Page 15 of I Regret Nothing
Rei shook her head.
“She’s always been a free agent. Her coven kicked her out. Other covens would ask her to steal for them, but they didn’t want her in their ranks. I’ve dealt with witches before as clients. I won’t steal something if I know they are going to use it to cause harm.”
“I’m not clueless, Rei. I know about the Grimoire you stole and what it can do,” Astrid said.
“Did you know the coven I stole it from was using it to do bad things?”
“She also didn’t rat on who she stole it for like Venus did. Venus sent several witches to jail,” I said proudly like I’d trained Rei myself.
Rajack had more of an understanding with Astrid than I did. I got the product and moved things around, but Rajack arranged the trades. I’d gotten to know Astrid, but he spent more time with her.
“I know what kind of position this puts you in, Astrid. You can’t be seen siding with Rei over Venus, but you also know we’ll cut you off so fast if you hurt her. You have to work with Venus, so she doesn’t steal your witches. I have an idea.”
I loved it when his gargoyle brain started working. Rajack was super intelligent. It was the entire reason we got the computers figured out so fast, and he helped me get our black market enterprise up and running. Whatever he said was going to save Rei from the witches, leaving us to worry about Faust.
“Blame us,” Rajack said. “Give them a choice. Tell them you discussed the issue with us, and we told you if any witch came at Rei, your coven won’t get any more potion ingredients or talismans. It’s the truth. They can have a choice. Revenge or the black market. They don’t know Venus all that well yet. They can help Venus and lose their potions, or they leave it.”
It was a good idea. It could work. Venus had to want potions too, right? Astrid wouldn’t give her ingredients to hurt Rei. Venus had to be feeling the effects of the cuffs by now. It was like a vital part of you had been taken away. I missed my sphinx more than anything. I could access him in Scorchwood. We all had our magic there. Things were better in Silverhold except for these cuffs. That was why we needed Rei, among the other things we needed her to steal.
Rei just shook her head.
“That may work on the coven, but it won’t work on Venus. If you tell her no, even if the entire coven backs you, she’ll break away and become a free agent again. She did it for years. She’ll start whispering in the ears of other witches until a few have defected. She’ll have her own gang and try again.”
Astrid tossed her blonde hair over her shoulders.
“I trust my witches. If Venus gets banished, she is dead to us. She can whisper, but we won’t listen. Let me deal with my witches. I’ll handle this. I can’t control Venus, but I can handle my coven.”
Astrid disappeared, but I didn’t feel much better about this after everything I’d learned about Venus. Venus wasn’t getting her hands on anything from my black market, but there was plenty of prison provided items she could turn into a weapon.
My thief came with a lot of danger, and I kind of dug it.
Chapter 14
Rei
N
o offense to Astrid. She seemed sweet, but if she thought she could control Venus, I had some property that wasn’t stolen to sell her. And I was pretty sure some of her witches were psycho enough to join Venus. There were always psychos wherever you went, and this was prison. Everyone was psycho here.
Dakarys seemed to think it was handled. I just shook my head.
“Venus is a thief, remember? She’ll either steal from the witches or figure out how your black market works and steal from you. She knows how to work a computer. She could easily order what she needs.”
Dakarys and Rajack just laughed.
“Not with us controlling the mailroom. We’ll steal from her and give it to Astrid. We have to get to work. Have you been assigned a job yet, Rei?”
“I asked Faust for the mailroom, and he informed me he owned me. He also said he’s behind on my paperwork and would eventually get to my commissary. I have a feeling he’s going to use that to his advantage.”
“What are you going to do with your day?”
I just shrugged.
“Probably use the computer in the library and stay away from some witches.”
We said our goodbyes, and I managed to find the library and computers. I meant to email Hauser, but apparently, all forms of email were blocked. They blocked everything except legal sites and sites on how to better yourself. Well, fuck. I guess if it was prison, you couldn’t expect to be able to email. I needed to talk to Hauser. Maybe he could help me with Faust. Where the fuck were the phones?
I managed to find a gym and a window leading out to a yard. No one was out there, but I got my own tour of the prison since Faust didn’t bother to give me one. I found the phones. Could I call him with my commissary not in? I tried to get him collect. Right when it was about to connect, a big, meaty hand hung up the phone. I looked up, and there was fucking Faust.
