“She’s here. I give you my word that I haven’t harmed her. So… are you ready to negotiate? You know what I seek.”
“Indeed. I find it remarkably uncharacteristic of you to sink this low. Why not come after me?”
Cyrus’s voice tightened. “I have been coming after you for centuries. You try my patience, boy.”
“I’m no longer the boy you remember.”
“Is that so?” Cyrus chuckled. “Let me pour you some sake. I bought it especially for you, my half-Japanese friend.”
“No, thank you.”
“You never could hold your liquor. But nothing was funnier than a drunk blind man. Remember how clumsy he was, Lykos?”
Their laughter overlapped, and Gem clenched her fists. She inched closer, realizing that the voices were coming from the right. She peered around the corner at the group. With his back to everyone, Cyrus stood before a long table and poured alcohol into cups. Niko was also turned away, but the sight of him brought her such relief.
That feeling vanished when she noticed a third man sitting on the floor, examining the pieces on the game board. Gem would never forget that face as long as she lived. That brute had held her down in the pool and drowned her. His was the last face she’d seen before water rushed into her lungs and she lost consciousness.
Cyrus half turned and handed small white cups to each brother. Lykos must have been standing near the kitchen, because Gem couldn’t see him. She slowly leaned back, careful about how much time she spent peering.
When Cyrus spoke, all civilities in his tone were gone. “Let us get straight to the matter. I want that book, and I will accept nothing less in exchange.”
“You have given me no reason to trust you. If I hand over the book, what is to stop you from harming her out of spite? Your word? You harbor much resentment, and I would be a fool to believe you wouldn’t retaliate.”
Gem held her breath and peered around the corner again. Where were Niko’s swords? Had they taken them?
Cyrus turned away, hands clasped behind his back. “So what do you offer me?”
“My servitude.”
Cyrus looked over his shoulder, his eyes wide with surprise. “You jest.”
Niko bowed. “On the contrary.”
“But it’s not you I want; it’s the book.”
“Are you not wise enough to see that if you have me, you will eventually have the book? If you harm the woman or anyone else, you’ll never see it. My anger is not an emotion to dismiss.”
Cyrus turned and gave a disparaging sigh. “I could torture her.”
“To what avail? Set her free, and you may have my life in exchange. You can win my loyalty back or torture me until I have no strength left to resist.”
Cyrus looked at him with measured interest before swinging his gaze up at the ceiling.
“You tried this hostage tactic once before,” Niko said. “Remember how that turned out? Do not make moves that will set you farther away from what you desire most.”
Cyrus turned his gaze to the Go board, which Arcadius was still studying. “Lykos, bring me the box.”
Gem scurried into the nearest room and tucked herself deep in the shadows. Lykos cruised past the doorway to a different room. After a moment, she glimpsed him walking past with what looked like a tall hatbox. Curious, she waited until he was out of sight before she tiptoed back to her vantage point.
Lykos handed Cyrus the box and then stepped out of her line of view.
“Strip out of your clothes,” Cyrus ordered him.
Niko went rigid. “For what reason?”
“You offered yourself as a servant, and I accept. But a servant cannot serve if he is in attire equal to his master. This is a long-standing tradition, and you know it to be true.” The box top fell to the floor. “I held on to your clothes for many years, but the material rotted away. So I bought a replacement.”
Niko’s disgust was thinly veiled. “Why would you have kept them?”
