Page 149 of Untempered
Amais snorted, and Julius’ bushy brows rose. But they didn’t interrupt.
“First, due to the plague, the flow of information between Council members has slowed. This means some of the plans we’d had in motion have had their timelines shifted.”
“What does this mean for us?” Fennix asked, his voice as neutral as mine.
“That’s a complex question.” I smiled at them. “And it depends on how you feel about some things we must discuss.”
“Discuss, then, boy,” Amais said. “Your masters know our rates.”
My smile turned regretful. I gave them my bestI’m sorrylook. “About that.”
Fennix let out a bitter half-laugh, his mouth twisting to the side. His knee propped up on the table. His right hand dipped down below. I didn’t try to watch the movements.
Fennix hadn’t completed his mage training. He was unregistered, unrestrained, and utterly unrepentant. I’d wondered, for a fleeting time, if we could’ve been friends. I’d thought he was similar to me.
“One of the things we were to do today was settle outstanding debts.” I thought of everything I owed these men.
Thousands and thousands of deaths.
“The Duke is, as you may have noticed, still alive,” I pointed out.
“Someone ended the plague,” Julius shot back. “Probably him and his mages.”
Possibly. The coins weighed heavily in my pocket. Exactly who and how…well, we’d see, wouldn’t we? “The deal was, the Duke would die.”
“I told you he wouldn’t pay,” Fennix said to Julius. “You can tell your Council,” he sneered the word, which I didn’t take offense to. Ihadengaged them without the support of everyone, initially. “We work for coin. We did the work. The integrity of your ploys isn’t our responsibility.”
“I appreciate that this puts you in a difficult position,” I acknowledged. “Youhavereceived coin.”
“Where’s Desmond?” Julius demanded gruffly.
I considered the best way to approach the directness of that question. “I can take you to him, if you’d like?” I offered.
“Is he alive?” Julius asked.
I gave him the regretful smile again.
Amais scraped back his chair. “You?—”
Fennix shoved him back down. “I think it’s time you understood something,Inky,” he said, sneering my childhood nickname. “I don’t take kindly to threats.”
“The simple way to resolve this,” I said, waving between us with one hand, “is to not require threatening, Fennix.” I shrugged. “The next role I have for the three of you?—”
“No.” Julius slapped his hand on the table. “No more jobs until you pay up,boy.You’ve access to purses deep enough.”
“I do,” I agreed. The people holding those purse strings hadn’t approved the last meeting, though they’d approved this one. And the outcomes I’d predicted. “You aren’t going to receive any further coin. You’ve caused untold damage. You unleashed the plague in the wrong area, refused to attempt to control it, and allowed thousands to die.”
“On your orders,” Amais snarled.
But I was watching Fennix as he rolled his head on his neck, a small, bitter smile on his mouth. “This isn’t how men of honor do business,” Julius said stiffly. “I know a few of your Council members, boy. Iknowthey didn’t approve your actions last time. Iknowthey’re upset with you.”
I shrugged again. I’d managed the situation. And while Amais drew breath, his face red and breaths short, I kept on watching Fennix as he lifted his hand from where it had been concealed by his hip to show a brooch with a clockwork raven on it. It wasn’t entirely uncommon. Sometimes, they were even just brooches.
But in Fennix’s hand, there was no doubt that it was spelled.
He turned it over in his fingers. Either side of him, the two older mages sat back, and fear coiled in my belly.
I wrapped a hand around the cup I’d poured.
