Chapter 41

I wasn't sure how many times poor Ziola had raced down to the kitchen for more food. Ralph had finally carried a firkin of ale up to the room, so at least she wasn't balancing pitchers in addition to platters like a tavern wench. Hunger still gnawed, and I doubted my legs could support me, but at least my head was clear, and I knew where I was. I had also progressed to eating with utensils instead of my hands. I didn't have the most polished manners at the best of times, but even I was embarrassed that Ziola had seen me tearing into food like a snarling animal.

Ziola sat next to me on the bed and asked. "Do you feel up to telling me about it?"

I swallowed a mouthful of stew and lowered the spoon to my bowl. "It was confusing. At first, I saw Keillan take the box with the Eye, tie it around his neck, and put on his sealskin. He dropped the box somewhere in the depths of the ocean."

"That sounds good," Ziola offered.

"I think so, but everything got jumbled after that." I shook my head and ate more stew. "The first scene after Keillan was Sageport, as it is today. Or at least that's how it looked to me. But a moment later it shifted, and the city was slightly different. Then different again. The shifts came faster, and each was more dire than the last. In one, the city was overrun by hobgoblins. In another, the buildings had crumbled and were covered with vines."

I dropped the spoon and rubbed my temples. "The scenes were flashing by so fast, my stomach was roiling and my head ready to explode. I couldn't make it stop."

Ziola pushed her soft, warm body up against me and rubbed my biceps. Her vanilla and lavender scent filled my nostrils, and I dropped an arm around her shoulders. Simply having her near seemed to calm some of the anxiety I felt while recounting the visions.

"Then everything went dark." I didn't tell her how desperately I'd tried to return to the visions. Or how terrified I was that I'd completely lose myself to the Eye. I was as helpless to resist its call as a sailor was a siren's.

Ziola rested her palm on my chest and said, "Don't stop eating. I can feel every rib."

I smiled down into her beautiful green eyes and picked up the spoon, dutifully shoveling in more stew.

After a while, she said, "I wonder if all the conflicting visions were the Eye's way of discouraging you from dropping it in the ocean. You said before it likes to be used."

"Or it likes to suck energy from users. I'm not sure which." I chewed thoughtfully. "But you may be right. It might have thrown every possible outcome at me, no matter how remote, simply to cloud the issue."

"We need to talk to Keillan."

I didn't like it, but she was right. He seemed to be the best choice.

Ziola offered to make another trip to the kitchen, but I cupped her face in my hands and pressed my lips to hers. Our kiss was slow and deep, filled with a tenderness that had been missing from my life for far too long. I felt her hands on my chest, her body molding to mine, and I sighed into her mouth. I wanted more, but without sleep, and probably more food, I would be unable to give her the pleasure she deserved.

She seemed to sense my mood and said, "You need to rest."

"Only if you stay with me," I said as I stretched out on the bed and pulled her down with me.

"Of course," she said and snuggled close.

As I lay there with Ziola in my arms, I counted my blessings for her presence. I had long ago walled off the part of me that needed anyone, but somehow Ziola had slipped inside. She brought me a peace I had never known and the thought of losing her was unbearable. By the gods, I needed her.

Running my fingers through her soft hair, I moved to hold her tighter. Soon after, I drifted into a deep, contented sleep.

After cleaning Ralph's kitchen out once again the next morning, I was eager to get rid of the Eye of Oris. I opened the wardrobe where Ziola had tossed the box and pulled it out. I was about to drop it into a pocket when Ziola held out her hand.

"Let me carry it," she said.

I thought about objecting but realized it was smarter if she held it. Although the Eye wasn't whispering to me with the lid closed, as soon as I had touched the box, the urge to open it gnawed at my gut. She dropped it into a pouch on her belt and slung the bow across her back.

We left the tavern while Ralph gazed with regret at his depleted stock and prepared to order more supplies. I'd repay him as soon as this business was finished.

Enforcers were evident in The Stony Mug's working-class neighborhood, but their presence was significantly less when we entered the rookeries en route to the harbor. The sun's light filtered through a haze of smoke and fog, painting the narrow, winding streets in muted grays and browns. The air was thick with the smell of cooked cabbage and the sharp tang of soot from the many chimneys.

Even without Enforcers on every corner, the quarter was tense and quiet. The few people on the street trod warily and kept their heads down, avoiding eye contact. Despite the surroundings, Ziola's steps were light and assured as she navigated the cluttered alleys with a dancer's grace. Just having her by my side lifted my mood and had me thinking of what might be possible when this was all over.

