Page 150 of Untempered
“Luca,” he said slowly. “You and I, we’re new to this game. I don’t know who’s tutoringyou,but I know the person who tutoredmealways advised I never threaten anyone with something I wasn’t willing to survive myself.”
Considering the things I’d heard Fennix threaten, I doubted anything he’d just said was true. I let him speak, though, because anything else would just drag this out.
“As you know,” he went on, “I lost my mother a few years ago.”
There it was. TheI have someone in your home.I felt sick. I’d never wanted it to come to this.
Do the job, Luca.
“This brooch?” He flipped it between his fingers. “Simple make, really, isn’t it? If the beak opens…well, ravens eat meat, Inky.”
I wished, for a moment, that my parents had given me a less embarrassing pet name. “Fascinating,” I said. “Did you want to explain further, Fen?”
He looked at me like I was simple. “Do I need to?” he asked me softly.
I shrugged, digging back into my pocket. “I never understood threatening people’s loved ones. So you kill my mother. What about next time? You may as well just torture me. That’s a resource that’ll deplete much slower.” I pulled out the brooch’s pair, tossing it onto the table. “That was another point of conversation,” I acknowledged, nodding toward it and dipping back into my pocket and taking out the fistful of buckles, earrings, necklaces, and pins I’d taken from their spies, then gently spreading them across the table. “This is your man,” I mused, flicking a buckle to Julius. “And this was his partner. She was lovely.” The necklace went too. “Amias, your cook was excellent.” The pin I flicked over, I did with regret. “All of this I usually would have sent via merchant,” I acknowledged, divvying it all up. “But,” I laughed a little. “The plague, it had unforeseen impacts, did it not?”
“Some of us aren’t afraid of death,” Fennix said softly. “You couldn’t torture me if you tried, Luca.”
“I did consider that,” I agreed conversationally. From the bottom of my mind, images swam up of the dead I’d helped carry over the winter. My belly clutched, and for a moment, the shame impaled me.
I shifted and felt the weighted coins in my pocket. “Drink?” He ignored me, so I took my hand from the cup. “Julius, you don’t love anyone. Who could I possibly take to ensure your behavior?”
“How do you think we got out of the mage guild?” he demanded, the words icy. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“You’re right, I’m sure,” I agreed, injecting humility into my words, the student being incorrectly schooled by their senior. I untied a pouch I’d hoped not to use from my belt. “You don’t love anyone, Julius.” I set the pouch on the table. The tongue of a little silver bell gave a half-chime. I drew out a piece of parchment, blackened around the edges, and unfortunately crumpled, and slid it over to him. “But you do have such an admirable cheese collection. The experts you pay, and the recipe you use? It’s really quite fine. Perfected over years. You couldn’t replace that research. Not in this lifetime.” I didn’t wait for the blood to drain from Julius’ face. “And Amais, you don’t take pleasure in much.”
“I enjoy being paid,” he said between his teeth, but his eyes were on the pouch.
I tipped it up, sending the bell onto the table. A sweet little silver bell that made me want to vomit.Do the job.“And you enjoy your lovely cat,” I agreed. “Such a soft little baby, with her big, round eyes.”
He stood, thrusting back his chair. “What sort of monster?—”
“Shame if something happened to her,” I said softly. “That fuzzy coat of hers, it isn’t much protection, is it? She’s so delicate.” I deliberately didn’t look at Fennix. “With her dark, glossy hair. And her new little kitten, too, in the basement next door. Luxuriously outfitted, hidden from view.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Fennix’s jaw tighten, and I twisted the knife a little more. “Sheshouldbe safe there, shouldn’t she?”
Fennix’s jaw tightened.
Amais laughed, relief in the sound. “What are you talking about?” he demanded.
I clicked my tongue. My heart was beating too fast in my chest, and I couldn’t resist the urge to look toward Fennix any longer. His hand was dipping down again, out of view. “I must be thinking of someone else’s pussy?—”
His upper body twisted. A silver blur arced through the air toward me, and my heart lurched. The clockwork weapon was small, round, and landed between my hand and my chest with aclickand the reek of burning hair.
A few sparks came out of it, and then it popped open, silver clockwork pieces, chunks of crystal, and oil falling over the table as if a handful of junk had been dumped from someone’s carefully cupped hands.
I picked up a piece and dropped it into the liquid in my cup, which hissed and spat.
They were silent.
“You told me you’d kill the Duke,” I reminded them all softly. “I’m not paying for shoddy work. Not in coin. But I am willing to pay you back for my disappointment, unless you improve my mood.” I looked at the three of them—Amais’ red face, Julius’ fixed expression, Fennix’s set jaw. I’d made enemies. But at least now they’d go aftermefor their retribution.
We couldn’t afford to lose them.
And I couldn’t afford to let them go after my loved ones before they went after me.
“I’m a better ally than I am an enemy,” I told them all, keeping the words regretful. “So let’s work on rebuilding our trust in one another.” I looked at Amais pointedly, and he grabbed his chair in a white-knuckled hand and dragged it back under his backside, sitting at the table.
“I have the perfect place to start,” I told them all, my smile changing to become welcoming as I drew out a map of Black Borough.
Take La’Angi, take the east. Take the Borough, take the west.
Take the kingdom.
