Her gaze fell. “I don’t have any coin to pay for that. Or my bed.”
Maz clapped his hand to her shoulder, his mood bright once more. “Don’t you worry, lovely. You’re with us now. We take care of our own.”
But she didn’t look at him. Only me. “I want to earn my way. Like Ruru. He said he works for you.”
“Because he can,” I said. Kiera stiffened, but I continued, “I thought you didn’t want to work for me, anyway?”
“Aren’t I already?” she shot back. “You made it very clear who’s commanding our venture.”
Gods, this woman. Did everything have to be a fight? “Then what need have you to get more coin?” I growled. “If everything goes right, you should be rolling in it soon enough.”
“Because I don’t want to owe you anything. You have enough power over me as it is.”
I rose to my feet, bracing my fingertips on the table. “And what is it you think you can do for me? I have no need for a personal guard, and I’m already using you for your skills as a thief.”
She stood and matched my posture. Her eyes burned with determination, sending a crackle of heat through my blood. “I can do what Ruru does—run errands, carry messages, and the like.”
“And you think it’s that easy, do you? That you can just ask for a job. That I’ll just let you into my business. Ruru works for me because ItrustRuru. I don’t trust you.”
“Then what’s the alternative?” she snapped. “You said I would never be left alone. Are you going to assign a guard to sitwith me day and night when not accompanying me to Melaena’s club? That’s a waste of two able bodies.”
I snapped my mouth shut, hating her logic. But I couldn’t just accept it. She was unforeseen. A scribble in my carefully inked plans.
She wouldn’t be stupid enough to turn us in since she’d be condemning herself in the same breath. Melaena had confirmed everything Kiera had told us about the vault.
Yet, I still found myself looking for the lie.
And she clearly didn’t trust me, either. But I needed her just as much as she needed me. Perhaps we simply had to meet in the middle for this to work.
“I’ll think on it,” I said gruffly, straightening away from her.
Maz grinned at both of us. I’d nearly forgotten he was there. Kiera seemed to have a disturbing effect on me where my surroundings narrowed to only her.
“Best get some sleep, lovely,” Maz said. “I’ll show you to your room.”
Kiera obliged. My shoulders relaxed the moment her gaze broke away from mine.
Restlessness burned in my veins. Unable to think of sleep yet, I simply stared out of our one small window. We were high enough that I wasn’t worried about intruders. And I needed it. For the fresh air—even in a storm—and the light. To remind me of my freedom.
The city looked still and peaceful from here. Silvery buildings as silent as the starry sky above. Was this like what Kiera had seen from her palace windows?
But I knew—and she did now, as well—that the silence wasn’t peaceful. It was a held breath while waiting for another blow to land.
Very soon, I would tear that silence to shreds. I would seize the revenge that had eluded me for years. I would give the people of Rellmira a better life.
Kiera was right. I couldn’t afford to guard her every move.
I needed to visit the Temple at dawn. I had weapons to create.
Chapter 12
Kiera
The mead putme in a fitful sleep. The kind where my body desperately needed rest, but my mind couldn’t stop racing with fear and anger.
I dreamt of ever-shifting white labyrinths. Every time I thought I knew where I was going, I reached a dead end—one that held the bloodied body of a woman. The shadows that pressed in on me were sharp. They stabbed at my heels, making me run faster and faster until I fell down a dark hole.
And woke up, gasping and sweating.
