Page 28 of Fateless

Kovass seemed different when I finally climbed out of the enormous drainpipe and back into the fresh air. The sky was dark, and the moon hung low over the Dust Sea, a brief visitor to Kovass before the twins chased him away. The district was deserted, the residents sleeping while they could, unaware that deep below them, a cursed city lay forgotten, slumbering like an ancient giant, its own residents waiting in the darkness for unsuspecting fools to cross their paths.

“Sparrow.”

I flinched, nearly bolting across the street before I recognized the voice. “Jeran?” I said, as a figure stepped out from behind a fence and waved to me. “What are you doing here?”

“I followed you.” He looked sheepish, but only for a moment. “I saw you and Vahn leaving the guild and I was curious, so I decided to tag along.”

“Tag along? Have you been here all day? You’re lucky Vahn didn’t spot you.” I gave him an incredulous look. Guildmaster business was deadly serious, and if you weren’t directly involved, then you didn’t need to know. Vahn did not tolerate insubordination and would not find Jeran’s “curiosity” amusing. Even if a tiny part of me was happy to see him. “That wasn’t very smart, Jeran,” I finished, shivering as a cold breeze whispered through the streets, tugging at my damp clothes. “You could’ve been kicked out of the guild.”

Jeran shrugged, a defiant, almost sullen gesture. He stared at me, and for a moment, his eyes were hooded, but then he blinked and seemed to go back to normal.

“Yeah, probably. I was just... worried about you.” He scratched the back of his head and gave me a somewhat forced smile. “If you were going on a dangerous mission for the Circle—”

“Jeran!” I cut him off with a sharp gesture. “Not here, you idiot.” You didn’t discuss the Circle openly in the streets. Actually, you didn’t discuss the Circle at all. You pretended the Circle didn’t exist. “What are you doing?” I hissed at him. “What’s wrong with you lately?”

He ground his teeth, then made a visible effort to calm down.“I’m sorry.” He raked a hand over his face. “I just... Look, Sparrow, can we talk? There are some things I have to say.”

“Now?” It really wasn’t a good time. I wanted to deliver the memory stone to Vahn, get it out of my possession. The sooner I did that, the sooner I could be done with this whole ordeal. “I’m on my way back to the guild,” I told him. “Let me deliver something to Vahn, and then we can talk.”

“No.” He held out an arm, surprising me. “We don’t need to go back to the guild. This won’t take long.” I gave an impatient huff, and his expression turned desperate. “Please, Sparrow. I won’t keep you, I promise. I just... I really need to talk to you.”

I clenched my jaw. After everything I’d gone through, I wanted to get this delivery over with. But Jeran had been acting strange lately, and I did want to talk to him about what had happened in my room the other night. Maybe he wanted to apologize for being a jealous sand ass.

“Fine.” I sighed. “But only a few minutes. I really do need to get back to Vahn.”

He glanced around, then nodded at the door to a warehouse across the road and beckoned me forward. “Come on, we can talk in here.”

I followed, impatient. The memory stone throbbed in my satchel, as if it could sense something had changed. The warehouse was empty, and we slipped into a corner behind a row of rotting gray shelves.

Jeran turned to me. In the shadows of the warehouse, he suddenly looked like a stranger.

“I’m leaving the guild,” he said without preamble.

I gaped at him. Of all the things he could’ve said, I never expected this. My heart gave a little stutter of despair, and I swallowed quickly to open my throat. “Why?”

He turned away, his expression caught halfway between a grimace and a scowl. “Dahveen and I have been spending a lot of time at the Golden Chalice,” he muttered, referring to the largest gambling house in the city. I knew Dahveen was a regular there, but Jeran had no interest in high-stakes gambling. Or so I’d thought.

Instantly, I knew where he was going with this, and a knot formed in my stomach. “Jeran...”

He grimaced. “Dahveen said I could make it big,” he said, gesturing helplessly at nothing. “He kept pushing me, saying I was one step away from a big score.” His lips tightened, and he shook his head. “Guess I’m not as good with dice as he is.”

I winced in sympathy. “How much did you lose?”

“Pretty much everything. But that’s not the point.” He hesitated, glancing to the side and not meeting my gaze. “I kept going back to the Golden Chalice,” he admitted at last. “Dahveen and I went nearly every evening for weeks.” He bit his lip, and his voice dropped to a strangled murmur. “I... haven’t paid my guild dues in four months.”

A ripple of horror went through me, and I stared at him in shock. You didn’t cheat the Thieves Guild—that was one of the defining rules. You could steal from everyone else, but you didnotsteal from the guild. Even I, the Guildmaster’s prodigy, had to pay the tithe.

“Vahn gave me a choice,” Jeran continued in a low, dull voice. “Pay what I owe, or leave. And you know what that means.”

I did. Leaving the guild wasn’t just exile from the building. It meant being banned from the Docks District entirely. It meant never setting foot in buildings that were guild-operated. And it meant you were forbidden to ply your trade in any place that the guild considered its territory. The Thieves Guild did not tolerate competition, especially from former members, and those who broke the rules soon received a visit from someone like Bassig, who made certain they wouldn’t have the dexterity or fine motor skills to continue their work.

“You should’ve told me,” I said, watching Jeran’s mouth tighten. I didn’t know if the squeezing in my gut was anger that he hadn’t come to me sooner, or a desperate need to stop him from leaving. “I could have talked to Vahn. I could’ve helped you, Jeran.”

He stared at me, his eyes narrowed. “You can help me now.” His gaze flicked to my satchel, as if he could sense the memory stone pulsing within. “Give me what you retrieved for the Circle,” he demanded. “Let me deliver it to Vahn. If I do that, I know he’ll wipe my debts and let me stay.”

I recoiled. “What? No!”

“Please, Sparrow.” Jeran took a step forward. “I need this. I can’t survive out there without the guild. You’ll be all right. You’re the Guildmaster’s daughter—the Circle won’t do anything to you.” His mouth twitched, as if he were trying not to curl his lip, and a shadow of resentment crossed his face. “Let me take it to Vahn,” he continued. “I’ll say we did it together, and you decided to let me go on ahead.”

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