Page 24 of Phoenix's Last Heist
“I should gut you like the low-life worm you are and toss you into this sea. I wonder what manner of creature will come up from the depths to nibble at your black heart.”
Iathostsksagain. “Such violence! That’s not the Lyra I remember.” He slides a foot up the swell of my calf beneath the water. “Except in bed.”
True, Iathos and I enjoyed a fair bit of extracurricular intimacy, but now the thought turns my stomach. I pull away, my fingers itching to throttle him.
“What do you want, Iathos?”
“I should think that was obvious, love,” he drawls again.
Unease snakes through me as my suspicions take shape. He’s not here by accident. Brill sent him, which means our ticking clock just sped up.
“No, I mean, why are you here? This can’t be a chance meeting. Did Brill hire you? There’s no way you justhappenedto be on Amphitreas the day I arrived. Out with it, Iathos!”
Something dark flashes in Iathos’s black eyes and I silently curse myself.Stupid, Lyra! Of course this isn’t a chance meeting.
I start to back away, but Iathos jumps up and latches onto my arm with brute strength and simmering violence. His charm falls away like the mask I knew it was.
“Listen to me, Lyra…” But whatever he’s about to say dies on his lips as a shadow falls over us both.
“Excuse me, am I interrupting something?” Orion approaches us warily, no doubt taking in my anger and Iathos’s grip on my arm.
“Who areyou?” Iathos sneers, glancing between Orion and I.
“I’m her owner,” Orion says.
“No, Orion, notowner—patron. And no, Iathos, he’s my partner.”
“Owner?” Iathos repeats, incredulously, sizing up Orion’s massive frame. “Does Brill know?” A laugh bubbles up in his chest. “Owner? Get real. Some dumb tower of meat like youowningLyra Phoenix.”
Every muscle in me coils, ready to strike. He’s drawing attention. He’s putting everything I’ve worked for in danger. If anyone down this dock hears my name in the same breath as Brill’s, we’re cooked.
His laughter grows louder, until it carries far enough down the dock to draw attention. The last of the crates has been loaded and the cargo has been stowed, and I’ve had just about enoughfunfor one day. I grit my teeth.
I can feel my freedom slipping between my fingers like sand. I need control—over Iathos, over Orion, over the narrative.
“Orion, go wait in the ship,” I order. “Iathos, you owe me some answers.”
“No,” they both say at once.
Perfect. Two men, one ego contest, and me—the only one with something real to lose. I groan, frustration building to volcanic proportions.
“Lyra, love, I think we need to chat,” Iathos says, tugging at my arm painfully.
I wince. “Orion,go wait in the ship.”
“Hey, take your hands off her!” Orion growls.
“Yeah,Orion,” Iathos pantomimes. “Do as she says and go wait in the ship. This doesn’t concern you!”
That’s it. I’m going to call forth myvelliaand get some damn answers from Iathos. If Orion is too much of a stubborn fool to get out of the blast radius, so be it. I close my eyes and block out the sounds of the two men arguing, summoning as much desire as I can. I feel it rise through my blood, finding form beneath my skin. But before I can let it go, the pressure of Iathos’s hand on my arm is gone, and I hear a large splash.
When my eyes fly open, Orion stands next to me, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Iathos is in the water—quite a fair distance from the dock, and extremely pissed off about it. Stunned, I turn to Orion.
“What the fuck?” I ask. “Did you just…throw him in?”
“Yes,” he replies matter-of-factly. “He seemed to need some cooling off.”
Iathos swears a blue streak and screams at us, side stroking his way back to the dock.
