Chapter 17
Peter crouched beside me on the ridge overlooking the compound, a thin blade of grass hanging lazily from the corner of his mouth.
His hair caught what little moonlight slipped through the clouds, giving the impression of a fox lurking just beyond a henhouse.
Roderick had insisted that Peter rub boot polish all over his hair and eyebrows to hide the redness, and he looked strange with it so dark.
“Busy place,” Peter muttered, nodding at the building.
I went back to staring at it. The wide stone warehouse stood at the edge of the river docks, its lanterns glowing softly in the fog rolling off the water.
A boat rocked in the water, ramp lowered as a crate was unloaded.
Anyone glancing at it from the main road would assume it was nothing more than another merchant depot storing cargo before it sailed downriver and back out to sea.
After the men unloaded the crate, they heaved it onto a wagon that they rolled up to the warehouse’s front.
A lantern swung from one side of the wagon, casting long shadows across the iron bars built into the back.
I felt like I was about to vomit. My family had likely been sold by these vermin.
The burning desire for revenge had never been so strong.
Burning…
“We should light the whole place on fire,” I muttered.
Peter let out a quiet breath. “And torch all the slaves inside? You’ve got a mean streak, Gil. Besides, that would destroy the pixie blood, wherever it is in there. Now help me count.”
A pair of guards patrolled the inside of the gate, their lanterns bobbing slowly as they walked the perimeter wall. Another stood posted near the warehouse doors with a cutlass strapped to his side. I counted them silently, as well as the seconds between guards passing each entry point.
“Six outside,” I said. “And based on the last shift change, at least another dozen inside.”
Peter nodded toward the roof. “Look up there.”
I followed his gaze. A silhouette moved along the ridgeline of the warehouse, pausing briefly before disappearing again into the darkness.
“Seven outside,” I corrected.
Peter grinned faintly. “At least.”
The river lapped quietly against the docks below, carrying the smell of damp wood and tar. From somewhere deeper in the compound a man shouted an order, followed by the slamming of a door and a pitiful wailing.
I studied the walls surrounding the facility. The guard routes repeated every few minutes, predictable when watched long enough.
“We might be able to get inside,” I said slowly.
Peter tilted his head. “And get out again in one piece? I disagree. That’s a near-impossible place to break into with so few of us. This will take a lot more planning and more people than what we have time for. We’ve seen enough. We need to go tell Roderick and Lochlan.”
“They’ll want a plan.”
Peter smirked. “Lucky for them, I’m working on one.”
I cast one last look at the compound below before turning toward the forest path.
“I hope it’s a good one.”
Peter started talking the moment we opened the new cottage’s door. “We won’t be able to fight our way into that, not without hiring many more mercenaries.”
“And we don’t have the funds on hand to pay them,” Roderick grumbled. “Not without the sales from the pixie dust that got stolen.”
I followed Peter into the house and shut the door behind me. “There are at least seven guards on the outside patrolling at all times, and we’re guessing more than twelve inside.”
Roderick let out several oaths.
Lochlan looked up from his knitting, but his needles still flashed and clicked. “You used to buy and sell there all the time,” he told Roderick. “Don’t you still have some contacts you can ask to get us in?”
“Not any that are still alive or operating after all these years. The Nightsworn killed several and imprisoned the rest. They have new leadership now, and they don’t particularly like me.”
Peter threw an apple into the air and caught it again. “Why not? You’re so charming and likeable.”
Roderick let out an amused snort. “At least someone appreciates me. Now we just need a way to get inside.”
“I think we should sell Gil,” Peter suggested.
“What?!” Lochlan’s head snapped up.
“That’s a good idea,” Roderick said, nodding appreciatively. “Sell Gil and let him get some inside information while we collect a payout for him, then we have someone else buy him back and Gil can tell us what we need to know about the pixie blood inside the warehouse.”
“No.” Lochlan’s voice was firm. “He’s too young.”
“He’ll never actually be a slave. Calm down. I told you, we’ll buy him back.”
Peter threw the apple at Lochlan. “Come on, lighten up. It’s a good idea and you know it.”
Lochlan swatted the apple away so it rolled across the floor. “We aren’t going to sell him,” he said angrily. “It’s too dangerous.”
