“They’re large and ugly and mean. Lots of eyes. More teeth than you’d like. Hard to kill. And the queen of a hive grows a stone, here.” Viv tapped her forehead.
“And it’s worth something?”
“Not to most people. But I came across some legends. Heard it in asongfirst, if you can believe it.”
Viv fished the scrap of parchment from her pocket and slid it across to Tandri, who unfolded it and read.
Her eyebrows rose. “The ley lines. No wonder you twitched every time Hemington mentioned them.”
“You noticed that, huh?”
“Draws the ring of fortune, aspect of heart’s desire….” Tandri looked up at her. “So it’s, what, a good luck charm?”
“A handful of long-dead people thought so. I’m not sure that’sexactlywhat they meant, but the idea comes up again and again. There’s a lot of old mythology around the Stones, but you don’t hear about them much these days. Probably because there aren’t a lot of Scalvert Queens around and even fewer people willing to kill one.”
“Well, you’ve certainly piqued my interest. Where does one hide a maybe-magical luck stone?”
Viv rose from the bench, motioned for Tandri to do likewise, and slid the big table aside a few feet. She squatted, dug sand from around the flagstone, and pried it up and out with the ends of her fingers.
She carefully scooped aside earth, revealing the stone, which glistened as though wet.
“Been here since the first day,” said Viv.
Tandri squatted to examine the stone. “I have to say, my mental image was a little more spectacular. And you think it’s responsible forallthis?” She gestured at the surrounding building.
Viv thought it might be responsible for a lot more than thebuildingbut didn’t elaborate.
“I’ve had my doubts, but the Madrigal sure seems to think so.”
“But, she let you leave. Why hasn’t she alreadytakenit?” Tandri’s expression was dubious. “In fact, why aren’t her men hereright nowtearing this place apart?”
Viv carefully set the flagstone back in place and brushed sand in around it. “I’ll get to that.” She slid the table back into place, and they both sat again. “You remember Fennus?”
“Difficult to forget. And….” She glanced at the scrap of verse on the table, brow furrowing as she thought back. “It’s obvious now that he knew you had it.”
“Yep. And it sounds like he made sure the Madrigal knew, too.”
“Why, though? Pure maliciousness? You left on terms that bad?”
Viv sighed. “My guess is that I made a stupid mistake, telling him it was all I wanted from our last job, which I had a hand in finding in the first place. He was probably suspicious afterward and did a little digging of his own. He must have figured I was trying to cut them out of something big. Or more importantly, cuthimout.”
“Ifhewants the stone, I don’t understand why he’d tip off another interested party.”
“Why confrontmeover it, if he could leave that to someone I’m already striking sparks from? Just like him, honestly, to stand back and let someone else bleed. Maybe I’d panic, and he’d catch me moving it, saving him the search. Failing that, it’s always a good idea to let your enemies soften each other up first. Wait until the dust settles, and poke through the ashes. Could be he gets what he wants without a hair out of place.”
“All right, but that doesn’t explain why the Madrigal hasn’t taken it.”
Viv chuckled ruefully. “Well, I can’t be positive it’s theonlyreason, but it sounds like he just rubbed her the wrong way.”
“That’s it?”
“I mean, he is an enormous dick.”
"I don’t get the impression he’s going to give up that easily, is he?”
Viv frowned. “Definitely not. In fact, he’s probably much more dangerous now.” She glanced at the door and couldn't help imagining Fennus with his ear pressed to the keyhole. “I’ll take care of it, though.”
There was a long silence while Tandri tapped her lower lip, her tail making lazy loops. At length, she said, “Setting that aside. What about the protection money? What about the Madrigal’s little enforcer squad?”
