Chapter Four The Bear and the Bard #3
There was only one notch in his otherwise infallible armor, one person in the world who Lennox feared—the reason he could never leave Ianess or step foot in the harbor.
He had once stolen from Reardon Voláni, the most vicious pirate on the Five Seas.
Now, if he so much as dipped a toe in the ocean, his life was forfeit.
The only time she ever saw Lennox look unnerved was when the pirate in question was mentioned.
Reya couldn’t deny it gave her some comfort, knowing that there was someone out there who could make Lennox Raulin sweat.
He eyed the glove shielding her broken fingers from view. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn there was real regret in his expression. This was the man who had protected her as a child. Who had taught her how to survive this city, to thrive off it.
And he was the same man who’d broken her bones and ribs.
“Let’s dispense with the pleasantries. You know why I’m here.”
His face changed then, the way it sometimes did when she wasn’t sure whether he was about to strike her or pour her a cup of tea. “Don’t pretend your situation is anyone’s doing but your own.”
“Who’s pretending?”
Lennox ignored her. “You’ll be pleased to know the Sage you freed has evaded capture.
My guess is she has you to thank for her uncommonly effective escape,” he continued, and Reya tried not to be obvious in her relief.
If Stellene had been recaptured, Reya would still have to pay her debt to Lennox, and it all would have been for nothing.
“The king has deployed all his resources to find her. And he’s not the only one.
News is spreading that the God Power has been found.
Soon the Order of Light will be involved, if they aren’t already. ”
The Order of Light was an age-old radical sect devoted to a Sage restoration.
The King of Rhiterra liked to use it as a scapegoat for every military misfortune; it had been years since Reya had heard of any credible attacks.
But the rising tensions of recent years between the Rhiterran Empire and its enemies made her wonder if it was a mistake to confuse silence with weakness.
Reya tried to refocus the conversation. “How exactly do you expect me to pay you back if I can’t work?”
Lennox’s lips curved in a way that meant absolutely nothing good. “Tell you what. In exchange for that sword of yours, we’ll call it even.”
Reya didn’t let one ounce of emotion show as she replied, “If you want this sword, you’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.”
His chuckle had her grating her teeth. It was not the first time Lennox had offered to trade her freedom for the sword. What little Etellinian steel remained in the world was more precious than gold.
The Rhiterrans had turned the mountains red in their efforts to uncover the secret to its forging.
But Ryksis, the All-God of precious metals and patron of blacksmiths, had gifted the secret of the steel to the Etellinian people alone.
To them, it was sacred. The smiths had vowed to stop forging rather than betray their All-God and had gone into hiding even from each other, passing the secret only to their heirs.
Lennox knew she’d never trade it, not for her freedom or the world on a platter. So why offer? Was it just to taunt her?
She had spoken of her parents only once to Lennox, and told him nothing beyond that they were gone and that the sword had belonged to her father.
If the crime lord had guessed she possessed the knowledge of how to forge a blade like the one at her side, she would already be in chains.
Contrary to what everyone believed, the sword was not the most valuable thing in the room.
It was her memories. The most precious ones. The ones that hurt.
“I’m afraid you’re on your own then.”
Reya’s eyes refocused on her employer’s face as he took another sip of his drink, and then she slid to leave.
Reya knew her boss. He was clearly out to prove a point, and so she would let him.
Besides, she had a new lead to follow, and every minute she wasted was one the man in black had to get robbed by another thief.
But before she could rise to her feet, Lennox added, expression hard, “If you fail me again, you’ll be working for me exclusively for the next decade. ”
And there it was.
Reya could practically hear the trap snapping closed.
Why kill her or take her coin when he could simply keep her?
The riches she could give him over the course of a decade would surpass what she owed now.
This whole charade—the chance to mitigate his losses on the job—was never meant to be a way out.
Assigning her to lead the heist on the caravan had likely also been calculated.
He’d known she might betray him if she found out what they were stealing, and that he would get paid either way.
The beating he’d given her had been as much a punishment as a means to slow her down while he had her blacklisted.
Ten more years in his service. Ten more years until she could lay her father’s soul to rest. She would not accept this.
Reya flicked a nonexistent speck of lint off her sleeve, careful to keep her features blank. But he must have seen the defiance in her eyes, because he added sharply, “The debt will be paid, either by you—or your loved ones.”
Her loved ones? No. No.
“I’ll even let you choose which brother pays for your mistakes.”
Reya’s heartbeat was so loud in her ears, she stopped hearing the musicians. Instinct and experience warned her not to react. To express any emotion would be to reveal exactly how much leverage he had. Please let him be bluffing.
“I have no brothers,” she lied, proud of how flat her voice sounded. Lennox’s gloating expression told her it had done no good. He had her. And he knew it. Her past, it seemed, was not as buried as she thought.
She had fifty-six days, and she’d get him his coin if it killed her. Reya stood from the booth. Her boss might have been a manipulative, conniving bastard, but he fulfilled his deals. Thankfully, she knew just where to start.
More than just her life depended on it.