“It would be too dangerous for me or Peter,” Roderick answered. “They’d never buy that story. But no one knows Gil.”
Lochlan held his chin high. “Sell me instead.”
We all whipped our heads around to stare at him. His jaw was locked and a vein bulged on the side of his neck.
“Why?” Suspicion laced Roderick’s voice.
Lochlan snorted in derision and I couldn’t help but think it was exactly the same sort of sound his father made when he was annoyed. “Because I don’t trust some young whelp who doesn’t even have his whiskers in yet, no matter how much he pretends, that’s why. Gil is what, twelve?”
“I’m fourteen now! I had my birthday,” I protested, trying valiantly to ignore how my chest was suddenly burning. Lochlan was trying to protect me. It felt flattering but also smothering at the same time. “And my whiskers are coming. If you look really close—”
“He’s too unpredictable, and I don’t trust the memory of any young boy.
We have too much riding on this to place it into his hands.
” Lochlan crossed his arms and glared like he was about to set Roderick on fire with his gaze but didn’t look at me even once.
“If you want a pair of inside eyes, I’ll handle it. Leave Gil out of it.”
“I’ll do it,” I offered. “I’m not scared.”
“Absolutely not!” Lochlan roared, sounding much more like his father than his usual self. “There are the Nightsworn and bounty hunters and a thousand other people who would…” His voice caught and he cleared his throat. “I won’t do that to him.”
“Shoals, calm down,” Peter said. “We’d get him out and it’s not like we could try to sell me or Roderick. We have wanted posters up for us all over. We need someone that no one will recognize.”
“I can do it,” I repeated.
“I don’t want you to do it,” Lochlan huffed.
“But it isn’t up to you,” Roderick snapped. “We’ll sell Gil in the morning, and you’ll be the one to do it.”
Lochlan snatched up his fallen knitting and threw it into the basket and stomped across the room. “I’m going for a walk,” he muttered in an unnaturally harsh tone.
“I’ll come with you,” I piped up, following after him.
“What’s eating him?” Roderick said as the door closed.
I had to jog to keep up with Lochlan’s long strides. He didn’t slow down or even glance to check if I was following, but he had to know I was there. We passed the hammock I’d strung up for myself and kept going until we were nearly at the forest path.
“Slow down,” I panted.
Lochlan stopped so abruptly that I nearly ran into him. For a moment, neither of us spoke. He kept his back to me, shoulders hunched and fists clenched.
“You didn’t need to try and take my place,” I finally told him. “I can take care of myself.”
He whirled around, looking uncharacteristically angry. “You taking care of yourself is getting you sold into slavery tomorrow morning.”
I shrugged. “You three will be coming to extract me. It’s not like I’m really going to be sold.”
He grabbed my arms. “What if the slavers strip you when they take you in? They might be looking for weapons. What then?”
I twisted so he was forced to release me. “Then I’ll figure it out. I’ve been in tight situations before and I’ve always survived.”
“And you expect me to just turn away and leave you to men who will—” Lochlan drew in a long, deep breath. “Do you truly think I’m so dishonorable that I would leave a young woman in danger?”
There went my traitorous heart again, thumping against my chest and forcing heat up to burn my ears and cheeks.
“I told you not to call me that. Just…just treat me like you treated me when you first met me. Nothing has changed.” Even as the words left my mouth, they felt all wrong. As silly and girlish as it seemed, it felt flattering to have a man offering to go to such lengths for me.
“You say that, but it’s not true. Things have changed.
I can’t treat you the same way I would treat a boy.
I have too much respect for you for that.
Outlaw or not, I do still have a code of ethics,” Lochlan assured me.
“As should you. It isn’t too late to get out of this. I’m willing to go in your place.”
“No. I want to go.”
“Why?” Lochlan said, running his hands through his hair. “Why would you put yourself in that sort of danger?”
“My family was sold fifteen years ago,” I shot back.
“And I have it on good authority that those slavers sold my mother. I want her back, and chances are, there are records in that building.” My words hung between us, heavier than they had any right to be.
I immediately wished I could snatch them back and shove them into the same locked box where I kept every other thought that made me feel like this.
Lochlan stopped walking. The darkening sky threw shadows across his face and made him look older and more dangerous. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
I stiffened and tightened my jaw. “I’m not in the habit of trusting anyone.”
