by Beth Alvarez
She gasped in indignation, but he'd seen enough.
The edges of her ears were scarred.
Tahl gripped her wrists with both hands and glared down at her. “You lied to me. You're old blood. You're as old as the empire itself.”
Oria spat at him.
He didn't even flinch. “Why did you lie?”
The queen's jaw tightened.
“Intercepting shipment,” he muttered. “You'd be the first person in line to undermine the emperor's rule. What's in the shipment, Oria? Artifacts?”
Her eyes widened.
Just outside the doorway, a low murmur passed between the thieves.
“This might come as a surprise, Your Majesty, but I like the empire,” Tahl said.
“And you believe I don't?” Oria snapped. She twisted her wrists in his grasp.
He tightened his hold. “What's in the boxes?” He expected she'd reach for magic again, but she didn't. Instead, she merely met his gaze, a steely glint in her eyes.
Frustration bunched between Tahl's shoulder blades. “I know who you are. I know what the first emperor did to your mother. Give me one good reason I shouldn't truss you up and hand you back to Atoras as a traitor.”
“Because we're on the same side.” Her words were clipped but clear, her voice low enough that the thieves just outside leaned closer.
Tahl's eyes narrowed. When he said nothing, she went on.
“If I had been honest, would you believe me when I say that? When I say I love Orrad and want the city to prosper, with or without me as its leader?” Her chin lifted, just a shade. She no longer struggled beneath him. “Atoras is a hard man, but a strong ruler. My mother was not, which was why her kingdom fell. If I am to protect my people, then I must protect the empire.”
“Noble,” Tahl said.
Frustration crinkled her brow. “If I am to protect this city, these people, I need help. Please.”
His grip on her wrists eased a shade. “Then answer a question.”
Oria's brows rose in expectation.
He couldn't see it in the darkened office, but if the queen was still there, it had to be there, too. “What does the crown do?”
Her mouth tightened and for a moment, he thought she meant to refuse. Then she sighed and closed her eyes. “I am not skilled at imbuing. My mother was, but I didn't have time to learn. I...” Her lips twitched and she shook her head, as if to dismiss the tangent. “It's to soften his disposition toward me. To make him warmer and more receptive to my suggestions and advice.”
Tahl bit back a curse. “Mind control?” He hadn't realized that was possible.
Oria shook her head. “Magic can't control anyone. But it creates a... a fondness. It grants him a sense of comfort and wellbeing when he listens to me. That's all. It serves to open his mind and heart so he will consider my words. Without it...” A rueful smile touched the corners of her mouth. “Well, if he still wore it, perhaps I wouldn't be here.”
“He won't hear you now that you can't influence him?”
“As I said, he is a hard man. If he will not hear my concerns, what can I do? The fact he wouldn't listen to me is what allowed this situation to begin.” Her smile faded. “If only you'd worn it when I met you. Perhaps you'd be more inclined toward helping.”
Tahl studied her face for a time, but it told him little. The anger had left her eyes, her expression soft and genuine.
“What's in the shipment?” he asked.
This time, a shadow filled her eyes. More than just worry.
Fear.
“Weapons,” Oria said. “The kind that could change the world.”
Chapter 8
“What do you think, boss?” Ashyl kept her voice low. A handful of others crowded nearby. Colbin was among them, his face pinched with worry, but Tahl would deal with the mage later.
“I don't know.” Tahl scrubbed his face with one hand. “It's a lot of money. A team of five could finish and be set for for the rest of their lives.”
Nia snorted. “As if you'd be happy with a few thousand pims.”
“I would be,” Jeran murmured. “Could invest in new tools. Set up an office with a drafting table the size of...” He trailed off as he caught the way everyone stared.
“Regardless,” Tahl said, “it's a big risk. And outside our wheelhouse. We'd be going from stealing the crown to working for it.”
“But it is thieving,” Ashyl said. She tapped a fingernail against Tahl's desk. “And the money's good.”
