Page 70 of Company of Thieves
“They appear to be having an argument,” Jack told Octavia. “A whispered argument. That can’t be good. They were just married a few hours ago.”
“Oh, like that’s not jealousy pure and simple?” Hallie scoffed at Alan’s wholly reasonable and proper determination to ensure her former lovers didn’t cause them any strife, not that he could immediately call to mind just how they might do that. She placed her hand on his, her thumb making gentle circles when she said, “Would it make you feel better if I told you that I can absolutely, one hundred percent guarantee that my exes will not cause us any problem whatsoever?”
“If you recall, my love, we had an argument on the way from the church on the day we were wed,” Octavia pointed out. “Due to your most improper ideas of activities suitable to riding in a steam carriage.”
Jack grinned at her.
“I would feel more comfortable if I was to meet with them myself,” Alan said. “I have a few things I wish to say to them.”
“I’m afraid that’s going to be nigh on impossible,” Hallie answered, but before he could ask her why she insisted on protecting her former lovers if they meant nothing at all to her, Octavia spoke.
“Alan, if you are done with your discussion with Hallie, we would all, I believe, appreciate it if you would come to the point of this meeting, which, as I understand it, has something to do with an offer that William made you. We are naturally all attention to hear just what this offer was.”
Her voice cut through the thoughts of what he wanted to do with Hallie’s previous lovers. “Eh? Ah, yes, that.” He shot Hallie a quelling look, but she just raised her eyebrows, her eyes sparkling with an inner joy that warmed him to his toes despite the desire to continue arguing with her. Quickly, he recounted the conversation with William.
“He gave no idea as to why he wished to meet with us?” Jack asked, looking thoughtful.
“No, although I have a suspicion my days as a diplomat in his court are over,” Alan replied, and again rubbed his upper lip. His embryonic mustache was at the stage where it annoyed him.
“You think he recognized you?” Octavia asked, glancing from him to Jack.
“William saw him dressed just like Akbar, with Akbar’s men, in the act of pillaging his storehouse,” Hallie replied calmly, earning her a look of approval from Alan. “You said yourself that the emperor isn’t stupid. Of course he recognized him. What I want to know is why he wasn’t angry about it.”
“That would be because there wasn’t that much in the storehouse to steal,” Alan said, leaning back in his chair, draping his arm over Hallie’s shoulders, his fingers tangled in her hair while he stroked the back of her neck. “In fact, it was almost empty, with the exception of a company of guards who resided in a makeshift barracks at the back. Etienne’s tales of William stockpiling goods was either false or he’d been at them before us, and I find that difficult to believe given the time of Hallie’s arrival at theEnterprise.”
“I’m so sorry we’re late,” Safie said, hurrying into the room, followed by Zand, the latter of whom, Alan was amused to note, wore an expression that was part guilt and part satiation. Clearly, his sister had wasted no time in acquainting herself with the charms of her new husband. “We were held up a bit. Did we miss anything?”
Everyone politely ignored the fact that it was evident just why they were delayed. Alan recounted for a second time the brief meeting with William.
“You shot him?” Safie asked Hallie, clearly admiring her prowess. “But Zand said ... erm ... he said that you ...”
“Suck at other weapons?” Hallie sighed. “He’s right, although I don’t think I’m nearly as bad as Alan makes out. The accident with the daggers was just a fluke, and I didn’t really shoot off the toe of one of Alan’s men. I just singed his boot a little when the disruptor malfunctioned. Yes, it did set fire to one of the men’s tents, but that wasn’t really my fault, because the man I’d onlyjust barely shotwent running around screaming that I’d blown off his foot, and the flames from his leg caught hold on the tent fabric. It’s very dry in Tunisia, you know. I really liked the area, although I suppose that’s neither here nor there in the subject of how unreliable those guns are. Honestly, I don’t know how you people use them. They’re so temperamental.”
A silence followed Hallie’s statement, one in which everyone present stared at her for a few stunned seconds before their gazes all shifted to Alan.
“She didn’t blow off his foot, although he did take my offer to leave my company a few days later,” Alan told them. “But as Hallie pointed out, that’s not a pertinent point. The decision that faces us is what we are going to do about William’s invitation. Do I go meet him by myself in case it is an attempt to trap us?”
“How about hell, no?” Hallie said firmly.
“Or do the captains meet with him to see what it is he wants?” Alan rubbed his upper lip again, his mind turning over all the possible reasons why William might have acted as he did. “It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he has something up his sleeve with regards to Etienne.”
“I believe now would be a good moment to discuss the future of the Company of Thieves,” Octavia said with a glance at Jack, who nodded. “With the addition of Alan and Zand to active participation with the Company, we may wish to move in a new direction.”
“What sort of new direction?” Alan asked. “You don’t intend on fighting William outright, do you?”
“No,” Jack said slowly. “Our thought was that since our company has filled out with your arrival, and Zand taking over for Safie—not that we wish her replaced, since she has been an able and dedicated captain—but Tavy and I thought that the Company might start shifting from a purely reactive status to one more proactive.”
“Fighting,” Hallie said with satisfaction, patting Alan on the leg again. “At last, we’ll be able to make some real changes.”
“What sort of changes?” he asked, frowning at the puzzle she presented. He knew full well how upset she’d been at the sight of the soldiers that had been killed at the storehouse, and yet now she was advocating for more fighting? Had he misread her character so badly?
“We’ll be able to help all those people who have been caught between William and the Black Hand and the Mogh—your father,” she said, her eyes bright with excitement. “Real help, not just a few supplies stolen from the baddies to get them through a few days like Jack and Octavia and the others have been doing.”
Alan lifted Hallie’s hand from his thigh and kissed it, relieved that his sudden doubts were ungrounded. Hadn’t she told him the first time they met that she had wanted to learn to fight to help Jack and Octavia? His little dove had a core of steel in her that he was only now learning to appreciate.
“We thought—Tavy and I—that we might be able to help bring about the end of these wars,” Jack said, his expression solemn. “I realize that sounds borderline egomaniacal to think we have that sort of power, but it’s been our intention all along to work toward the destruction of the holds on Europe by both the Black Hand and the Moghuls.”
“And William?” Alan asked.
