Calling on my magic, I changed. My spine stretched as I grew taller, my shoulders broadened, and my breasts disappeared. It was over in a moment.
Valen’s eyebrows rose as he looked at me. I’d been hoping for a bigger reaction, to be honest, considering I’d changed into a mirror image of him.
“Can you only copy other people’s bodies, or can you invent your own?” he asked.
“Both,” I answered in his voice.
“How long can you hold the change?”
I shrugged. “As long as I need to.”
“Minutes? Hours?”
“I’ve gone all day before.”
It left me exhausted, though. Not that I would admit that to him.
“How many times a day can you change?”
“I don’t know.” I crossed my arms and reverted to my previous form. “Lots. I’ve never kept track. Why do you care? What’s your offer?”
He eyed me critically as if I were a piece of livestock he was thinking about buying. He’d been a lot more fun at the party, but that must have been an act. Now I was seeing the real person under all that fake charm.
And boy, was he an asshole.
“I want you to help me steal something,” he said finally. “Do that for me, and I’ll pay you two-hundred Thallencien gilds.”
I tried to keep my face blank and my body still as I thought of all that gold. Two-hundred gilds… My mother would never have to work again.
“Make it five hundred,” I said.
I must have given something away, because he smiled like he knew he’d won.
“Five it is,” he said. “Do we have a deal?”
My mouth went dry. He hadn’t even tried to bargain. Either he was filthy rich, had no intention of paying me… or the job was so dangerous that five-hundred gold coins was a bargain.
“What do you want me to steal?” I asked.
“I’m not telling you that unless you agree to help.”
That was... irritatingly reasonable. I wouldn’t go blabbing about my target either. You never knew who someone would tell.
It had to be something extremely well-protected; otherwise he wouldn’t need a shapeshifter or risk drafting a stranger to help. It probably had bloodthirsty beasts guarding it or a spell that turned thieves into stone. I would have to be crazy to agree knowing nothing about the job.
But the money... With that much, I could buy the cottage I’d always dreamed of: surrounded by vineyards, with a little herb garden planted out front. Maman could lounge, a hired cook bringing her each meal. She deserved that after all she’d sacrificed.
I remembered gathering dandelions with her as a child, how she’d made a crown of flowers for my hair and called me her fairy princess. She’d nursed me when I’d caught the pox, planting gentle kisses on my feverish forehead despite the risk of catching it herself. I was a grown woman before I realized her singing was completely off-key. The sound had soothed me to sleep on so many nights that I loved it anyway. I lovedhermore than anything.
I wanted those five hundred gold coins for her. I didn’t like Valen, didn’t trust him to keep his word, but my mother was worth the risk.
“Do we have a deal?” Valen asked again, as if sensing I teetered on the edge of a decision.
It wasn’t a real decision. He wouldn’t let me walk away if I refused.
“We do,” I whispered.
Chapter 6
