32. Fenric #3
“Well, aren’t you well mannered? How the hell are you friends with Fenric? The pretty one doesn’t surprise me, this rogue has always been about collecting pretty baubles, but well-mannered isn’t his forte.”
Fenric shot him a middle finger only for Tookie to laugh.
“Oh no, he’s wonderful. He saved my life and then took me under his wing.” Maxie cast Fenric a soft smile as he took a seat on the couch. “His friendship is something I might never be able to fully repay. Try though I might.”
Tookie blinked at him, studying his expression, then turned to Fenric and accused, “Are you corrupting him?”
“It would be far better if I were the one corrupting him. Sadly, I’m not. Let’s move on, shall we, to why I’m here. We’re looking for a sex ring run by Count Pierres.”
Tookie looked at him for a long moment. “You gotta narrow that down.”
A frustrated sound nearly escaped him, but Lirion quickly interjected, his tone surprisingly hard and sharp. “He’s got a succubus named Aria in the group.”
Wincing, Tookie immediately switched to thieves’ cant. “For you, chalant. Fancy the barmecide?”
Shit, was the situation so bad that even in the privacy of his office, he would only speak of this in thieves’ cant?
Fenric’s evaluation of how bad this was went up a few notches. “Friendo’s sister. Sunside, tonly riskie.”
Tookie stared at him for a long moment before sighing. “Riddled and ruddied.”
“Hey, not nice,” Fenric said with a grin he didn’t fully feel.
Lirion shifted from one foot to the other, his expression growing darker by the second. It wasn’t likely the bard spoke thieves’ cant fluently, but he didn’t want to tie Tookie’s hands if this was the only way he felt comfortable sharing information.
“Fen,” Lirion squeezed out.
Maxie grabbed Lirion’s hand and pulled him closer to him as he whispered, “I think he said Fenric is short on intelligence and clearly been in the sun too long.”
Fenric’s smile turned genuine as he reached over and tousled Maxie’s hair. “Look at you, remembering your vocab.”
Tookie blinked at Maxie. “Oh. You know thieves’ cant?”
“I’m learning is the better way to phrase that,” Maxie said with a warm smile.
“I don’t, and Aria is my sister. Please,” Lirion pleaded, and something inside of Fenric demanded he help this man. Even if it meant holding him tight to ease the obvious pain he was in.
“Well, shit,” Tookie muttered. “I was trying to explain the situation to Fenric without pulling either of you into it.”
Maxie lifted a staying hand. “I’m involved, regardless. Lirion’s my friend also, and I will help him rescue his sister.”
“Oh. Well, shit, all right. Might as well just talk—” His eyes narrowed and mischief flared. “Actually, no, this is good practice for you. Let’s see how well you can keep up, youngin’. Fen, pidgin for looksee at Utopia.”
“Adit?”
“Tween coastline and Brassy.”
Fuck him sideways. It was going to take one hell of a rescue plan to get in there.
Tookie looked to Maxie and demanded, “How much of that you get?”
“None,” Lirion snapped, looking like he was about to strangle Tookie.
“Er, well, I don’t know what Utopia is—”
“It’s a place,” Fenric explained, rubbing his throbbing forehead. “A luxury villa for the rich, and it’s on the far north side of the city.”
“Oh.” Maxie took that in before rattling off, “So in other words, the business we’re looking for is at Utopia, and the only way to enter is between the coastline and… What is Brassy?”
“Brassy refers to a set of high security gates that cut off the rich from the poor. It’s a very select part of the city.” With a weather eye on Maxie, Tookie kept talking. “Full of nenters. Guards are myrms, but a buckshee can find ye a copper’s turn. A few I know are eye-servants.”
With a note of triumph in his voice, Maxie interpreted, “The place is full of pretentious people. The guards strictly obey orders, but there’s a few who are bribable. You know a few who only work hard when the boss is looking.”
Tookie slowly clapped. “And how long have you been learning?”
“A little over three weeks.”
Tookie’s eyes crossed. “My god above me, you learn fast.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Fenric mumbled, still rubbing his poor head. “He’s wicked smart. Makes me feel stupid daily. Tookie, this building she’s in, does it require you to be a guest there? Or have an invitation?”
“Both. And there’s no way in hell you’re getting an invitation.”
“Figures. I’ll need your list of eye-servants, then.”
“Sure thing.” Tookie gave him a genteel, beatific smile. “Fifteen gold.”
Fenric winced. Goddammit, why was Tookie like this? It was always hell bartering with this man. If he didn’t have such good, reliable information, Fenric wouldn’t even bother. Unfortunately, he did.
It was tempting to have Maxie pull out those eyes of his. Fenric almost encouraged it before thinking better of it. Instead, he waded in. “Seven gold, you thief.”
Tookie cackled in delight. “Twelve.”
They were going to be here a minute, and Fenric feared he’d end up paying ten gold no matter how much he haggled.