Chapter Twenty-Eight
The hallways of Amberdash’s private quarters were dark and ominous.
She’d tried desperately to only be here during the day.
A wraith’s rooms at dark was a recipe for disaster.
It just asked for violence. Knowing he had never agreed with the Monster Treaty made it that much worse.
Even though she was breaking it currently, he could kill her either way.
She shook off the dose of fear and let the rush of thieving take over.
This was a real heist for her. The stakes were as high as they got.
Every one of her enemies were only a room away, and they’d all happily kill her for what she was about to do.
It gave a boost to her magic as she got farther from that damn amulet.
Voices came to her as she continued forward, and she jerked open the first available door and slid behind it. Two pale women came slowly down the hallway as if in a trance. Kierse recognized them as Cait and Jessa, two of Amberdash’s longest attendants.
“He’s going to turn me tonight,” Cait said in a slow, dreamy voice. Her skin was as pale as death but not quite like a wraith.
“He’s not going to turn anyone tonight,” Jessa argued in a melodic tone.
Cait huffed. “Why must you always spoil my fun?”
“He wants that other one from the party,” Jessa said dismissively. “The one who used to come here. He’s always wanted her.”
“Well, he will get everything he wants.”
“She will be our sister,” Jessa agreed easily.
“Her vibrancy will help us all.”
Kierse shuddered at their words. They had to mean that Amberdash wanted to feed on her soul.
Just him touching her made her sick with the cold. There was no way that would be her.
Kierse waited until they were gone and hurried the rest of the way down the hall to his closed and locked office door.
For years, she hadn’t needed a lock pick to get into Amberdash’s office.
He’d given her an all-access card to the top floor, and she could come and go as she pleased.
She had been smart enough never to rob him, knowing that he would draw and quarter her if she did.
A healthy level of respect and fear existed between them.
Now he was the leader of the Men of Valor, and that was gone. So was her respecting his privacy.
She picked the lock with ease. She didn’t sense any wards as she crossed over.
His office was the same as it had ever been.
A classic businessman with a dark wooden desk and uncomfortable leather chairs.
She’d watched Amberdash float in and out of the back room, giving her chills of fear, so many times.
She’d still conned him enough to force down her true feelings.
But it didn’t dissuade the chill that settled in her bones at what she was about to do.
It was a bad idea. And yet here she was.
Her wrong thieving smile lit up her face as she headed around the desk and fished around underneath.
Amberdash kept things he didn’t want anyone to access in a specific drawer.
He’d opened it time and time again to hand her instructions for her next score, to offer an extra gun when he thought she might need it, and to pay her handsomely with stacks of hundred-dollar bills.
But he kept something else in there, too—his ledger.
He was smart enough to not keep all of his dirty dealings on the computer where anyone like Walter could hack in and access it. He’d been around long enough to write it down on paper and keep it in a locked drawer in his office that no one could access.
Kierse felt the little lock and bent down to eye level to peek at it. Ah, there were wards here.
She didn’t recognize the little symbol—some sort of flower. Maybe a daffodil?
Not a problem for her, though.
“Kierse? He’s coming back,” Lorcan said into her mind.
She needed to hurry. She forced the lock open with ease and pulled it free. She anticipated the sting of the ward, but nothing happened. Her brow furrowed. Why have a ward that didn’t work? It must have been the magic dampener.
The drawer unlatched to reveal a treasure trove—money, weapons, receipts, jewels, a packet of matches from a club in Queens, some uncut rocks.
“Well, well, well,” Kierse whispered as she grasped a large notebook at the back of the drawer. “Bingo.”
Lorcan came back into her mind. “Are you out? Did you hear me? I heard them talking about your disappearance.”
“I heard you. I’m leaving now.”
“Hurry the fuck up.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, forcing the drawer closed once more.
She took a step toward the freshly closed and locked door to Amberdash’s office when she heard the door rattle.
She was out of time. She hurried to the back where the exit to his private quarters was. The door was locked, and she tried to pick it, but there was now a punch code.
“He added a punch code to his quarters. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Get out of there now! I’m coming back.”
“No. I’ll find an exit.”
But where?
She ignored Lorcan. She could probably force the door open. It’d be noisy. He’d definitely know she had been there. But she could not get caught.
The door pushed open, and Kierse dove under his desk. She tugged her knees to her chest, crushing herself against the back of the space. Her heart was beating a staccato in her chest, and she had to hold her breath to keep him from hearing her.
He was going to find her. What was she going to do? She should have smashed through the door.
“Kierse?” Amberdash’s silky voice said into the silence.
She didn’t dare breathe. Everything froze as if in her slow motion, only it was the absolute horror of being caught.