Lochlan mulled that over. “Do you trust me now?”
“I didn’t say that.” His face fell a little, and I added, “But I hope I can get there.”
“Would you like my help with finding your family?” Lochlan held my gaze. “I’ve been around Roderick for a long time. I know where he keeps things.”
His offer was so tempting. “Why would you help me?”
“Because if I had family members that actually loved me, I’d want to find them too.” Lochlan started walking again, staring straight ahead. “I’m sure yours miss you and have been worried.”
I fell into step beside him, touched by his sincerity. All my life, I’d become accustomed to people using and betraying me, but Lochlan was different. I could only imagine what it would be like to have a father like Roderick who forced his child to follow in his footsteps.
“Yes, I want your help,” I told him. “But I also need to do what I can. I want to be the one inside that building tomorrow. If it gives me any clues that would help me find my family, I need to know.”
“Jillian,” he began in a placating tone.
I nearly scolded him for using my actual name but then changed my mind the moment I opened my mouth.
I liked how it sounded coming from Lochlan’s mouth.
I wished I could shut out the world and have time to examine the confused feelings battling against each other in my chest. I wanted to touch Lochlan and run away all at the same time, and every thought that came through my mind was torn in two.
“I really don’t feel comfortable with this plan,” he said. “Is there any way I can get you to reconsider?”
I shook my head. “No, but I would gladly accept being extracted. I don’t like cages.”
“You can count on me, then. I’ll get you out.”
We continued in silence for some time, until we reached the edge of Knorrwood Forest and I caught a glimpse of the lights speckled throughout the city of Banebridge. With how the ground gently sloped down, we had a good vantage point. I could even see the lighthouse near the shoreline.
This time tomorrow, I might have a better idea of where the slavers had sold my mother, and if Lochlan helped me dig up information about where Roderick sold my family, and if Ambrose got the bounty for my father approved through the Employer…
There were a lot of ifs, but I was so close to finding my family, I could almost taste it.
I wouldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
Even if I ended up in a tight spot, I was starting to trust that Lochlan would do everything in his power to get me out, at least so long as Roderick allowed him.
“Do you love your father?” I asked quietly. Lochlan shot me a quick glance. “You still owe me answers to two questions of my choice,” I reminded him.
He kicked at a clod of dirt that broke apart and scattered particles throughout the underbrush.
“Not anymore,” he finally said. “I used to when I was a child. I did everything he told me because I kept hoping that he would tell me he was proud of me and that he loved me. But he never has and he never will. It took a long time to accept that. Even if he did say the words now, he wouldn’t mean them. ”
“What about your mother?”
“Using both your questions to ask about my parents? That seems like a waste.”
“Family is never a waste,” I said quietly. “So what about your mother?”
“She left when I was very young. She remarried and has a new family now. They work near the palace and our paths occasionally cross.”
“I get the impression you aren’t all that close with her, either.”
“You’re out of questions.”
I smiled. “I didn’t ask a question. That was a statement.”
Lochlan scuffed his shoe in the dirt again. “Not particularly close with her, either. Once I was an adult, I reunited with her, and she occasionally claims that she cares about me, but I also think she sees me as more of a means to punish my father than having real feelings.”
“I’m sorry.” It surprised me how much I meant the words. At least I knew my family wanted me. They’d been forced to leave. Lochlan had both his parents nearby, but neither seemed to care for him. His situation was much worse than my own. “Is there anything I can do?”
He gave a weak smile. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to let me take your place tomorrow.”
I swallowed. “You’re right. I won’t promise that.” Whatever this was felt was much more frightening and uncertain than any mission in my past.
“Can you promise to stay safe?”
“I can try, but that’s another thing I can’t promise. I can’t control what other people do.” I bumped his shoulder. “How about something else? I’ll give you one more try.”
“Then just don’t betray me. You know more about me than I’m usually comfortable sharing.”
“Will you do the same for me? Promise not to betray me?”
“I can agree to that.” Lochlan held out his hand and, after a moment’s hesitation, I took it.
“Then I promise I won’t betray you.”
Lochlan ran his thumb over the back of my hand and smiled. “You were telling the truth that time.”