Page 23 of Phoenix's Last Heist
I stiffen and my pulse skips. He knows too much—or at least enough to be dangerous.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe I’m here trying to recover what you stole from me.”
Iathos chuckles and tugs his boots off, dipping his toes into the water next to mine.
“Now, now. I only stole whatyoustole. Besides, I had every intention of splitting the profits with you. It’s just that I knew my buyer would pay more for that box than Brill ever would,” he says in a low voice that still gives me goosebumps.
I cut him a searing look. “You stole my chance at freedom. Thanks to you, it took me another six months to earn Brill’s trust enough to go after the next score. You have a lot of audacity for someone who owes me thousands of creditsandan explanation about tipping Brill off.” The air between us thickens. My chest tightens, the old betrayal scraping raw again. He’d sold me out once—what’s stopping him from doing it again?
“In fact, you’re pretty lucky to be sitting here with all of your appendages intact—underwhelming as they are.”
“I only told Brill what was common knowledge in our seedy little circles, love.” Iathos smirks.
“I’m not your love!” I snap. “And what—exactly—did you tell him that you think is such common knowledge?”
“Mm, just that you’ve been using your contracts as a smokescreen for what you’re really after.”
My stomach flips. He can’t mean—no, he wouldn’t know. Still, the fact that he’s even close sends panic skittering up my spine.
I snort. “Oh? And what do you think I’m really after?”
“Revenge, darling. It’s painfully obvious.”
Revenge. The word lodges in my throat like a shard of glass. For a moment, I can’t breathe. If he’s guessed even part of it—if he tells Brill—I’m finished. My panic cuts through my irritation, but I school my features in a sarcastic smirk.
“Revenge?” I scoff. “Against you, maybe. Other than that, I don’t have any scores to settle.”
“Tsk.Give me more credit than that, I beg. The fact that you haven’t simply killed Brill is the only thing that’s surprising in the whole mess.” Iathos says with a devious grin. “Tell me, Lyra love, why haven’t you? Unravel this intricate scheme for me, would you?”
Because I’ve tried running. Because I’ve failedsomany times. Because killing him wouldn’t be enough—but he doesn’t get to know that. My temper flares and I feel myvelliaprickle beneath my skin.
My palms tingle, the familiar charge building beneath my skin. Just a flicker of it would send him running—along with everyone else on this dock. Still, the temptation isn’t easy to ignore.
“You’re full of shit, Iathos, and you better stop trying to rile me up because I’m about to unleash a full blast ofvelliaon you.” Finally, his bravado dims a touch. Even the great lover Iathos fears becoming a mindless, rutting beast. “Brill doesn’t give a fuck about me except for what he thinks I can deliver, and I’m not the only thief in his orbit. So, why don’t you be a good little boy and tell me what, exactly, you’ve been dancing around? And I’d hurry it up, by the way. This conversation is making me feel…rather flustered.”
“Keep it under control, Lyra,” Iathos warns, but there’s a note of anxiety that fills me with satisfaction. “Brill thinks your father knew the location of the Dark Star.”
The words hit like a plasma blast to the chest. My breath catches. My vision narrows.
Brill knows. How can he know? My father’s journals are my only remaining secret and there’s no way anyone else found them.Iathos watches me closely—too closely—so I school my features in disbelief.
“The Dark Star?” I laugh.
My laugh sounds too high, too forced. My pulse thunders against my ribs, the heat from earlier curdling into dread.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s a fucking myth cooked up by hallucinating colonists in a starvation haze.”
Iathos lifts one shoulder in forced nonchalance. “Regardless, Brill is certain your father knew where to find it, and I promise you, Lyra, love, Brill won’t let you go until you do. Even then”—he eyes my body appraisingly— “I’d bet he’ll find other reasons to keep you. I know I would.”
Sweat beads at my temples, my body going rigid before my brain can catch up. There it is—the trap snapping shut.
Still, I try to deny the veracity of his words.
“Dark Star or not, if I buy my way out of my contract, I’m as good as gone. Brill respects a deal.” Even as I say it, the words taste bitter with desperate hope. Brill doesn’t respect anything but ownership. And right now, he still owns me.
“Mm, true, but Brill isn’t known to give up his treasures without a fight. And you are quite the treasure.”
He trails a finger across my thigh, but the touch repulses me.
