“No. No one caught me.”
“Someone caught you, or you wouldn’t be here.”
“It went fine. Perfectly to plan. My plan, anyway.” He gave me a look. “My plan wasn’t a very good one.”
“Who did he piss off?” Val asked.
“Who did you piss off?” I asked. Then I knew. “You stole whatever was inside the envelope, didn’t you? Gods’ balls, Card. Who did you steal from?”
“The who isn’t the problem,” he said.
“The hell it isn’t,” I said. “Who did you steal from? Who’s hunting you?”
“Technically, I just delayed the delivery, it’s not actual theft yet.”
“Horse pucky. Can you hear the engines of Fate out there, Card? Is she the one on your trail? Did you piss off Fate?Fate?”
“I didn’t even know she would be angry! Not until recently. I just thought my damn luck had finally turned, and I wasn’t going to question it.”
“Stupid,” I said. “Tell me. The whole thing. What did you take?”
“Coins. There were three coins inside the envelope. The power of them was off the charts. I knew I could trade them for information.”
“You ran, didn’t you?”
“Oh, no. Worse. I pocketed the coins, threw three quarters in the envelope, and left it on the diner table for the woman to find.”
“So she hired assassins? Monsters? How are you not dead yet?”
“My winning personality and clever mind?”
“No, those are clearly lacking,” I said, which earned me a big smile.
My heart caught. That smile was so like old times, I was tempted to forget his mysterious disappearance, just so I could have that smile in my life again.
But I knew better than to fall for it. He had not apologized for leaving. He hadn’t even explained why he’d left without a word. I deserved both those things, at least.
Hell, I deserved honesty and trust, and I would be a fool to throw my faith into Cardamom’s wind and expect it to be returned.
“The woman didn’t own the coins,” he said. “She was stealing them too. I’m assuming you put that together already?”
I nodded.
“Smart. I’ve always lo–liked that about you,” he said. “But the womanhadknown where the coins would be and what time they’d be left there, which, frankly, should have warned me off right then.”
“You took the envelope, you took the coins. I got that already. Can we skip the director’s cut and just go to the credits?”
“I forgot how impatient you can be.” He leaned back like he was settling in for a nice long conversation around the fire. “You know, some of the mostenjoyablethings in life are best done nice and slow.”
I cupped my hand around my ear. “I’d say that god riding hellbent down this road out in the middle of nowhere is about ten minutes out. I wonder why she’s coming here, Card. I wonder why she’s coming here now, today?”
He glanced at the window and frowned. “All right. I kept the coins. I spent two. The last one is...safe. I think. Maybe.” He took a couple gulps of tea, finishing off the mug.
“I want details, all the details,” I said, “but I want you to get on with it more. Where did you spend the coins? What kind of magic did they hold?”
“I gave one to a seer, for information.” His eyes clouded, and since he was half dryad, that was a literal thing. Whatever had happened had brought him deep sorrow.
“Your sister?” I asked carefully.