“I know.” Tahl wanted to rub his face again, but he made his hands remain still. A handful of the maps he'd requested decorated his desk. He tried to make himself study them.
Now and then, Nia cast a worried look toward the queen. Oria had not stirred since Tahl had let her up off the floor and bade her sit. She was outside the office, prim and proper in her chair, her hands folded in her lap. The queen watched them, but if she heard what they were saying, it was hard to tell.
Eventually, Nia tore her eyes away. “All that's assuming this isn't a trap. It could be a setup from the very beginning.”
Tahl allowed himself a frown. “I don't think so. She had no way of knowing I was going to be in the pasture.” And he still hadn't gotten Ebitha's horse back, blight it. “But I'm not ruling out the possibility that wanting to involve us is a trap she came up with along the way.”
“The job is your call,” Jeran said, though a hint of worry pinched the corners of his eyes.
Tahl shook his head. “If we do this, it's going to be a small team. Me and four others. I'm not about to tell four other people to risk their lives.”
“So you're saying you'll do it?” Nia cocked a brow at him.
“I said if. I'm good, but I don't think I have enough muscle on my own to move crates full of... whatever this is out of a transport caravan. Which is what we're looking for, most likely. You've seen the problems we've had at the docks.” Tahl tapped the maps in front of him. “I find it hard to believe anyone else could smuggle things through the main docks if we can't. And if they're not coming in through the main docks, they're coming from the new ones north of the city. With the construction mess up there, those will be easy for us to watch.”
Ashyl crossed her arms and shrugged. “I'm in.”
“Me too,” Nia said before anyone else could draw breath.
Colbin cleared his throat. “Does part of this plan involve getting me out of here safely and ensuring I'm not executed for aiding a legendary thief in interrogating the queen?”
Tahl had almost forgotten the mage was there. “We'll make sure to have Oria pardon you before we head out. You can hardly be blamed for what I made you do, and the queen saw that dagger to your ribs. Jeran?”
The thief flinched at the sound of his name. “I'm an engineer, I don't think...”
“You just said you'd be happy with the money,” Ashyl said. “You shouldn't back out now.”
Jeran ducked his head.
“There was a dagger to my ribs?” Colbin asked in a whisper.
Tahl held up a hand to silence him.
“Fine,” Jeran sighed. “I don't think I'm the best one for this, but—”
“You are,” Tahl said before he could finish. “The group that goes needs to be diverse. You're my mechanical genius. Ashyl's the sweet-talker, I'm the stealth, and Nia—”
“I'm the scout?” she put in hopefully.
“—is staying here,” Tahl finished.
The girl almost squeaked. “What?” Hurt filled her eyes and her face crumpled with anger.
Before she could argue, Tahl raised a hand. “Because I trust you. Not because of anything you did or can't do. If this is a trap, the stupidest thing I could do would be bring my second-in-command along to spring it.”
“But I can help!” she protested.
“I know. And you will, by staying here and keeping the guild under control.” The look of betrayal on her face tugged at his heart, but Tahl refused to let it sway his decision. “I need s
omeone here who knows how I work, inside and out. Who the guild already looks to for guidance, in case I need to call reinforcements. You're the only one who can handle this job.”
The other thieves nodded in agreement.
Nia sank into the chair behind the desk with a pitiful sigh.
“If Nia's staying here to keep things under control, I'm guessing we need two more?” Ashyl asked, catching Tahl's eye.
“One more,” Tahl said. “The queen's with us.”
The frustration and dismay on Nia's face deepened.
“You're taking her?” Colbin asked. “Does that mean I'm coming?”
“To make sure she can't use her magic against us?” Jeran glanced toward Oria, who still sat calm as could be. “That's not a bad idea.”
Tahl shook his head. “Except then he really would be aiding us, instead of doing what he'd been ordered at knifepoint.”
A hint of a smirk pulled at Ashyl's lips. “I'd wager Oria would still pardon him, since he'd be doing her bidding.”
