“An employer,” Hayde said. “A mercenary interested in exporting some of the stone from Heaven onto Earth.”
“Oh, talk about illegal activities,” Quintz said.
Hayde’s lie came from what he did know of the illegal mineral trade between the realms. Part of his work with Janka had aligned him with some mischievous characters, including one of the mineral lords, who he figured would be an excellent excuse while not implicating himself with Janka or the Almighty. He would seem to have his own interests apart from that, which would make his story plausible, at least.
“And you saved me,” Kinzer said, “from that Morarke out there. Why? You could have let me die.”
“A gesture of good faith, to show you that I wanted to make peace.”
“You could have had that before you killed Maggie.”
Hayde could see the pain in Kinzer’s expression, how much he hurt just speaking her name, and it tore Hayde apart seeing him like that.
“What did that mortal ever do to you?” Kinzer asked.
“I—” Hayde began, but it was the greatest issue with his story. He hadn’t had any reason to kill Maggie. Couldn’t even manufacture one outside of being an immortal bastard who had taken her life for granted. He could only be so honest since he couldn’t reveal his real motive—that everything he had done had been to help Kinzer—he was fine.
“It was a thoughtless moment.”
Kinzer punched Hayde again. He was about to go for another but stopped himself, his eyes tearing up. It was clear, in that moment, his pain outweighed his rage. Hayde wanted to soothe him so much, but Kinzer couldn’t know that. Otherwise, he’d have to know the rest.
Hayde went on. “All I can say is, when I found out what Janka was up to, I realized I needed allies, and I figured intel could buy me some protection.”
“You had allies, and you gave that up.”
Hayde knew it was because of the lie he was living that Kinzer felt this way, that if Kinzer had known the truth, he never would have been so mean, so cruel, but he had every right to be because as far as he was concerned, Hayde was nothing more than the bastard who’d killed the only friend he’d had left.
“I’ll admit,” Hayde continued, “I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I saw you with Siege, but I figured saving your ass would convince you that I was here to make a deal. Now that I know what Janka is up to, I need some sort of protection.”
Kinzer shook his head. “I just find it very convenient how you wandered into our arms, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you ran back to Janka and were now trying to get us to go into some trap he’d set up.”
“I guess that’s a risk you’ll have to take, but either way, if I actually lead you to him, does it matter?”
He could see Kinzer knew that was good enough, and Hayde was relieved because he just needed Kinzer to trust, not him, but that at that moment, they were on the same side. He could never know just how much, but so long as he trusted the intel Hayde had gathered, that would be enough to help Kinzer and what remained of Siege.
***
Quintz and Kinzer locked Hayde inside his cell and headed into a nearby chamber.
Quintz worried about Kinzer. It was hard to see someone he admired acting so defeated and wounded from everything he’d experienced. That bastard Hayde had really done a number on him.
In some ways, Quintz wished he could have pushed aside his code of honor and even their need to find Janka and let Kinzer have his way with Hayde. Let Kinzer kill him right then. But he was bound by his word.
As Kinzer turned to him, Quintz wanted to give him ease the way he had before. He wanted to help Kinzer strip away all the pain and sadness.
“Well, I’m not going to pretend I trust a damn thing he told us,” Kinzer said.
“You didn’t trust me either. But the same thing applies here. We don’t need to trust him. We just need him to take us to Janka.”
“Or right into a trap. And I get that we have to do what we have to do, but don’t let your guard down around him.”
“You’re very evasive about what he’s done to you.”
“Apparently your emissaries didn’t catch everything that went on inside Veylo’s mansion. I’ll say I got very close to him. Too close, when I knew I shouldn’t have, and for a moment, I believed we were fighting on the same side, and then I learned I was wrong, that he’d been using me for his own reasons, clearly for this employer he’s working for. My guess is he was trying to escape, or my friend was just in the way, and so he killed her.”
“I’m sorry.”
Kinzer shook his head. “It’s not your issue. I don’t plan on making that mistake again. I’ve trusted one too many people.”
