out of fear, not for a service — the fear is the service." Beatrix's hands were flat on the desk now. "Alex, if you sell this, you're not taking their customers. You're taking their whole reason to exist, in public, where everyone can watch it happen."

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