Normally, she would have broken through the door and dealt with the consequences later.
But this was Amberdash. He’d find her. He’d kill her.
Or worse make her one of his unwilling attendants.
Just the thought made her want to vomit. She shook out her trembling hands. She needed to be calm and collected to get through this.
“I know that you’re in here,” he said, closing the door behind him. “You can come out. We can have a conversation like adults.”
She closed her eyes and forced herself into a smaller ball. There were no exits. There was nothing she could do except stand up and face him.
But she couldn’t make her legs move. If she stood up, then she gave up.
She’d have to leave the ledger behind, and there would never be an opportunity to get it again.
And she didn’t know what Amberdash would do.
What sick twisted game he would play at having caught her.
She squeezed her eyes and hands shut with fear.
They’d lost with the stone and then Dallas in Vegas. She’d had to deal with an increasingly oppressive bond. Kingston was the Fae Killer. They needed this win.
“I wanted us to have a chance to catch up. I’m sure you were surprised when you found out that I was taking over the Men of Valor.”
She heard a cushion shift as if he’d moved the seat across from the desk. God, he was too close.
“But I wanted to let you in on the secret—I was always in charge of it. King Louis was the face of the organization when I needed more secrecy.”
Her stomach dropped. Amberdash had been in charge all along? How had she worked for him all those years—trusted him!—and he had been working against her?
“I knew you weren’t human,” he said smoothly. “Jason didn’t employ humans. I wouldn’t have guessed that you were a warlock, though. I like to get as many of them on my side as I can.”
Kierse’s mind reeled. He’d known. Not that she was a wisp but that she had magic. And warlocks on his side? Graves certainly wasn’t.
“And I want you on my side again, Kierse. It feels wrong having you work on the other side.”
Never.
“What is happening?” Lorcan blared through her defenses.
“He’s monologuing. Stop talking. I’m trying to figure this out.”
The bond went silent while Kierse worked on controlling her breathing. She couldn’t wait him out. And her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest. She didn’t know what to do. Well, she had an idea, but it was impossible.
“You can come out now. I’m not going to hurt you for trying to steal from me. I know you well enough to expect this. I didn’t invite two of the most talented thieves in the city and not expect one of you to steal from me if you didn’t kill each other first.”
Her blood boiled at the mention of Jason. He brought them together on purpose. She’d known, of course, but hearing it out of his own mouth…
“The world is changing, my dear. It’s time to choose my side.
Monsters like us aren’t meant to be contained by the inferior race.
I want to give you what you already want—freedom.
The power to choose what you want when you want without the consequences of a treaty that harnessed our powers.
The world was better when we came out of the shadows and conquered the world. ”
God, he really believed this shit. Not just espousing it for his little minions, but he actually believed it.
Kierse had hated the years of the war. She had praised the treaty when it had come into being.
She had learned to live again the last four years as the world righted itself.
She never wanted to go backward. She never wanted to think the world would be better if only one group of monsters were on top and everyone else was beneath them. She refused.
The anger welled up in her. She shouldn’t do this. It wasn’t safe. Not with the dampener in place around Amberdash’s neck. But there was no other option.
She had one way to escape this room. One way to get away with the ledger. And she had to do it now, consequences be damned.
Kierse grasped her magic, pulling against Lorcan like she was yanking back all the power he’d taken. She felt his grunt of discomfort at her inelegant solution.
“Kierse,” Amberdash said gently. His hand fell on the desk.
He was coming closer. He would look to where she was hiding.
“Please speak to me. I want us to work together again. I’ve always considered you a daughter even though you saw me merely as a business associate.
I found you work. I treated you better than Jason ever did.
I wanted to bring you in sooner. You had one more test, and that was the one where you fell in with the warlock. We can repair this.”
No, they couldn’t.
Kierse drew her door. The dark outline appeared before her with a handle like it had all those other times she had trained.
It had to work.
She had no choice.
Her hand settled on the door, and she twisted the knob.
It turned. Her heart stopped in shock as it did what she wanted.
Then she pushed, and the door opened to a darkened room on the other side of Amberdash’s offices.
She’d been there once while recovering after a particularly bad thieving encounter. He’d nursed her back to health.
Kierse didn’t think. Just felt the magic drain away from her like a pot of water splashed into the sink.
“Kierse?” Amberdash said again.
Then she tipped forward, throwing herself headfirst through the door and tumbling into the silent room halfway across the building from where she had just been.
The door snapped closed behind her.
And darkness closed in on the edges of her vision. She couldn’t stand. Her body failed her. Her magic was gone.
The only thing that was left was the bond.
“Lorcan…help,” was the last thing she said before she passed out.