The flat look Tahl gave her made that smile evaporate. “Oria's using us for this job. Nobody should expect to be pardoned. If we do this, it's for the money. She already knows that's how we operate. That's why she's offering twice my bounty.”
Jeran shifted uneasily. “What do you mean?”
“All of you are here because you haven't tried to collect the hundred thousand Atoras put on my head.” Tahl glanced between them. “She knows the amount needed has to be big enough to do two things. It has to entice us, and it has to be enough to make assembling a team worthwhile. Two hundred is enough to make it worth working for a split.”
Ashyl tilted her head. “But what does that have to do with collecting your bounty?”
“Because if this is a trap, she's probably going to use a chance at all that money to sway you to her side.”
Everyone at the table fell silent.
Comforting, Tahl thought with a grim smile. He could almost hear the gears in their heads turning as they tried to decide if it would be worth it.
He curled his hand to a fist and rapped his knuckles on the desk. “Oria's four, we need one more. We're all on the lean side. We need someone big.”
“Rupert?” Jeran suggested.
Ashyl dug an elbow into his ribs. “Hadren used to work as a porter.”
“Hadren will do,” Tahl said. “If you find a way to get the bear to cooperate with the guild, Jeran, I'm all ears.”
“I'd like to throw Oria to Rupert,” Nia muttered.
Tahl scarcely managed to keep from rolling his eyes. “I'm sure he would appreciate that. Ashyl, track down Hadren. You, Hadren, and Jeran will find your instructions at the third drop-off point.”
“What about me?” Colbin asked.
“Right,” Tahl muttered. “We'll take care of getting you out of here right now.”
The mage's shoulders slumped in relief as Tahl rolled up his sleeves and rounded the desk. “How are we leaving?”
Tahl plowed a fist into Colbin's jaw.
“That was unnecessary, wasn't it?” Oria asked in a low tone.
Tahl brushed his hand against his trousers and shrugged. “If he wants people to believe he got kidnapped by the Ghost, then he needs to look like he got kidnapped. He's a mage. You should know better than anyone that if he didn't want to go, we couldn't have taken him.”
The queen barked a laugh.
He'd insisted on having the queen be the one to help him carry Colbin out of the guild's headquarters. They'd dragged him along with a bag over his head, only to eject him onto the museum's main floor. The trip hadn't been far, but his sudden appearance in the museum would be more disorienting than the sewers. With Jeran's invisible door in the stone wall, there was no way to see where they had come from. The thieves had long since cleaned the basement of dust that might betray their secret entrance.
“You disagree?” Tahl raised a brow.
They were the only two people who remained in the headquarters, everyone else having gone. Nia had carried Tahl's written instructions to the drop-off, though not without shooting any number of baleful glares at the queen.
“I didn't want to come here,” Oria said, gesturing to the room around them. Her eyes caught on the shelves of goods that weren't quite fine enough to be deposited in the treasury. Though her face twisted with displeasure, she forced herself to go on. “You didn't give me a choice. You know how to keep a mage just distracted enough that their Gift is out of reach.”
“Unlikely.” He crossed to the makeshift kitchen and plucked an apple from a basket. The crunch was satisfying, but the light, sweet flavor only served to remind him that he still hadn't had a decent meal. “You're old blood. You could have killed me any time you wanted. But you didn't.” His eyes met hers and he stared at her for a long time, thoughtful.
She shook her head. “I didn't have a reason to kill you.”
Tahl wiped a bead of juice from his chin with a thumb. “You didn't have a reason to help me, either. But you did. When I was escaping the palace.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“The door to the balcony,” he said. “You unlocked it, didn't you?”
The queen stared back, her face betraying nothing.
“I felt the magic. The flows shifted. Parted around me like water and unlocked the door. I don't know if I would have found the latch fast enough to escape, but it seemed like the best chance for survival I had.” He studied her expression again. It was calm, smooth. Even her eyes gave nothing away. How long had she been practicing that? Judging by what he knew, it had to be a long time.
