Page 77 of Night's Reckoning
“Okay, sure. You have no idea what I’m talking about.” He took a deep breath and continued to ignore that she had her nails dug into his neck. “Cheng and Kadek have already stolen some of the treasure.”
The corner of her lip curled up. “Thatis why you interrupted me? I knew that already. Cheng showed me the other night.”
Ben didn’t know what to say at first. “And… you just forgot to tell me?”
“Why do you need to know? It’s a stunning collection of glasswork, by the way. If you ask nicely, Cheng might show it to you.”
His jaw clenched. “So you’re okay with this?”
“Ben, who exactly do you think is paying millions to fund this expedition? Cheng is. If he’s going to take a small number of ninth-century Arab glass pieces to recoup his expenses, that is none of your business or mine.”
“I believe your sire said he would be getting a generous finder’s fee. I don’t remember Zhang saying he could help himself to the cargo.”
Tenzin rolled her eyes. “Details.”
His patience snapped. “I was hired because your sire said he needed someone he could trust to oversee this job, and now Cheng is looting from the same ship he’s supposed to be excavating.”
“You were hired because I wanted you here, Benjamin. That’s the only reason you were hired.”
Her words hit him like acid burning skin.
“And Cheng isn’t looting,” Tenzin continued. “He’s taking a commission from a ship he was hired to find and salvage. Do you know why he’s doing any of this? It’s a favor to me, Benjamin.” Her grip on his collar tightened. “Because I sure as hell am not diving under that ocean to salvage a shipwreck.”
“The archaeology team—”
“Is a silk dress on a soldier,” Tenzin said. “The archaeology team can document what they want—they’re the reason we have this ship and this equipment—but they’re notneeded. Cheng is allowing them access because, despite what you might think, he actually cares about historic preservation and honoring the lost. He is not the bad guy, Benjamin.”
The idea of it abraded his skin, but Ben had to admit she was partly right.
Cheng didn’t need them. Cheng didn’t need any of them.
He needn’t have told Zhang about the wreck. He and Kadek could have looted every artifact from theQamar Jadidwithout telling a soul. He could have put the Laylat al Hisab on the market and sold it to the highest bidder. The hilt alone would be worth millions.
“Why am I here?” Ben asked quietly. “If you didn’t need me to coordinate between the two teams—if the archaeology team is just a silk dress on a soldier, as you put it—why was it necessary for me to be here? Why did you even want me on this job?”
“To make sure the humans understand their role.”
“Theirrole.”He let out a long breath. “I see.”
“Do not bring this up to Cheng.” Tenzin tightened her grip. “Or Fabia. Or the people from the university. Don’t forget for a minute whom you’re working for.”
The back of his tongue tasted bitter. “I’m working for Cheng now?”
“No, you’re working for me,” she said. “And my father.”
Ben felt small. Insignificant. Not her partner. He had never been her partner. They would never be equal. Maybe in his mind they had been, but never in hers.
Why am I here?
What am I doing?
What am Idoing?
Ben stared into her beautiful, fierce eyes. Her grip didn’t loosen on his collar, and her fingernails bit into his neck. Two things hit him in an instant, and all the anger, all the bitterness and animosity building in his heart, was washed away in a wave of sadness.
He loved her.
And she would never love him.
