Chapter 6 Silver
SILVER
Gideon, Kleos, and I didn’t usually eat at Zest, even when one of us squirrelled enough money away to pay their exorbitant prices.
We got it delivered, because the bill tended to double after their delicious yet eye-wateringly expensive little cocktails.
Besides, while I loved dressing up, Kleos hated the formal dresses her evil stepmother used to buy for her, and didn’t purchase any black-tie outfits herself, saving her money to move out of her parent’s place some day instead.
Zest was definitely a black-tie kind of place. I half expected the ma?tre d’ to tell off Cas for daring to step in here in a simple T-shirt, but she was too busy drooling at the defined muscles flexing under the tight dark fabric to object.
I managed not to roll my eyes as she led us to the best table in the trendy, fancy space, all black and white with the occasional gold accent.
“Get this menu away from me,” I hissed as I pushed the polished standee with the long list of drinks.
Kleos gasped. “But you love the Zest cocktails!”
I pouted. “My wallet doesn’t.”
As of Monday, I’d earn seven gold an hour as opposed to the measly three I got as a Guard trainee. That was a good salary, even in Highvale. In the outside world, it was the equivalent of about fifty quid, or seventy dollars, depending on the conversion rate of the day.
Maybe after a few years saving up my protector salary, I’d shrug at spending ten golds on one drink, but right now, the thought made me sweat.
Lucian reached out for the menu, and put it down right in front of me. “You just got promoted, smols. Dinner’s on us tonight.”
By us, he meant him, and his endless pool of golds. Kleos might have been the Valesco heir, and I supposed that her trust fund must have been signed over to her now that she was married, but her fortune couldn’t compare to Lucian’s.
I didn’t even take into account that Kleos married a man who made Midas look like a pauper. Usually, we split our bills three ways.
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t want to be that friend who sucks on your money because you’re loaded.”
“Don’t insult the man. He likes to remind the plebe that money means nothing to him.” Gideon laughed, dragging the menu to him. “She’ll want the Atlantis Falls, and I’m eyeing the Pixie Fire.”
I wasn’t convinced.
“We’ll cover the whole table no matter what,” Kleos asserted. “Cas is our guest, and we invited you tonight to celebrate your accomplishment.” She shrugged. “Gideon’s just sponging.”
“Hey!” He pouted. “Not any more than Cas.”
The newcomer tilted his head. “I have no need to…sponge? I have an account here, I believe.”
We all turned to him, expressions ranging from delight to suspicion.
Lucian, frowning, asked, “Have you been in town before, then?”
Kleos was excited. “You’re starting to remember.”
Gideon just perused the list of starters. For my part, I wasn’t certain whether I was glaring or glowering. Maybe something in between.
“I don’t know,” Cas stated casually.
My jaw ticked. Breathe, stay calm, check out the lovely food, Silver.
“The sky’s blue, the sun rises in the east in this world, and I have an account in the Gold Bank of Highvale. They’re facts I am certain of. Specific memories are still hard to grasp, but there are things I know.”
Lucian nodded. “Well, the bank should be able to locate your account based on your specific magical signature. I’ve seen it done before. And it might help work out who you are.”
“That’s it!” I cried out, delighted. “The account must have a name, an address, that sort of thing.”
“Not necessarily,” Lucian drawled. “Some accounts just…are. Especially the older ones. Back in the day, the head of a family would open an account. Anyone either belonging to that family, or bearing a mark identifying them as part of the clan, would have limited access—and the head of the family held a managerial position.”
I sighed. So much for answers.
“But regardless, tonight’s our treat, and that’s that,” he insisted. “Sponge away.”
Our waitress came to take our orders, and as no one else seemed to have a problem with spending Lucian’s money, I would enjoy my damn cocktail.
After an annoyingly pleasant evening where everyone seemed to enjoy Cas’s presence except me, I barely slept, my mind running around in circles, full of the mystery at first.
Brace yourself, I heard over and over.
Then I started to dream, which left me just as restless and twice as confused. They felt like memories, though I knew I’d never been to the places I saw, seen the people whose faces haunted me.
I remembered clean air as I flew past trees, running in the forest—never away from anything. Towards my prey.
I dreamed of hunting most nights, now, and I woke up afraid.
Afraid of what it meant for me, Silver, that I could remember her life.
Even at the best of times, I slept like shit, but between Cas and Kleos’s lost reserves, I was seriously on edge. I knew there was no way I’d get any rest this weekend if I let the matter lie, so I made my way to the Guard first thing.
I loitered in the hall of the seventh floor, as my office had not yet been assigned, unsure how to proceed, when the answer to my indecision appeared in the form of a muscular, short-haired woman sipping coffee.
“Captain.”
Kleos said she told her aunt, our captain, about her missing energy stones.
I was still fairly annoyed with her, given the stunt she pulled, though part of me understood it.
They were family. She wanted Kleos and Zenya to speak.