He leaned back against a table. “Do you love Atoras?”
Her brow furrowed, the facade broken. “What?”
“Your husband. Do you love him?”
Oria blinked twice. “No.”
“I figured.” Tahl crunched into his apple again. “You don't have any kids yet.”
“Having children has nothing to do with loving one another.”
“No, but it probably helps. Want an apple?” He motioned to the basket by his feet.
Her gaze flicked toward it, then lifted to his face. “What are you doing?”
He shrugged. “Eating. Thought you might be hungry.”
“You're asking questions,” Oria said. “Irrelevant ones.”
“Every question is relevant. If you think it's not, it just means you haven't figured out its purpose yet.” A seed crunched between his teeth. Tahl pushed it to his lips with his tongue and removed it with his forefinger and thumb. Sometimes he ignored them. Today, the bitterness was unpleasant. He turned to drop the seed into a large jar of scraps someone else would dispose of later. “You're going to be working this job with us. I want to know who I'm working with.”
“That won't change my performance.”
“But it'll change how comfortable we are with you. Everyone on the team looks to me for leadership. If I don't trust you, they won't, either.” He finished his apple and tucked the core into the jar, too.
The queen's brows drew together as if she didn't quite understand. “And knowing how I feel about my husband makes you trust me?”
He sucked sticky apple juice off his fingers, one at a time. “Well, it paints a fuller picture. I understand politics. I understand arranged marriages. But if you loved him, it would be easier to understand your loyalty and believe that you really do have the empire's best interests at heart.”
Oria snorted. “And you expect me to believe you care about the empire's best interests? You're a thief.”
“A thief who lives here.” Tahl ticked a finger at her. “Life is better when the empire prospers. And you might not want to admit it, but I'm good for the city. The thieves in Orrad answer to me now, and those who don't watch their backs because they're afraid of me.”
“Afraid of a child?” Her eyes narrowed.
“My age has nothing to do with my accomplishments. I infiltrated the palace and escaped with the crown of Atoras,
ruler of the largest empire in the world. I did that, and I'm still alive.” Scarred, but alive. He turned to the table and filled a small basin with water. Jeran had schemes for a water system that would refill itself and make life in the museum basement easier. Tahl hoped he'd live to see it.
He washed his hands. “So here's a question you may find more relevant. Would you have come to me, to the Ghost, with this job if you'd known how old I am?”
The queen hesitated.
“That's what I thought,” Tahl murmured.
Silence fell as he wiped his hands dry on a rag. When he faced her again, Oria studied him.
Eventually, she clasped her hands in front of her. “I had not intended to seek you.” Her voice carried a tinge of something. Embarrassment, Tahl thought, but that made no sense. Her hands tightened until her fingers grew pale, betraying her feelings. She did not want to tell him anything, but some part of her felt compelled to. Why, Tahl couldn't say.
She swallowed before she went on. “I knew I couldn't hunt down the shipment on my own, but I thought I could recruit people to help. I knew it would be dangerous to venture into the city alone, but without the crown, Atoras doesn't listen to me. I did not see any other options.”
Progress. Tahl crossed his arms. “You married him before he took power.”
Her brows twitched. More subjects of conversation she didn't understand, it seemed. “Yes.”
“Does he know who you are?”
A hint of color rose into her cheeks and for the first time, Oria seemed less an angry queen and more... well, human. “Yes.”
“I'm surprised he would agree to marry you, then. One would think he'd spend every day fearing a knife in the back.”
“I was surprised, myself,” the queen admitted. “But it probably would not surprise you to hear he is a stubborn, power-hungry man. He enjoyed the idea of being wedded to the woman who should have been Orrad's ruler. It gives him a sense of delight to be a power over both my political and personal lives.”
Tahl's lip curled with distaste. “Not surprising, but still unpleasant.”
