“We’ve had our differences,” Oskar said. “But ye are still a business man above all else. There is three times that amount waiting for ye at the end of this job.”
Bryn’s gaze flicked up to meet Oskar’s. The man’s eye was still black and swollen from their previous fight. Hatred burned in Bryn’s stare, but something else as well, something more powerful. Greed.
He leaned back in his chair. “I’m listening. What kind of job?”
Oskar took a deep breath. If he did this, if he took this final step, there would be no going back. He would be a turncoat. A traitor. His life would have gone full circle, right back to the cess pit in which it started.
The road ye enter may lead to darkness or greatness. Choose wisely.
This cannot have been what Irene meant. It cannot have been what she’d planned for him. But Oskar’s plans always went awry.The darkness sucked him in no matter how hard he tried to fight it.
He thought of Lily. He thought of Magnus and Emeric.
Fate and destiny could go to hell as far as he was concerned. Irene MacAskill might like to blather on about choices, but there was no choice. Not for him. He could not risk Lily’s or his sword-brothers’ lives any more than he could voluntarily tell his heart to stop beating.
He fixed Bryn with a stare. “Two things. First, I need to visit my guild house. Then we are going to break someone out of prison.”
Chapter 17
Lily felt the room tilt on its axis. “No,” she whispered, the single word barely audible
She looked at Eberwyn, at the malicious joy etched on his face, and knew instinctively that he wasn’t lying. But it wasn’t the whole truth either. She’d learned the hard way that Lord Eberwyn was a master of deception.
She forced an incredulous laugh. “Really? Is that the best you can do? Honestly, I thought you might be a bit more original than that. You really expect me to believe that Oskar would betray the Order of the Osprey?”
Eberwyn’s smirk broadened, his eyes glinting with amusement at her reaction. “Ye dinna have to believe me. Ye’ll see it soon enough for yerself.”
“You said you’d tell me where Oskar was if I treated Alfred. I’ve done that,” she said, glaring at Eberwyn. “So where is Oskar?”
“Right now?” Eberwyn said, tapping his chin with one finger as though deep in thought. “I’d say he’s in the lower town, reestablishing his place in his old crew.”
“Old crew? What do you mean?”
Eberwyn chuckled, clearly enjoying the confusion on Lily’s face. “Ye dinna know? Before Oskar joined the Order of the Osprey, he was part of the criminal network here in Edinburgh.A very valuable member, I might add. His talent for... shall we say, unconventional problem-solving was quite inventive.”
Lily wanted to slap his smug face.You think you know everything?she thought.Well, you don’t. Oskar has already told me all about Bryn and his former gang and I don’t believe a word coming out of your lying mouth.
Eberwyn waved a hand as though suddenly bored. “Enough of this. Can Alfred walk now?”
“Only if he wants to cripple himself permanently,” Lily snapped. “He needs to rest that leg. If he puts weight on it he could make things worse.”
“I’ll walk,” Alfred said. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”
Eberwyn nodded and Lily narrowed her eyes. “What needs to be done? What are you talking about?”
