He might just have a chance.
That night, Kieran sat on the couch in the living room staring at his book of poetry.Part of him wanted to write—to get his feelings out—but he feared he might accidentally curse someone else.It was a pity, because he had some great ideas from the day.Something about how love was like a growth on his heart that couldn’t be removed, just like the mushrooms on that toad monster.I can’t believe Ash called me melodramatic.
As he rubbed a thumb across the blank page, the phone began to trill.
Kieran perked up.Is it Ash?Did he hear that I nearly died?Maybe the thought of losing me made him realize what a terrible mistake this break is.Perhaps he wants to beg for my forgiveness?Although, then again, he won’t be able to hear me—
“Pelumbra-Bea residence,” Kieran said into the receiver.
“Hello,” said an unfamiliar voice.It was deep and resonant but gentle, demanding the listener’s ear.“Is this Kieran?It’s Sebastian Feng.We met in the woods this afternoon?”
“Oh!Y-yeah—this is Kieran.I’m…surprised to hear from you,” Kieran said, at a loss for how else to put it.
Sebastian sounded almost amused at that.“Are you?You saved my life.Calling to say thank you seems like the least I can do.I’m just glad you were easy to find in the phone book.”
Kieran wrinkled his forehead.Part of him wanted to wave off Sebastian’s statement about saving his life, but of course itwastrue.Sebastian would have been ripped asunder without Kieran’s help.Still, Kieran couldn’t help but tilt his head to the side in question.“What about Elias?”
Sebastian paused for a moment.“What about him?”
“You work for him—isn’t it, I dunno, bad form to reach out to the enemy?Or are you trying to get information out of me because your listening bug is gone?”
Sebastian was silent.Then, completely out of the blue, he snorted.
“Enemy?”he repeated.“You’ve misjudged me, Kieran.Elias is my employer—I do what he asks and he pays me, end of story.Icouldn’t care less about his professional rivalries.In fact, that’s part of why I wanted to call you.”
Kieran’s eyebrows shot up.“Oh?”
“Elias has already started hiring mercenaries to help him get that scepter,” Sebastian said, his voice even.“It won’t be long before he sends them after you.”
Kieran’s face drained of color.“That sounds…bad?”
“Indeed.”Sebastian cleared his throat.“You’ll need to be stealthy if you want to find it.Elias has a lot of money, and he’s going to do everything in his power to get that panacea.”
Kieran tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone dry.He’d figured Elias would try to get the scepter, but mercenaries?People didn’t hire mercenaries unless they wanted to dispose of someone permanently.
After a long, pregnant pause, he set his book down on the side table beside the couch.“I…appreciate the warning,” Kieran said, nodding to himself.“I didn’t know Elias was quite so…”
“Bloodthirsty?”Sebastian hummed softly to himself.“Greed does that to people.”
Kieran looked down at his hands.He knew that all too well—the Pelumbra family’s greed had driven them to all kinds of immoral deeds.It seemed Elias wasn’t all that different from his family in that sense.
After a beat, Kieran asked, “Are you…going to keep working for him?”
Sebastian took a moment to consider it.“I…suppose.I don’t know.As I said before, I work for him because he pays me.Until Ifind someone else who needs my skill set and has a salary for me, that’s what I’ll do.”
“What ifIhired you?”
For the first time in the conversation, Sebastian sounded genuinely shocked.“Excuse me?”
“I mean, I can use all the help I can get.”Kieran shrugged.Perhaps he was going out on a limb, but if Elias was hiring mercenaries, he was going to need more than just Briar and Delilah to protect him.“If it’s money you need, I can work something out with Klaus.Plus, having someone around who has worked for Elias might be just what we need to get a leg up on him.”
Sebastian paused, sounding nonplussed.“You’re…serious?You haven’t even seen my résumé.”
Kieran laughed.Sebastian sounded so overly formal that Kieran had to wonder whether he was trying to sound more grown-up on purpose or he was just like that.“I suppose that’s true.Any highlights I should know about?”
Sebastian went quiet for a moment as he considered it.This line of questioning seemed to have chipped at his assuredness.Kieran got the sense that he’d practiced this phone call beforehand but hadn’t considered something like this happening.
Finally, all business, Sebastian said, “I excelled in school, particularly in the sciences.I finished my education two years early with perfect test scores, and I’ve worked since then.I know how to chart the stars, survive in the wilderness, and decode cyphers.And I’m trained in self-defense.If you need additional information, I can furnish letters of recommendation from my former employers.”
