Chapter 16
CHAPTER
Reid paced in a back room of the fabric shop where they had been sleeping, Koen’s analytical eyes trailing every step he took.
Sachia had been gone all night, and all Reid had been left with were the whispers he had picked up on in the fish market.
Though he did not speak Asteryan fluently, the soldiers he’d served with in eastern Icruria had at least taught him enough to understand what their Asteryan prisoners were saying to them.
The first words he’d learned had been the obscenities.
It didn’t take much to put two and two together, to reveal the general point of what people were claiming, and Koen had confirmed his translations.
The heiress was a whore.
The heiress was their savior.
The heiress was cursed.
Reid’s sense of calm had entirely left him; he was certain Koen had left out some of the more choice rumors and opinions. While Reid had known it would be difficult to be here, he hadn’t imagined how different this city would be from his own.
“You must stop pacing,” his mother said.
“It does not make time move faster,” Joná? insisted.
His mother gave a gentle smile to the quartermaster, the two having become familiar with each other so quickly. His mother had that effect on people, something Reid wished he’d inherited.
Just then, the door rattled. Sachia came in, and Reid furrowed his brows. He had spent an unusual amount of time with this woman for weeks now, and there was something in the sharpness of her gaze that gave Reid pause. “Did you find Lord Karev?”
Sachia crossed her arms. “I did.” She turned to Joná?, who seemed to analyze her body language with the same intensity that Reid did. “He’s willing to meet.”
“Of course he is,” Joná? replied.
Sachia was so rigid she almost appeared to vibrate. “I found your consort, too,” she said suddenly, turning to Reid.
Reid’s heart hammered in his chest, his knees growing wobbly for the first time in as long as he could remember. “Was she hurt?”
Melisina stood from the bed, and Koen moved to the space next to him as if he were ready to catch Reid, should he lose his balance.
Sachia shook her head. “She appeared uninjured.”
“She’s safe?” Melisina asked.
Sachia scoffed, leaning against the ladder. “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. She’s on the arm of Lord Karev, who’s as much of a double-dealing bastard as Vlacik. In their pissing match for Asterya, they will send her to an early grave.”
Reid’s brows slammed together. “What do you mean?”
“Both of them are courting her,” Sachia said. “It’s all the room could talk about. But Vlacik has control of the prison and the city guard.”
“How?”
Sachia clenched and unclenched her fists.
She and Joná? had what seemed like a silent conversation, and she appeared to nod a concession.
Joná? sighed, turning to face Reid and Koen.
“When Andrej Kozár died and his imbecile of a son took the throne, Sutherland leveraged his connections to Vlacik and infiltrated the city guard. When we defected from his crew, Vlacik turned on Sachia’s brother as punishment.
Threw him in the prison. It must have been a favor Sutherland called in. ”
“And was he there tonight?” Koen asked. “The captain you once served?”
“If I’d found him, he’d be dead, or I wouldn’t have returned,” Sachia said, her voice more of an angry croak than the sturdy tone Reid had come to expect from her. “But it’s possible I missed him. He masquerades as a high-ranking sentinel, one of Vlacik’s own personal guard.”
Joná? took a small breath, like he was suffocated by the enormity of Sachia’s emotions. Even Reid could feel them from where he stood. He knew this of witches; their intensity echoed around them. Sometimes, his mother could be felt so completely that the room became too small.
“Very few people know Sutherland’s identity,” Joná? finally said. “Only the people in his inner circle. But they all know his name.”
“So, you were in his inner circle, then?” Reid asked.
Sachia pressed her lips together. It was Joná? who replied, disgust riding his tone. “He knew of Sachia’s magic, and so our defection was more than a severing of loyalty. It was the loss of his greatest commodity.”
Sachia shook her head, raising her hand in a clear gesture that she wanted this line of conversation to end. “I just hope the heiress is as clever as you say because I told her where I would be meeting Karev tomorrow night to discuss my recent acquisition of salt.”
Reid couldn’t breathe fully, his chest burning. If Vaasa did figure it out, would she go there? Would he be able to flee with her then? “She’s the cleverest woman I know. She will understand.”
“We need to be there,” Koen said.
Sachia nodded. “I agree. Lord Karev already knows I have an interest in gaining access to the prison, so he wouldn’t have offered unless he intended to give that to me.”
Reid realized then that their interests weren’t entirely aligned; if he found Vaasa, could see a way to get her out, it might delay their escape to wait for Sachia to gain access to the prison.
He wondered if Sachia had considered this, too.
But as he looked over at her, Sachia grit her teeth, and he realized she was holding back tears.
“What happened?” Reid asked.
At first, it seemed as though Sachia wouldn’t answer. But then she batted at her cheeks, the tears falling despite all the effort she had put into holding them back. “My brother was there tonight. He was in that fucking fighting ring.”
“Sachia,” Melisina started, speaking for the first time since the witch had arrived.
She scoffed. “He won, and he’s alive, so at least there’s that. Tomorrow night, Vlacik will get exactly what he deserves.”
Reid furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”
“Karev believes his only competition is Vlacik.” Sachia turned her knife in her hand, nimble fingers narrowly avoiding the blade. “So, in exchange for my brother, I’m going to remove the opposition.”