Chapter 1 Nes #3
For two years, she wandered the streets of Gadore, using her ability to seek out those who had willingly ingested diluted magic.
That was the easy part. From there, she had to learn how they reacted to magic.
Then she’d relay the information to Phineas, who determined whether or not the person’s reaction was something he wanted in his collection of fighters.
If he wanted them, it was her responsibility to bring them in—kicking and screaming if she had to.
With her at his side, the profits in Phineas’s brawlhouse had grown exponentially.
Irreplaceable, he’d called her. Because of that, he wouldn’t let go of her leash. Not without a suitable replacement.
“Marnie,” she called, “you can come in now.”
The door creaked as it opened, and Marnie, hood still covering her face, stepped inside the already cramped room.
“Phineas Wraw, meet Marnie Sorphel.”
Marnie removed her hood and inclined her head to Phineas, a blush coloring her cheekbones. Phineas stared at the girl, the tip of his tongue tapping the corner of his lips, before returning his gaze to Nes.
“Why is she here?” he drawled.
“For a demonstration.” Nes held out a hand. “Minot,” she said. Minot sneered at her but plopped the last flask in her outstretched hand.
She unscrewed the top and handed it to Marnie, trying not to think of what she was bringing into the girl’s life. “Only a little bit,” she reminded her. Marnie nodded. Nes removed her own flask from her belt, lifting it toward Marnie’s. “Bottoms up.”
Together they took a swig. The liquid inside burned a path down her throat, and she watched Marnie grimace as she swallowed. Nes stowed her own flask before setting Marnie’s on Phineas’s desk.
Phineas raised a brow, not in interest but in boredom. Nes clenched her jaw. She would make him see Marnie’s value.
“We made a deal, Phineas,” she said. “I work for you, and in exchange, you’ll break my father out of prison. You say you need a bloodhound. Well, I’ve found you my replacement.”
She nodded to Marnie.
The girl undid her cloak, revealing the dress she wore underneath. The dress itself was plain, save for the deep V that dipped well below her breasts and showed off the smooth skin of the girl’s sternum.
Marnie reached for Nes’s hand.
As the two clasped hands, the dim room filled with light. Bright and green, the exact color of the pure magic they’d seen earlier, it streamed from a spot between Marnie’s breasts. After a moment, Marnie let go of her hand and the light went out.
Nes plucked the jar with the gravity-defying stone off of Phineas’s desk and tossed it to Marnie. The girl caught it. Again, that green light burst from her chest. The light went out only when Marnie set the jar back on the desk, effectively cutting off her connection to the magic in it.
“See?” Nes said. Marnie’s reaction to diluted magic—her glow—could find Phineas new dogs. “Marnie is willing to identify magic users for you. She can replace me.”
Phineas exhaled. “No.”
Disbelief sputtered out of her. “What?”
When Phineas deigned to look at her again, his gaze was possessive, unrelenting. “I said no. This girl cannot replace you. No one can. As I’ve told you before, my dear hound, you are irreplaceable.”
Her heart tightened until it froze. Frost spread across her entire chest.
Phineas continued. “I thought you were smarter than this. I can’t have a torch bursting to life every time we find someone using magic. The light would send a direct signal to every guard on patrol. This girl is nothing more than a poor imitation of you.”
He was right about one thing. She was smarter than this.
She had been a fool to think he would keep his word. She would not be so foolish again.
Nes stared into the amber of her boss’s eyes and recognized the intent staring back at her. He thought he owned her.
No one owned her. No one.
Gadore was now as familiar to her as the freckles on her face. She could navigate the city with obstacles in her path or without any senses. She would find a way to free her father.
Fingers splayed on the wood, Nes leaned over the desk until she was eye to eye with Phineas. “Find your own damned dogs,” she spat. “I’m through being your bitch.”
Then she did something she’d never dared do in the two years she’d worked for Phineas. She turned her back on him.
“Nes?”
It was the use of her name that made her pause.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She turned.
“You leave, there’s nothing stopping me from turning you in.”
For a second, she saw herself at the bottom of the Witch’s Well, slowly sinking, slowly drowning. It wouldn’t matter if she was innocent. Everyone knew once you were named as the possible Witch, your days were limited. It was every woman’s greatest fear.
But she refused to let Phineas see such fear in her. He didn’t deserve it. And he didn’t deserve her.
“Try it,” she said. She’d spent two years in his employ. She wasn’t the only one who had made the mistake of trusting the other. “And see what’s left of your business when you do.”
This time, when she turned, he didn’t call her back.