Chapter 7 #2
What followed was twenty minutes of negotiation that made her want to scream.
Gerhard haggled over prices, demanded advances, promised quantities that would require her to work herself to exhaustion for months.
He spoke of “our family enterprise” and “my niece’s special talents” as if he’d had any part in developing either.
And through it all, she stood silent, her eyes on the floor, feeling Dani’s worried gaze burning into her back.
Finally, a price was agreed upon—a sum that made her head spin. More money than she’d ever seen in her life. Enough money for her and Dani to live on for years. But she knew, with sickening certainty, that she would never see most of it.
“The medicine,” she said, the words escaping before she could stop them.
Both men turned to look at her. Gerhard’s expression flickered with warning, but Halwick nodded.
“Of course. I brought the shipment, as promised.” He reached into his coat and produced a small wooden case, opening it to reveal six glass bottles of pale blue liquid. “Enough to last several months, I should think.”
Relief flooded through Jessa so intensely she felt lightheaded. Six bottles. Six. Enough to keep Dani breathing easily through the winter, enough to—
Gerhard’s hand closed around the case.
“I’ll take those,” he said smoothly. “For safekeeping, you understand. My niece is so focused on her work, she might forget to administer the doses properly. Better if I hold onto them and distribute as needed.”
No.
The word rose in her throat, hot and desperate, but Gerhard’s eyes met hers with unmistakable threat. Keep your mouth shut. Remember what’s at stake.
She looked at Dani, at her sister’s pale face and thin shoulders and fragile, precious life, and she said nothing.
Gerhard extracted one bottle from the case and handed it to her with a magnanimous smile. “There you are, my dear. That should see you through the next few weeks. When you need more, you know where to find me.”
After Halwick left—with promises to return in a month for more fabric and enthusiastic predictions about the fortune they would all make—Gerhard lingered.
He stood in the center of the cottage, the case of medicine tucked under his arm, regarding her with an expression of satisfied ownership.
“You did well today,” he said. “I was pleased to see you remembered our… understanding.”
Her jaw ached from clenching it. “I remembered.”
“Good. Good.” He moved towards the door, then paused. “About the payment from Halwick—I’ll be taking fifty percent, of course. For my assistance in securing the contract. And for administrative costs.”
“Fifty percent.” The words came out flat.
“It’s only fair.” His smile was all teeth, no warmth. “I’ve invested considerable effort in this venture. The introductions, the negotiations, the ongoing relationship with the trader—all of that takes time and skill. You should be grateful I’m not charging more.”
Grateful. She wanted to laugh, to cry, to take her mother’s spinning wheel and break it over his head.
But she thought of Dani and the single bottle of medicine on the table, of the five bottles her uncle was carrying away.
“I understand,” she said.
Gerhard’s smile widened. “I knew you would. You’re a practical girl, Jessa. Just like your mother.” He opened the door, letting in a gust of cold air. “I’ll expect the next batch of cloth in three weeks. Don’t disappoint me.”
Then he was gone, and she was left standing in the middle of her mother’s cottage, shaking with a rage she couldn’t express.
“Jessa.”
Dani’s voice was small and careful. She turned to find her sister watching her with eyes that were far too old for her ten years.
“We need to leave,” Dani said.
She crossed to the chair and knelt down next to her sister. “It’s not that simple. Where would we go?”
“Another village. Somewhere he can’t find us.”
“He’d come after us.” She shook her head. “He has connections everywhere. Traders, merchants, council members—everyone owes him something. If we went to another village, he’d find us within days.”
“Then what?” Dani’s voice cracked with frustration. “We just stay here and let him take everything? Let him control us forever?”
Forever. The word echoed in her mind, heavy with despair.
But then another memory surfaced—emerald eyes in the shadows, a gruff voice explaining how to process sunvine, the warmth of a body pressed against hers in the mountain cold.
Let me know when you decide how I should pay my debt.
“Not another village,” she said slowly. “But perhaps, the mountains.”
Dani blinked. “What?”
“Vultor territory.” Her mind was racing now, pieces clicking into place. “Gerhard won’t follow us into the mountains. No human would. It’s forbidden.”
“But—” Dani’s eyes widened. “The Vultor. They’re supposed to be monsters. Killers.”
She thought of Tarek. She was aware of his claws and his fangs and his overwhelming physical presence, but he’d also pulled her into his arms without being asked, purely to keep her warm.
He’d watched from the tree line when she returned to the village, unwilling to abandon her until he knew she was safe.
“Not all of them,” she said quietly.
Dani studied her face for a long moment. Whatever she saw there made her expression shift from fear to curiosity.
“You met one,” she said. “When you went to get the vines. You met a Vultor.”
“Yes.”
“And he didn’t hurt you.”
“No. He… helped me.” Her cheeks warmed. “I owe him a debt, actually. He never named the price.”
Dani was quiet, processing this. Then, slowly, she nodded.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“If you trust him, if you think we’ll be safe with him, then okay.” Dani’s jaw set with a determination that reminded Jessa painfully of their mother. “Anything is better than staying here and watching Uncle Gerhard own us.”
She pulled her sister into a fierce hug, blinking back tears she couldn’t afford to shed.
“We’ll need to plan,” she said, her mind already racing ahead. “We need supplies and warm clothes for the mountains, but the sooner we go the better so the medicine will last until…” She trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.
“Until we figure out what comes next,” Dani said firmly.
Yes, she thought. Until we figure out what comes next.
But as she held her sister close and listened to the wind rattling the shutters, she found herself thinking of emerald eyes again. She had a debt to repay. And now, it seemed, she had a destination as well.
The mountain was waiting.