8. Kiera

Chapter 8

Kiera

I gritted my teeth, trying to hate the command despite its soft delivery.

Ruru tossed me a blanket, and I shook it out over the damp earth. Hiding less of my pain, I crumpled onto the blanket and stretched out.

Aiden knelt beside me, his broad shoulders and salty scent filling my world. I turned my head away and stared at the post near my head.

Warm, roughened fingers slipped under my shirt, grazing the skin on my stomach. I twitched but didn’t move away. His touch traveled over my rib cage in firm strokes. Like a healer’s would. Pursuing facts rather than feeling as a lover might. I relaxed.

“No breaks, no cracks,” he murmured. “May I see your skin to check the bruising?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

My shirt glided upward as if drawn by a breeze. He made a low noise in his throat that made me tense again.

“What is it?”

“You’re going to be quite sore for the next few days.” He paused, and I snuck a glance at his face. Rage, like what he’d shown as the Wolf was chaining me to the wall, harshened his features. “Renwell did this?”

“And the jailer.”

His eyes flashed to mine, and that ominous heat crawled back into my belly. “They will pay, Kiera. I swear on my soul.”

I shivered. Holy Four, how did he do that? “I’m no one to you,” I whispered.

“You are everyone,” he whispered back. “Everyone I’m fighting for.”

I blinked. What in the deep, dark, wandering hell did that mean? Fighting whom for what? Was he admitting to being a rebel?

His thumb stroked my skin, and I forgot everything else.

Before I could react, he glared down at my skin and jerked his hand away as if appalled it had done such a thing. He pulled down my shirt and walked away without another word.

I stared after him, thoroughly confused.

Maz and Ruru filled the room with their snores, a noise I had somehow missed in the last few moments.

Maz had slumped against the wall next to Ruru, but Aiden kicked his boot. “Take the hammock. I’ll keep watch.”

Maz grunted and slung his bulk into one of the hammocks. Aiden dug something out of the crate and stalked back to me.

He thrust a flat tin into my hands. “Salve for your bruises. It’ll ease the pain and help you sleep.”

I opened my mouth to ask what was in it, but he cut me off. “You can try to sleep in the hammock, but it will probably make the pain worse. I recommend staying where you are.” He untied the empty hammock and draped it over my lap. “That’s the best I can do.”

“Thank”—he turned away and slipped out the door—“you.”

Was my presence truly so repulsive that he couldn’t even stay in the room? He likely regretted bringing me here. I wondered of his plan—and if I’d already managed to fail my task.

Questions burned through my mind until they were wisps of smoke I couldn’t see in the darkness of exhaustion. If only I could chase after him and demand answers. But if torture and imprisonment hadn’t worked, neither would demands.

I pried open the tin. A yellowish jelly-like substance gleamed inside. It smelled bitter with a hint of spice I couldn’t name. I smeared a thin layer of it across my rib cage and noticed an immediate coolness to my skin. I nearly whimpered with relief.

Maybe I could wait for him to come back. Make sure he didn’t do anything without my knowing. Maybe...

A door slamming startled me awake. I tried to sit up and immediately fell back.

“Gods damn it,” I moaned, the pain in my ribs crackling to life. I rubbed the grit out of my eyes and licked the dried salt from my lips.

“A pleasant afternoon to you as well, little thief.”

Memories came flooding back to me at the sound of his voice—the same one that had haunted my dreams. I managed to push myself to a sitting position. Light peeked through the cracks in the door, filtering around Aiden’s figure.

What did he look like in true daylight? He was wearing the same clothes as before and was still barefoot. He looked like any other bone-rattler who’d rolled out of a hammock after a long night of celebrating. I cringed to think how I looked.

I glanced around, if only to avoid Aiden’s prying gaze. “Where are Ruru and Maz?”

“Maz is getting food and water and checking to see if anyone is on high alert for escaped prisoners. And Ruru had things to do, but he told me to tell you goodbye.”

My gaze jumped back to his. “Goodbye? Will I not see him again?”

Aiden leaned against the door, my only way out. “No.”

I nearly growled in frustration. “Why not?”

“Because you set sail in two hours on the evening tide.”

Anger pumped blood and energy through my veins. I shot to my feet. “I’m not sailing anywhere.”

He gave me a long, emotionless look. “Yes, you are. To Eloren. My captain will drop you at a friendly port where you can live your life, free and without pursuit.”

What? Was that what he’d been doing while I slept? Booking me passage on a ship out to the pirate-infested isles?

“But first, you will tell me everything you know about the High Treasurer’s vault.”

My heart sang with triumph that he’d taken the bait even as my pride bristled. “I will ? Is this the payment required for my safe passage?” Not that I would be going anywhere. Never leave the city had been another of Renwell’s rules.

He frowned. “No. You will have safe passage, regardless.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “Then perhaps you should ask me instead of commanding me. I don’t work for you.”

A slow smile curled his lips. “Would you obey me then? Because it sounds as though you weren’t any better at following orders from those you did work for.”

He meant Julian. I looked away. “There are some commands that I will never obey.”

“And you are stronger for it.”

I glanced at him in surprise. No one had ever praised me for disobedience. Quite the opposite. It was strange. He provoked my temper so quickly, yet he could soothe it to embers in the same argument. I couldn’t figure him out as easily as I could others.

Which made him the most dangerous.

A heavy thump sounded against the door. Aiden opened it to let in Maz, whose hands were full of a few loaves of bread and a jug of water. An orange bulged out of his pocket.

His blue eyes lit up when he spotted me. “Lovely, you’re awake!” He looked between the two of us. “Did I miss something?”

