Chapter 25
Lochlan had been right. A good night’s sleep did wonders for my clarity of thought.
Though I was still devastated by discovering the loss of my mother and felt weighed down every time I thought of her death, renewed hope surged.
I could still find my sister and father.
If I had survived as a child growing up on the streets, they surely had to have made it.
I snuck out of the window and walked back in the front door the next morning, acting as though I’d met one of my friends at the wedding and stayed to catch up.
“So how was the wedding?” Peter called when I came in. “Who all was there?”
“You remember Elena and Jameson, right?”
Peter grinned. “Of course. I remember them very well.” He hesitated, then asked, “Was Prince Ernst there? Jameson’s brother?”
“Of course. He wouldn’t miss his own brother’s wedding. Then there was Prince Korth, his fiancée Dahlia, and a veritable army of guests. Every royal I knew of was there, including some of the representatives from Ebora’s new government.”
“What’s Ernst like?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t talk to him.”
“Is he tall? Short? Talkative? Stupid? Shoals, I hope he’s ugly.”
“That’s rude,” I told him, trying to keep a cheerful tone to my voice. “Let’s see, he’s probably about twenty years old, tall, and he has blond hair, just like Jameson. And how should I know if he’s ugly or not? Ask a girl, not me. Ask Tess. She was the one dancing with him.”
Peter’s eyes narrowed. “She danced with him?”
Lochlan stepped in. “Ernst treated her well. He was very polite and courteous, but didn’t do anything more than dance with her. They’re both young and it was a party. They ought to have fun.”
“He shouldn’t be dancing with her at all. Twenty is more adult than child,” Peter argued. “And Tess is only sixteen.”
“That’s old enough to start courting,” I said. “And aren’t they betrothed?”
Peter stood so suddenly that his hard-backed chair tipped backward and toppled to the ground. After glaring at it, Peter aimed a vicious kick at it so one of the legs bent at an odd angle. “I’m going for a walk,” he growled, and stomped out of the house.
The door slammed behind him and Lochlan gave a low whistle.
“He’s got it bad. I don’t envy Ernst if he ever comes face to face with Peter.
There’s no telling what he’ll do.” He turned to Roderick.
“I’m taking Gil down to the market with me today.
Are there any deliveries you want made or anything you’re expecting? ”
Roderick nodded. “Word of that third shipment should be here any day. I don’t know if they’ll be there today or tomorrow, so keep up the shop for two days, just in case. Once we get that, we can close up your little knitting booth for a while.”
Lochlan began gathering up his scarves and socks. “Perfect. It’ll be nice not to have to worry about keeping the next shipment cool like we’ve had to do with the blood.”
“What’s the next one?” I asked curiously.
Roderick puckered up his mouth like he was trying to decide what to tell me and Lochlan nodded. “Gil’s proven himself trustworthy. We can tell him.”
After another moment’s hesitation, Roderick smiled in a most unsettling way, so that his broken, yellowed teeth all showed. “Live pixies,” he said with a leer. “Then we’ll have our own stock of pixie dust and blood that’ll never run out.”
The cart rattled as Lochlan pulled it along the path toward market, and I couldn’t stop myself from bouncing back and forth about plans to rescue my sister and father and contemplating how awful it would be to cage live pixies to drain them of their blood and pixie dust. Ought I to hunt down the pirate captain that Tinkerbell was married to and tell him? I was certain he wouldn’t stand for it.
Once I had the information about my sister from Roderick’s vault, I vowed that I would tell someone about the shipment to make sure the pixies were freed.
That was just as bad as the warehouse full of slaves, and I wouldn’t let Roderick and Peter continue.
Lochlan said he would help me track down my sister, and Ambrose had to have news about my father by now.
It had been ages since I’d set the bounty on him.
Surely the Employer had approved the request.
After we got to town and set up the booth, Mable shuffled over.
“Lochlan?” she called, running her hands over the merchandise. “Is that you? I have the funniest story to tell you about my grandson’s birthday.”
“I’ll be back in a bit,” I told Lochlan. “I’m going to meet up with a friend.”
Before Mable could pinch my cheeks and pull me into an hour-long story, I hurried away, winding my way through the streets until I came to the Syndicate’s safehouse. After looking both ways up and down the street, I gave the volley of knocks.
“Gil!” Brent pulled the door open and slapped me on the back. “I haven’t seen you for ages. Where’ve you been?”
Elvin, who was lounging on the couch, curled his lip. “He’s been learning knitting.”
“Oh yeah, I saw you at that booth,” Brent said with an easy grin. “Is business not going well? Is that why you’re here?”
“Nah. I’m just looking for Ambrose. Is he around?”
“As always,” Brent said, jerking his thumb toward the office. “He told me you put out a request for a bounty that you were going to pay. I was surprised; you never spend money on anything.”
I shrugged. “I need to keep things interesting. I don’t have a lot of time, but it’s good to see you.”
“You too!”
Elvin didn’t say anything but watched as I all but ran down to knock on Ambrose’s office door.
“Enter,” he called in his same dry, wheezy voice.
When I opened the door, he stood. “Ah, Gil. I was hoping to see you soon.”
“The bounty?” I asked without any preamble. “Has it been approved?”
“No.”
“But it’s been weeks! How can it not be approved yet?”
“The Employer denied the request and said they don’t want a bounty out on Tavrek Holloway,” Ambrose insisted.
“But information was sent back, and they want to know why you’re interested in him.
” He pulled out a scroll and handed it over.
“He was at the Ebora work camp for twelve years and was sold to a wealthy family in Berkway four years ago. They kept their information anonymous, but the rumor was that they intended to free him. He’s fine. ”
I took the scroll and read greedily. Sure enough, everything that Ambrose had said was written here.
An anonymous wealthy family had bought my father and planned to free him.
If that was the case…he could be here in Berkway, looking for me or my sister.
Or he might have tried to go back to Ebora to look for my mother, then discovered the same awful truth I had.
But no matter what it was, he was alive, or at least he had been four years ago.
And if he’d been freed, his odds were even better of surviving.
My heart, which had felt so shriveled after learning of my mother’s death, swelled. My father was alive. “I’m willing to triple the bounty,” I told Ambrose. “I’ll pay three thousand to anyone who can deliver him to me unharmed.”
Ambrose’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Three thousand?”
“Three thousand plus travel reimbursement,” I said. I looked at the scroll again. I wouldn’t care if I had to drain my entire account, as long as it meant reuniting the rest of my family. I was so close. I couldn’t give up now.
“The Employer won’t approve it. It was already denied, no matter how much money you’re willing to throw at it. Why do you want him so badly?”
“That’s my business. And there has to be something I could offer in return,” I said desperately, then inspiration hit. “What if I brought in the pixie blood you wanted?”
Ambrose perked up. “You know where the shipment is?”
“I do. Would the Employer be willing to trade some pixie blood for allowing a bounty on Tavrek? I don’t want him harmed, just found.”
He scratched the wart on his wrist.
“Please, Ambrose,” I begged.
“I’d need to see a sample of the pixie blood to know you’re telling the truth, but I think that could be arranged. When can you bring it in?”
I held my breath. “Tonight. I’ll bring in a sample late tonight. If you can convince the Employer, I’ll bring more.”
Ambrose appraised me. “That’s a lot for a boy to promise.”
“I’ve always kept my word.”
“You have.” He leaned forward. “Very well. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Tonight,” I vowed, slipping out of the safehouse and making my way back to Lochlan. I was closer than ever before to finding my family. This was the night that would finally be a pivotal moment. Hope had betrayed me before, but this time…this time for sure, nothing would go wrong.