Chapter 10 #2
But the moment I moved toward her, Peter’s gloved hand shot out to clench around my arm.
“Don’t.” His grasp was firm to the point of being painful and his voice had taken on a deeper, more menacing quality that chilled my blood.
It didn’t matter if that voice was coming from who appeared to be a grieving widow. It unnerved me. “Leave her.”
I shot one last, regretful look at the jewels gleaming on the princess’s neck and wrist. It was such a shame to leave them there. She probably had more jewelry than she knew what to do with.
“She wouldn’t even notice,” I grumbled.
“I said, don’t.”
I didn’t need to see Peter’s face to know how much he was glowering, sending a stab of fear through me. Peter was so jovial all the time that I’d almost forgotten how scary he could be when crossed.
“I’m leaving,” I said. “I have enough anyway.”
We left the graveyard and walked back to the cottage mostly in silence, and we didn’t even stop for the meal that my stomach was demanding. Peter was right—it would’ve been useless to rob Tess. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had taken the bracelet; no shops were open to buy jewelry or to sell food.
I glanced at Peter a few times, but he kept staring straight ahead, seemingly lost in thought.
He’d pulled off the veil and head covering and was tramping through the woods with his jaw locked and hands balled into fists, all the material wadded up and tucked under his arm.
Sudden inspiration sparked. People were always most easily manipulated when they were emotional.
“Hey, Peter?” I ventured when we were halfway through the forest trail. “Where does Roderick keep his important things? For the group and all that?”
Peter gave an odd jerk of the head, like he’d only just remembered I was there. “What?”
“When Roderick has things he wants to keep safe, where does he put it? If I’d gotten a bracelet, would I put it in his safehouse or what?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t join him all that long ago, and I keep my things to myself. You could ask Lochlan, though. He’s been with Roderick for much longer.”
“I don’t understand Lochlan,” I admitted. “He doesn’t make sense to me.”
Peter didn’t answer. He was back looking like he was doing some serious thinking and hadn’t heard me, so I let the matter drop and joined him in all the silent thinking.
Part of me still hated Lochlan for how he’d so easily left me at that hospital, but the other part couldn’t stop thinking about him and how he was so kind to old Mable.
I sighed. I wasn’t getting anywhere with this mission.
Could I drug Roderick and force the information out of him?
Even if I did, I’d still have to go find where the information was hidden, unless I could convince Roderick to remember and tell me.
But the odds of his remembering who he’d sold a single girl to more than a decade before were minimal.
I ground my teeth in frustration. This was the closest I’d come to finding one of my family members, and yet I felt just as far away as ever before.
We didn’t say another word to each other until we got back to the cottage, both lost to our own thoughts.
“Did you have a good nap?” Peter called as he went inside.
Lochlan was still in the same rocking chair and seemed to have just woken up. He blearily looked around and stretched. “Good enough. Where did you go?”
“To a couple cemeteries to pay our respects.” Peter pulled out one of the items he’d stolen. “I was very respectful to the dead. A little less so to the living.”
Roderick came out of the back room, the bag of pixie dust cradled in his arms like he was carrying around a baby. “Just don’t try to sell it anywhere close to here or they’ll find you out.”
Peter stared hungrily at the bag of pixie dust. “I’m not stupid. So what’s the plan now? Do you have buyers lined up yet?”
“A few have expressed interest, but I held off on telling them too much until it’s confirmed. There are still two more crates out there we need to track down. Tyrone being arrested ruined our original plans.”
Peter picked up an apple, threw it into the air, and caught it. “So you want to plan a prison break to get him out or what?”
Roderick let out a bark of laughter. “And have more people looking for a cut of our profits? I don’t think so. No, we just need our little knitting store to be open again. Once Lochlan gets information about buyers and the second shipment, we can move forward.”
“This will make us a fortune,” Peter said, rubbing his hands together.
Lochlan quietly pulled out his knitting and Peter shot him a grin. “Oh, are we boring you, Mom? Do you need your knitting so you can stay awake while we talk?”
“Absolutely. If I’m going to listen to yet another monologue, I need something to occupy my hands or I’ll fall asleep again. Roderick has a very monotonous voice.”
Roderick let out a guffaw. “Leave him be, Pan. I need some new socks anyway.”
“Shall I use the pink to make them?” Lochlan asked. The corner of his mouth twitched upward.
“Can you even tell which one is pink?” Roderick shot back.
Lochlan rolled his eyes. “Let’s go with black. The same color as your heart.” He looped the first stitches onto his needles. “Continue. I can listen now and not fall asleep.”
Roderick glanced my way. “Gil, did you get a good haul for yourself at the cemetery?”
I shrugged. “No. We didn’t have much time and there were too many people watching. Even Princess Tess from Haven Harbor was there.”
That got Roderick’s attention. “The princess? Who knows how much money she had on her! Did you check?”
“Royalty wouldn’t carry their own purses,” Peter responded without hesitation. “They have servants for that sort of thing, and it looks like she’s a student right now. Pupils don’t make a habit of carrying around purses.”
“Then her jewelry! Her rings and necklaces—”
“Would have immediately been noticed if they were missing from around her neck.” Peter was standing close to Roderick, staring down the older man without the slightest flicker of laughter in his eyes.