Interfering would probably have been the right thing, had Zenya not been a crazy bitch.
Nah, even then. If a child decided to go no-contact with their parents, no one should interfere. There usually was a very good reason.
Still, this was work.
“Silver.” She directed one of her rare, fleeting smiles to me. “I didn’t realize you were working this weekend. A Saturday shift right from the start?”
“Oh no, I’m. err, not technically supposed to be in today.” Gods, I sounded like a such a teacher’s pet. Kleos would have ceaselessly mocked me for it if she knew. “It’s just, Kleos told me about her missing things, you know, and I wanted to help.”
I knew better than to get into the details in the hallway, even on the protectors’ floor.
“I see.” She tilted her head, beckoning me forward. “Come with me.”
We walked to her office, with a sprawling view of the canal, where two kelpies bathed, throwing water at each other.
“Sit, sit,” Hilda said. “I’d offer you coffee, but there’s a reason why I made mine at home. The stuff we stock here tastes like cat piss.”
I decided not to ask her how she knew what cat piss tasted like as I took a seat in one of her comfortable guest armchairs. “Pass on the piss.”
“Wise.” She took her desk chair and leaned in. “I heard that you had dinner with the newest arrival.”
It took me a second to connect the dots, my mind fixed on Kleos’s magic.
“Oh, yes.” Gideon must have told her that Cas left with us last night.
“And what do you think?” She sipped her coffee, her tone ever so casual.
Something in her eyes told me I could be honest without being laughed out of her office.
Up until she unknowingly helped Zenya try to destroy Kleos, I’d always liked Hilda.
She was straightforward, and genuinely concerned with keeping the city safe.
Yes, her training was considerably harder than any other mentor, but I actually enjoyed it. No one else made me break a sweat.
“He’s full of shit.”
Her chuckle made her snort a little coffee, which I’d call undignified if she weren’t my superior.
“Come on, he remembers everything down to the existence of his bank account, but not his bloody name?”
“Quite.” She sighed. “Well, healers and experts tell me it’s plausible. That said, given the degree of threat he represents, I believe we ought to keep a closer eye on him regardless.”
I nodded enthusiastically, glad someone agreed.
“Exactly!”
“Which is why I charged Gideon to befriend him.”
I blinked. “You did?”
He’d been very welcoming last night but I assumed he was just, well, Gideon.
My superior smirked. “My son can occasionally do as he’s told. His affable nature makes him perfect for the job. But there’s another role he can’t simultaneously fulfill—one I believe is particularly suited to you.”
I squirmed a little in my chair, images of myself in my sluttiest outfit, a tiny leather skirt, fishnet stockings, high heels, and a tight plunging top I didn’t own, draping myself over Cas’s strong chest like a femme fatale.
Surely, she couldn’t mean for me to play the spy slash seductress, though it wasn’t as crazy as the idea of Gideon as the spy slash bestie.
“Gideon’s friendly. You’re suspicious,” Hilda stated plainly. “I’d like you to watch him—as obviously and relentlessly as you’d like.”
My jaw dropped. She couldn’t possibly have authorized me to let my mistrustful nature out of the box, giving it free rein. “But why?”
“It’s entirely logical for the Guard to assign someone to observe him. If you do it ostentatiously, as part of your job, he’s less likely to be cautious around others.”
That was smart, and a lot sneakier than I would have thought her capable of being.
When my boss added, “The idea came from Damian Regis.”
I was less surprised. If he was anything like his brother, the sneakiness was to be expected.
“I see. Well, you can count on me.”
“Excellent. That in mind, I believe we can extend an invitation to this Cas to join the Guard.”
I was getting whiplash. “Come again?”
“We’re short-staffed, he’s capable—and it gives you an excuse to spend time around him. Gideon will offer him the job over the weekend.”
My mouth opened and closed several times, but I couldn’t find words to explain all the reasons why that was absolutely not all right.
By the time I could string a sentence together again, the captain was off on another tangent.
“As for Kleos’s energy—your familiarity with it recommends you for this particular job.
But given the nature of the threat, and the potential ramifications, I’m reluctant to assign you to it.
It’s hardly the sort of mission one should start with.
I’ll put together a full team, with Gideon in the lead, a novice, an inquisitor, and whatever runners you need. ”
I made myself focus on my first assignment—a huge, important mission.
Gideon might be in charge, but being part of something so crucial right out of training was an opportunity to either prove myself or ruin my career forever.
“With your permission, I’d like to recommend Isla as our notice.
She’s worked with Gideon and me in the past successfully, and we all get along. ”
Captain Hilda nodded her head. “Very well. Any preference for inquisitors?”
“Not Irwin,” I practically growled. “Francois Zeilke is pretty good.”
“Ha.” She lowered her coffee, wincing. “Well, I have bad news for you. Irwin and Francois are a team. You can’t have one without the other.”
Fuck me sideways with a lightning bolt.