Page 74 of Quiver of Cobras
Artemesia arched an eyebrow. ‘How can you be so sure?’
I pushed myself up onto my tiptoes and spread out my arms, twirling once for effect. I didn’t even wobble. ‘I don’t know how to lose,’ I boomed.
‘You lost your memory,’ Finn said. ‘You still don’t know where that is.’
‘You lost your good sense too,’ Artemesia agreed. ‘Right around the time you made that teeny-weeny mistake and trapped us all in this demesne.’
Morgan glanced at me. ‘You lost me.’ His voice was barely audible. ‘But I think you might have found me again.’ He pointed at the oath breaker. ‘Test it, Arty. You’ve got thirty minutes and then we’re going to find Rubus. And we’re going to do whatever we can to remove him from this situation for good.’
***
‘So,’ Morgan said, ‘you know what to do?’
I nodded. ‘I’ve got this. It’ll be fine.’
Finn waggled his phone. ‘Julie’s on her way.’
I pointed at him. ‘It’s your job to keep her safe. It’s not that she’s weak or anything but she’s not like us. Not to mention that the viewers ofSt Thomas Closewill come after us with pitchforks if anything happens to her.’
He growled. ‘You don’t need to tell me to look after her. I’ve done a great deal more to help her than you have.’
For once I didn’t rise to the bait. It was easy because it wasn’t true. I’d rescued her in a dark alley. I’d been Tasered for her. I suffered being kicked out of a swanky restaurant because of her. I was super awesome while Finn was … large and hulking. Anyone could be like that if genetics permitted. I didn’t say any of this to him, though; I simply stepped over and stretched up so I could kiss him on the cheek. ‘You’re a fabulous bodyguard,’ I told him.
‘Get her away from me, Morgan,’ Finn said. He looked utterly terrified.
I beamed at him then I cracked my knuckles. ‘Let’s do this.’
Leaving the boys behind, I strode round the corner and headed towards the main doors of the hide-out. I could feel the buzz of anticipation zipping through my veins. Rubus wouldn’t know what had hit him. Being a super spy was all well and good but it was important to slide in some real action. Sneaking around as I’d done so far was producing results at a snail’s pace. The next hour was going to prove very different.
It didn’t take long to locate the man himself. He was seated in his wannabe throne room, his eyes half-lidded, whilst a pathetic Fey female grovelled in front of him for some dust.
‘I’ll do whatever you want,’ she pleaded. ‘I don’t even want a lot of pixie dust. I’ll just take a bit.’
‘There’s nothing you can offer me that I need,’ Rubus said, not bothering to look at his poor supplicant.
I watched him carefully. It didn’t appear that he’d got much sleep during his incarceration; yet again, he was looking both tired and wan.
‘I have money!’ The Fey reached into her bag and pulled out a scrunched-up wad of notes. ‘I’ve been saving up. Just … please. Give me some.’
Rubus uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, opening his eyes to look at her properly for the first time. ‘Hmmm,’ he said, tapping his chin as if deep in thought. ‘Actually…’
She held her breath, desperate hope springing into her eyes.
‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re not getting any.’
Her shoulders sagged.
‘It’s not my fault,’ Rubus said, clearly only pretending to sound reasonable. ‘But supplies are low. We have to ration what we have and by my reckoning you took several ounces last week. You also kept them for yourself.’ He tutted. ‘That simply won’t do. I expect my people to share their good fortune with others so that as many as possible can benefit from the healing properties of pixie dust. I don’t expect them to keep it all for their own use. That’s just selfish.’
I had to hand it to him, he played a far better villain than I did. I was tempted to pull out a pad and pen so I could take notes. Make other people feel bad about their life choices in order to get what you want; that was a neat trick.
I leaned back against the far wall, casting an eye around the others who were waiting. There were even a few humans scattered about although I shouldn’t have been surprised by that since Rubus had made use of Dave, the human I’d used to take me to the Metropolitan Bar that first time. All the same, I was impressed by Rubus’s gall at using the people he was planning to destroy. Did he care about their futures at all? Then I remembered that all this was my fault in the first place; perhaps I shouldn’t think quite so hard about it.
I’d thought that I might have to work to insinuate myself deeper into the room in order to be noticed but I should have realised that Rubus’d know I was there. As soon as he’d dismissed the quivering pixie-dust addict, he crooked his little finger and beckoned me forward.
‘I take it you heard what happened last night, Madrona,’ he said.
I nodded. ‘I did. You should have let me stay in the restaurant with you guys. I’d have quite happily taken the fall for your arrest. You were very brave to attack a police officer.’ A bit of ego massage never went amiss.