“Her brother was responsible for many of my buyers being put behind bars.” Roderick cracked his massive knuckles. “I know what I’d like to do to that pretty little neck of Tess’s if I—”
Wham.
Out of nowhere, Peter’s fist shot out as he punched Roderick squarely on the nose. Blood instantly spurted from Roderick’s nostrils. Howling, Roderick clapped a hand up to his nose and swung wildly at Peter, who ducked and moved out of range, his face a sudden mask of terrifying coldness.
Lochlan leapt to his feet, knitting flying across the room, and I jumped forward.
Roderick swung at Peter again, who dodged once more.
Lochlan got between them and held out his hands to keep them apart.
Roderick tried to shove Lochlan out of the way, and Peter weaved sideways so he stayed out of range.
“What was that for, you maniac?” Roderick shouted, voice slightly garbled by the blood dripping down to congeal in his beard.
“Don’t ever threaten or speak ill of Princess Tess in front of me.
” Peter calmly pulled out a dagger and flipped it in his hand so he had it in a reverse grip.
“Or I’ll kill you. You won’t get a second warning.
” His normally playful expression had taken on a darkness that made chills erupt all over my body.
This was a monster masquerading as a young man.
Roderick looked ready to retort, but after one look at Peter, he slumped back into his chair, which groaned in protest. “What’s she done to earn such loyalty from you?”
A vein ticked on Peter’s neck. “I owe her my life,” he answered shortly.
“Nothing else?” Roderick asked, glaring from his chair. “You haven’t taken a fancy to—”
“I owe her my life,” Peter repeated, a clear edge of danger in his tone. “And I’m done discussing the matter.”
“I’ll look at that,” Lochlan told Roderick, hurrying forward to examine the bloody nose. “Hold still and lean forward.”
Roderick complied, allowing the stream of blood to drip onto the dirty wooden floor.
“I’m going for a walk,” Peter announced, a biting edge in his voice. He pivoted and stalked away.
“Go keep an eye on him,” Roderick growled to me. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything else stupid.”
I nodded and followed Peter. Just before the door shut behind me, Lochlan threw a concerned look my way. “Be careful!” he called.
Peter’s red hair was easy to spot even in the darkening sky as the sun sank lower minute by minute.
He stomped away from the light, deeper into the forest. I followed him, keeping enough distance that I would be able to run if he turned and attacked.
I’d thought I understood him, but his actions made no sense.
He eventually stopped near a stream and threw some rocks into the water, jaw clenched.
“You okay, Peter?” I called, coming to a halt a little more than a stone’s throw away from him.
“I will be,” he answered, the calm tone of his voice at odds with the vengeance with which he hurled the rocks into the stream. “I’m not going to hurt you, you know. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
I edged a little closer. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“No.”
I didn’t press him. As much as I wanted to know, I wasn’t about to do anything to get Peter riled at me. I’d seen him in enough fights to know that I didn’t stand a chance against him.
“Do you wanna talk about something else?” I asked.
“Did you have anything in mind?”
“I had a new idea for a swindle.” I leaned back against a tree and snapped a twig into small fragments. “If we put up wanted posters all around town with my face, then I let our next target spot me, they would try to capture me, and I could get their money once I’m inside, then escape.”
“Clever,” Peter said, kicking another stone.
“It might work, but it would depend on who the target is. And we need to focus on getting more buyers for the dust.” He stared at the stream, grinding his teeth together.
“She thinks I’m dead,” he said suddenly.
“Tess. Remember after that whole pirate fiasco we were wrapped up in last summer?”
“Yeah.”
“I told them to tell everyone I drowned.” He cracked his knuckles. “Tess’s brother, Korth, would have been only too glad to tell her I’m dead. He wanted to have me executed from the day he first met me.”
“You could’ve talked to her today at the graveyard to let her know you’re still alive.”
“I thought about it.”
“Do you like her or something? She’s pretty.”
“She saved my life years ago, and by doing so earned my loyalty. That’s all.” His tone was so dismissive I knew the topic was finished.
We waited by the stream until night had begun to fall before heading back.
“What about you?” Peter asked with a tight smile when we got to our feet. “Do you have a girl you fancy?”
“Nah, not me. And we know Roderick was married a long time ago … what about Lochlan? Is he seeing anyone?”
“Not that I know of. He’s too busy plotting and scheming with Roderick. Besides, he doesn’t need a wife. He already does the knitting and cooking himself.”
A strange sense of relief swept over me.
“And I guess he doesn’t need a wife for companionship because he has us,” I said. The cottage came into view, and I spotted Roderick through the window, still carrying around the bag of pixie dust but without the nosebleed.
“Do you think Roderick will punch you back after what you did?” I asked Peter.
“No. He didn’t like it, but he understands where my line is.
Men like him need to be reminded of the strength of their partners from time to time.
Now he’s less likely to double-cross me.
” He shot me a shifty, sidelong glance. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention anything about Tess to the others.
I don’t want them even thinking about her. She’s off-limits.”
I nodded. It was impossible to shake off the memory of Peter’s hand gripping my wrist to hold me back from Tess.
If he cared so much, he ought to have said something to her.
Today was the Day of Mourning. If they had been such good friends, she could’ve been there to mourn his passing if she supposed him dead.
But if Peter wanted to keep a few secrets of his personal life private, I was content to let him. I knew better than anyone how much secrets mattered.