Page 57 of Mistress of Bones
To save her the effort of summoning any sort of response, Esparza traded his empty cup for hers.
“I need you to do it again,” she told him.
“We ended that business back then.” Esparza drank deeply, as if trying to drown the disgust in his voice.
“I don’t need the crypt this time. I need the ossuary.”
“No.” He shook his head sharply. “I’m done with the dead.”
“You aren’t,” she answered placidly, “or you wouldn’t be here so often.”
Esparza threw his cup against the wall, sending the room still. When no punches followed, it went back to hushed conversations and loud slurping.
“Esparza!” shouted someone from the counter. “You owe me for that.”
De Guzmán ignored both the demand and Esparza’s outburst, her voice calm as she said, “I need you to take someone into the ossuary.”
“Why?” Esparza asked with rancor. “What’s in it for you?”
“‘Don’t ask, reap your reward’—your motto, isn’t it?”
A smile flitted across his face. “The words don’t suit you.”
Her fingers tapped on the hilt of her rapier, offering no rebuke.
“Why can’t they ask to get in?” he asked.
“Time is of the essence, and people are too slow. If I had any Anchor to offer, it’d go faster, alas…”
“You would in spades, if you accepted De Anví’s courtship.”
“Is he still keeping the Witch in check?”
“Inseparable.”
“Is she still wearing Sío?”
“You’ve been gone mere weeks.”
“Feels longer,” De Guzmán murmured to herself.
Esparza forced himself to study her carefully. “You don’t sound like yourself. What’s changed?”
De Guzmán hesitated before answering, “I’ve met someone.”
Arching his brows in question, Esparza waited for her to continue.
“She reminds me of Edine.”
Inhaling deeply, Esparza stopped himself from upturning the table and thrashing everything else in the room. Then, viciously, “So, you’ve decided to help her like you should’ve helped Edine? How magnanimous of you.”
De Guzmán shrugged. “I will pay, of course.”
“Of course,” he said, his tone dripping with mockery.
“I will also need an audience with the Witch.”
“If you pay well enough, I’ll get you an audience with the Blessed Heart themselves.”
