“Don’t try to hustle me, Kiera,” Aiden said, his mouth set in a grim line. “You’ll regret it.”
Not as much as he was going to regret ever meeting me.
Chapter 16
Kiera
The next fewdays began to take on a new rhythm.
Ruru and I ran messages and packages through every quarter but the Noble. Which was just as well, since very few people outside the upper class might recognize me. For once, my restriction to the palace worked in my favor.
We delivered things like cloth and thread for seamstresses, wood for carpenters, letters for soldiers’ wives, beer and food for tavern keepers. He even delivered a toe fungus powder to a jailer from the city prison while I watched from afar with my face covered.
Some of the items and messages came from Aiden, but many others came from the same ordinary folks we delivered to.
Under Ruru’s cheerful tutelage, I learned more of the city than I ever could’ve staring at maps in Renwell’s study. He showed me where to walk and who to talk to. We never ran at night to avoid the Wolves. But he told me plenty about the day guards, who seemed much less vicious—and therefore, less feared—than the Wolves. I worried what that might mean if I were to gain control of them one day as High Enforcer.
We walked past the city gate that I’d never been outside of—and neither had he—and past the Temple and the city prison thatI gave a wide berth. The few memories I had of those places were painful enough.
But for the first time in a week, I didn’t feel so lost.
I handled every package, coin, and message with the utmost care, especially Aiden’s. He had no reason to suspect me of any wrongdoing.
That didn’t mean I didn’t lift the sealed envelopes to the light to discern what was written inside. But what I read was nothing more than business transactions for the items we carried. No mention of Garyth or the People’s Council.
We also ran errands for our landlady and personal cook and laundress, Sophie. A short, cantankerous woman with frizzy gray hair, she had yet to say a single word to me outside of barking orders. But she fed me, washed my clothes, and let me pay a pittance.
So, I ran her tea to Floren and delivered her food to pregnant mothers and fetched her deliveries from the market.
But the days were slipping by too quickly. I wasn’t gleaning any more of Aiden’s secrets. I didn’t know where he disappeared to or why he needed so much gold when it seemed his business was prosperous enough.
I had thought to ask him about the gold again—as one of my prizes during our game of Death and Four—but he’d already refused to answer that question once. I didn’t want him to get suspicious of my interest.
I’d asked Maz once, in passing, what he planned to do with his share.
He winked and said, “Buy myself a beautiful axe. Made by Dags, of course. The best there is.”
“Surely Aiden is letting you keep more gold than that.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps we’d just like to buy ourselves a new life of freedom. Same as you.”
Then he hurried out the door, claiming the heat was muddling his brain, and he needed to go for a good soak in a bathhouse.
Clearly, Aiden and Maz had much bigger plans for the gold than “a new life of freedom.” They wouldn’t risk infiltrating the Den or stealing from the High Treasurer if they didn’t. I just couldn’t figure out what those plans were. If he didn’t want to incite a rebellion, what did he want? And what would they do if their plan for the heist failed?
I needed to follow Aiden more closely instead of running errands for pocket change. But between working with Ruru and my daily rehearsals with Melaena, I had little time to spare. Which was probably part of Aiden’s reasoning for letting me work with Ruru. I had no time or energy to pry into his affairs.
The few times I saw him at night back in our rooms, he seemed distracted and worn out. Maz seemed similarly occupied, albeit in a less brooding way. More... eager.
I asked Aiden once if he needed any help preparing for the heist, and he said it was taken care of, that he would give me the details later. That all I needed to worry about was rehearsing with Melaena.
Which frustrated me, working so hard to prepare for a heist that would likely never happen.
Because once I told Renwell about it, he would put a stop to it. Ruru gave me enough leeway to easily slip away and leave my mark for Renwell. But I didn’t want to until after I finished tonight’s job.
Aiden had agreed to let me help deliver his ship’s goods to his warehouse, saying it should be easy for me with my skills as a “guard.”
I took that to mean my job would be to protect while staying quiet and out of the way. But I didn’t care. I wanted to see what cargo needed protection and what else was in that warehouse.