I smiled sweetly. “Aiden was just about to ask for more information concerning the High Treasurer’s vault.”

A snort of derision came from Aiden, and Maz narrowed his eyes at him. “You said you would wait for me.”

“And I have,” Aiden said. “She’s told me nothing more.”

Both men looked at me, but I was distracted by the smell of freshly baked bread.

“Food first,” I said.

We settled on the floor. Maz broke the loaves into pieces and passed them out. One loaf was sweet with cinnamon, the other riddled with herbs and garlic. Was the choice lucky or purposeful? Perhaps an attempt to bolster my good will.

Either way, I didn’t question it. I gobbled down every morsel they handed me. Washing down the warm bread with cold water tasted better than the finest banquet I’d ever had at the palace. I savored the orange’s juicy flesh like I might never taste one again.

“Anything?” Aiden asked Maz as they also devoured their portions.

Maz shook his head, his cheeks bulging. “Not a whisper.”

Aiden’s gaze went distant, thoughtful.

“Is that strange?” I asked. “Wouldn’t they alert the day guards and the harbor towers?” Unless Renwell was keeping it quiet because of me. But that only looked more suspicious.

“One can never be too sure with the High Enforcer,” Aiden said. “He’s always playing one game or another. It could be that he thinks we’re dead. Or he can’t admit to anyone outside the Den that two prisoners escaped his legendary clutches.”

The hatred in Aiden’s tone sent a chill down my spine. Was it simply because of what Renwell had done to him in the Den?

“I say it’s a boon from Mynastra,” Maz announced. “Now, let’s talk about the gold.”

I almost smiled at his eagerness. He would be crestfallen when whatever plan they had failed. Renwell would never allow them to steal from Father. I just needed the plan to take long enough to discover what Aiden was really doing in Aquinon and then escape before they found out who I was and what I’d done.

That thought brought me comfort as I spread my hands wide. “What do you want to know?”

Aiden’s eyes pierced me, his relaxed posture belying the intensity in his eyes. “You said you watched Asher show the vault to the prince and princesses. But did you see how exactly he opened it? How many guards were there?”

“Only one guard because Asher thinks the door is unbreachable. He keeps the key around his neck at all times. Never takes it off.” I paused. “And the vault door has several false locks that, if tripped, will require a key from the king to unlock.”

“Do you know which is the right keyhole?” Maz asked.

I swallowed hard and nodded, the door gleaming in my memory. “Yes... if I saw it again.”

“And how would you do that?” Aiden demanded.

“By helping you unlock it, of course.”

Maz grinned and eased back against the wall, licking his fingers, while Aiden leaned forward with a glare. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not? You need someone who can get close enough to Asher to steal the key without tipping him off. And you need someone who’s seen the vault door to unlock it. That’s me .” I tapped one of my sore cheeks. “What is it again you like to keep calling me? Oh, yes. Little thief. Well, Aiden, it appears you have need of one.”

Maz hooted with laughter, slapping his thigh. “Ah, fucking Four, I’ll take her on if you don’t, brother.”

The fury in Aiden’s eyes scorched the air between us, and I basked in the heat. I’d neatly played him, and he knew it. Looks like I win again.

But then his expression shifted, calmed. My skin prickled in warning.

“If you are telling the truth and if I allow you to join us, you will be working for me, obeying my orders.” He gave me a serpentine smile. “Is that something you can do?”

My stomach turned over. I hated the idea of being under his thumb. But it was the only way. “I will never harm anyone for you. Or allow harm to come to myself beyond what I deem necessary.”

Disgust hardened his face. “I wouldn’t command anything of the sort.”

“Then it shouldn’t?—”

“ But ,” he cut in, “I would require you to live with us and be under our watch at all times.”

I balked. How would I ever report to Renwell? “Why?”

“I don’t trust you.” He gestured to the door. “And if that’s a problem, then you can leave now on a ship bound for Eloren. You will be safer there.”

Safer for you. I knew things now that he didn’t want me to know. About Maz, about this hideout, about him. I could turn them all in. He was right not to trust me, but I had to convince him he could. Otherwise, I would never find out what he’d been doing in the Den or why he was so desperate for gold.

“I have no money,” I said carefully, “and the only skills I possess would land me in other unsavory jobs. All that in a foreign world. How is that safer?”

His jaw clenched. “A city where the High Enforcer and his Wolves will be hunting you is far more dangerous than the unknown. Especially when you plan to steal from another High Councilor.”

“If it’s so dangerous, then why don’t you leave?” I demanded, jabbing my finger at both Aiden and Maz. “ You stole from them and killed two Wolves.”

Maz threw up his hands as if to defend himself, but Aiden beat him to it. “I can’t leave,” he snarled. “I’ve evaded them for years while you’ve never lived outside the palace. You won’t survive here.”

“Not without you,” I reminded him bitterly.

“Even then, I can’t promise anything.” Aiden sat back into the shadows. “You would be safer far from here, Kiera.”

He would give up his chance at the gold to keep me out of Aquinon? What game was this? I frowned and glanced at Maz, who shifted uncomfortably.

“What he means is, we’ve seen a lot of suffering and death,” Maz said. “We don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Or you simply want me out of the way to conduct your crimes.

“I’m staying,” I said. “I want my fair share of the gold. I want to take it from the bastards who did this to me.” I swallowed. “To Julian.”

“Then you’ll leave right after the heist,” Aiden replied. “That gold will buy you a life anywhere you want... and your silence.” He stood and slowly extended his hand from the shadows. An offering, a promise.

I rose to my feet and stepped into the shadows with him. “Deal.”

I placed my hand in his, and he gripped it as hard as I did.

“Then we have work to do, little thief.”