“Oh, come on, Aiden!” Maz said, adding a drunken slur. He swaggered closer to Kiera. “He has the most beautiful singing voice. Go on, tell him to sing.”
Kiera looked like she’d rather eat the broken bottles in the gutter.
I feel the same, little thief.
I turned a corner sharply and charged ahead to the dilapidated house I rented a room in. Chipped stone and moldy wood held it together, but it was dry inside and the owner didn’t ask questions, which was all I needed.
I shoved the door open with my shoulder and ushered Kiera and Ruru inside. “Hold a moment, Maz.”
He nodded. I shut the door, then walked a few feet away. We hovered under the building’s eave. A steady stream of water poured between us and the street, conveniently muffling our voices from any passerby.
“What did you find?” he asked.
“Enough.” Grimly, I recounted everything up until I was caught.
“Fucking Four,” Maz breathed, dropping his head back on the wall. “We need more gold.”
A sardonic chuckle escaped my lips. “Which is what I told Kiera I was looking for in there.”
Maz’s eyebrow lifted. “And she believed that?”
“Why not? It’s true enough, as you said.”
“Everything comes back to gold in this bloody city,” Maz grumbled. “We already pay a fortune in bribes, and you keep picking up strays.” He jabbed his thumb toward the door.
“She won’t be staying,” I said.
“Why not?”
“I don’t trust her, and we have enough people who need our help. She seems like she can take care of herself, anyway.”
Maz gave me a long look. “She unchained you back there.”
“To help save her own skin.”
“And yours, it seems. She’s a good one. I feel it in my gut.” He rubbed his stomach as if that was where all his wisdom resided.
I shook my head, staring into the rain. I wasn’t sure what she was. Butmygut told me Kiera wanted something from me, whether she unchained me out of pity or necessity. As such, she was a threat. A rogue spark dancing through the air, ready to start a fire wherever it landed.
“How did she get in your cell?” he asked.
“She arrivedaftermy interrogation.”
“Ah, that’s why you don’t trust the pretty one. What was her story?”
I told him what she’d told me.
Maz nodded along, frowning. “Seems likely enough. Whoever brought her in wasn’t gentle.”
“She claims Renwell beat her. Same as me.” The man’s twisted sneer and cold eyes blinked into my mind. Gods, that face always heralded death and pain.
“Damn that bastard to the deepest, darkest corner of the wandering hell,” Maz snarled. “If I ever get my hands on that maniac?—”
I smirked. “What, no axe for his worthless neck?”
Maz crossed his arms with a vicious smile. “You didn’t let me finish. There are a great many ways to kill a man, and I have plenty of weapons to explore each one.” He patted the whistler at his hip.
“His time will come,” I promised. “But I told him nothing.”