I paid for my lighthearted distraction a few moments later when Halder stepped out of a side alley, catching me completely unawares. With a curse, I threw out an arm to stop Ziola and place myself between her and Halder. My stomach dropped when three massive men loomed in the alley behind him, their broad shoulders and towering forms creating an intimidating tableau. One had a shaved head and small eyes set deep beneath a heavy brow, another had a mane of tangled, dirty hair and a squashed nose—no doubt the result of many fights, while the third had closely cropped, wiry hair and a scar down one cheek.

Halder worked alone, like me, so I could only assume he had hired these menacing, hard-faced men specifically to retrieve the orb. Perhaps my note asking to discuss a trade hadn't been as persuasive as I'd intended. I hoped I could talk my way out of this situation now.

Donning the most charming smile I could muster, I said, "Hello, Halder. I didn't expect to find you here. Did you get my message?"

Halder glided forward, his movement slow and sinuous. "I did." He glanced around me at Ziola and narrowed his eyes in speculation.

"I told you the guild directors were trying to force me to take on managerial responsibilities." I hooked a thumb at Ziola. "This is the apprentice they saddled me with."

His brows shot up. "A girl?"

"Lorget thinks we should be more equal opportunity." I shrugged. "Instead of just using women for honey traps."

Halder laughed and I could feel Ziola bristling as she stepped up next to me. I elbowed her in the side and prayed she'd keep her mouth shut. Ziola looked younger than she was, and I needed Halder to think she was insignificant so he would let her go—or at least ignore her. If he considered her a threat, she would become a target, and I couldn't bear that.

Turning to Ziola, I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you run along back to the guildhall and I'll catch up with you later."

Halder examined her more closely and noticed the bow hanging on her back. "Is she any good with that?"

With a dismissive snort, I replied, "She likes to think she's a lady centaur, galloping about and taking down her foes with a well-placed shot." I rolled my eyes and looked heavenward. "She's more like a circus pony with a fancy feather bouncing on her head."

Ziola glared at me so hard I thought my hair might catch fire, but I squeezed her shoulder tighter and turned her around. Patting her on the ass, I said, "Go on now."

I breathed a small sigh of relief when her slender form disappeared around the corner, and she was out of Halder's sight.

Turning back, I held up my hands in a placating gesture. "So, are you willing to consider a trade? I've got something you'll like better than the original artifact."

One eyebrow kicked up and he said, "Unless it's worth a king's ransom, I doubt I'll be interested."

"Ah, but it is. At least for people like us." I no longer considered myself to be like Halder but hoped that he would be more amenable to my trade if he did.

Maintaining one hand in the air, I slowly extracted the blade with the trapped elemental spirit from inside my vest. I placed it flat across my palms to show Halder that I wasn't threatening him with it and glanced at his hired thugs. Their cold eyes tracked my every movement.

Halder stepped closer and peered at the knife. The gemstones in the hilt glinted in the alley's muted daylight, and the blade glowed with a faint, otherworldly light. "Looks like a pretty toy. Why would I want that?"

"According to the placard in the auction house, it contains a trapped elemental spirit that thirsts to be released in battle. I'm not certain but I think maybe a wind spirit."

A hint of avarice gleamed in Halder's gold-flecked, green eyes that he quickly extinguished. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, it hasn't gotten hot or wet yet." I gave him a crooked smile. "I figure that means it's not a fire or water spirit."

Halder gave me a flat look and said, "It's nice but I need the Eye of Oris."

I had known trading the knife for the Eye was unlikely, but I had held on to the slim hope that Halder would find a spirit-enhanced dagger irresistible. My shoulders slumped as all hope of a peaceful resolution skittered down the alley like a piece of wind-blown trash. I thanked the gods that Ziola was safely out of the picture because this was about to become unpleasant.

"I don't have it," I said.

"Who does? The chit?" Halder's eyes bore into mine.

"Of course not. Do you think I'd trust some girl apprentice?" I held my gaze steady and thanked the gods Halder was human and couldn't smell my adrenaline spike at the mention of Ziola.

He sighed and said, "You are the closest thing I had to a son, and I don't want to hurt you. But a deal is a deal, and you owe me the Eye."

"You can't give it to the fae." I told him about my second vision and the reversal of the Great Pact.

Halder stood for several minutes and seemed to mull over my information. Then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'll negotiate a special dispensation. I can include you, too."

I stared at him dumbly. How could he think subjugating all other races to the high fae was acceptable, no matter what deal he could make for himself?

"Besides," he continued. "People will always need assassins." He ran a hand through his silver-threaded hair and tugged on one ear. "They'll need spies, too. We'll both be fine."

"Halder, we can't…" My words trailed off and sweat trickled down my spine as I tried to think of an argument to sway him.

Halder regarded me with something akin to pity. "I'm sorry, Remy," he said. Then he snapped his fingers and waved the three behemoths forward.