by Beth Alvarez
“Good luck,” she whispered.
Tahl smoothed her dark hair and fought back a wave of unfamiliar emotion. Leaving behind his blood sisters hadn't been so hard. “You, too. I suspect we'll be seeing each other again.”
Nia nodded, wiped tears from her cheeks, and darted into the tunnels behind Ashyl.
Instead of following them, Tahl exited the guild headquarters through the door that led into the museum's basement. He tried to empty his head, to allow himself a moment of respite from the swirling thoughts and troubles that plagued him. Instead, they hung over his mood like a storm cloud, putting a damper on any relief that came from the fact he was still alive.
Without caring if anyone followed, Tahl made his way to the apartment he'd rented above a shop nearby, the home he'd kept secret even from Nia. He should have been hungry, but his appetite had evaporated. Unable to fight off his exhaustion any longer, Tahl collapsed onto his wide bed, pulled the covers over his head, and slept.
Without the treasures that previously lined the shelves, Tahl found his office lacked any charm or appeal. Books and papers packed the space, none of them glittering or interesting. Part of him was still irritated the guild had taken his treasures when they'd moved. He'd collected them on his own across the months he'd served as guildmaster. Who would have expected they'd end up stealing from him?
Tahl laid a folder on his desk and ran his fingers through his hair. Just outside his door, furniture scraped across the bare stone floor and the steady knocking of a hammer promised more would be assembled shortly.
“Excuse me, sir?” A shadow moved in front of his doorway, blocking most of the light. They hadn't brought lanterns in yet.
Tahl gave the man an expectant look. He doubted he'd ever be used to being called sir, but a lot could change. A lot had, in the weeks after his arrest.
The liveried man in front of him cleared his throat. “We have a problem. A handful of men scouting the tunnels underneath the intelligence office reported the presence of, ah... well, bears.”
A stray paper had caught Tahl's attention, but at the last word, his eyes snapped up again. “Bears?”
“Yes, sir. A mother and two cubs, they said. What should we do?”
“Huh.” Tahl rubbed his chin, his eyes falling to the papers again. “So Rupert was a girl.”
The man blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“Nothing, nothing.” Tahl waved a hand as if it didn't matter. “The tunnels aren't necessary, or a good idea. Call a mason and have them walled off.” It was probably better that way. The fewer routes into the intelligence office, the better.
“Yes, sir. One more thing. There's an architect here who said he has an appointment to discuss alterations to the building.”
That earned a raised eyebrow. Tahl hadn't made any such appointments, but there were half a dozen people involved in moving the intelligence office into the basement of the Queen's Museum, and any one of them could have saddled him with an architect. “Right now?”
The man in livery nodded. “Yes, sir. Now.”
It took everything Tahl had to bite his tongue and keep from kicking the man out. The queen had given him his first real assignment a week before, and with all the people coming and going and demanding his attention, he hadn't even had a chance to open the folder. His fingers trailed over it, almost longingly, as he surrendered and followed the man into the front room.
The basement space the guild had occupied was worlds different now that it housed the budding intelligence office. Putting the office there had been the queen's idea. Tahl thought it was a cruel joke. Instead of crates of stolen goods and shelves full of treasures, the space now held comfortable sitting areas and less comfortable desks. Eventually, an entire team of intelligence officers would fill the space, and Tahl was expected to lead them.
A man in fine clothing stood in a corner formed by two couches in the sitting area nearest the door. He held a stack of papers and studied the door with a speculative eye, his back to the rest of the office.
The liveried man cleared his throat and the architect twitched.
Tahl blinked twice.
“Sir, this is Jeran Tachir,” the man said. “Don't let his age fool you. I am assured he is one of the finest architects in Orrad.”
Jeran met Tahl's eye in a manner that was all professional. “Ah, I prefer to think of myself as an engineer, first and foremost, but I've found architectural work provides a healthy income when business is slow. How do you do?”
“A pleasure to have you here,” Tahl replied, barely able to keep his amusement from his voice as he clasped Jeran's hand and pretended not to know him.
Jeran offered a small smile. “I was referred by a colleague who said you have an unusual lock system in your doors. Being that engineering is my occupational preference, it was suggested I may be able to help you change the codes for the locking mechanisms and potentially improve the infrastructure of your location.”
“That would be appreciated.” In truth, Tahl couldn't have cared less about the doors, but he was already trying to think of a way to slip Jeran information about Rupert's cubs.
“Excellent, excellent. I brought some diagrams and a few revised designs I thought you might appreciate looking at.” Jeran divided off half the stack of papers, grimacing when a few slipped out of his grasp and fluttered to the ground. “Ah, that always happens. My apologies.”
Tahl accepted the ream of papers Jeran offered before the engineer bent to pick up what he'd dropped. A moment later, Jeran laid the other papers with what was already in Tahl's hands.
“It will be a pleasure to work with you, sir,” Jeran said, offering a polite nod before he retreated through the door.
“Of course,” Tahl murmured, his eyes drawn downward. On the very top of the stack, a folded piece of paper bore his first name in blue chalk. Questions for how Jeran really came across the job could wait for another time. For now, curiosity tickled, and Tahl trudged back to his office.
He closed his door and unfolded that note. Inside waited a few lines of familiar childish handwriting.
Con-grats on your first real job.
Here's who you need to question.
His eyes skimmed past the list of names, to a cute drawing of a fat bird at the bottom of the page.
Tahl couldn't help but grin. “Sparrow.”
Author’s note
Well, that’s it—the end of the Westkings Heist trilogy. Thank you for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed the adventure.
The heists started as short adventures for me to write between the longer books I was working on, little self-contained novellas that I could finish in a couple weeks to keep things fresh.
While this is the end for Tahl’s guild and the heists, it doesn’t have to be the end of his adventures. Someday, I’d like to write some of his investigations for the queen.
If you’d like to be among the first to know when/if that happens, consider joining my newsletter—it goes out twice a month or so, with information about new releases and peeks at extras like artwork and works-in-progress. You can find it here: http://www.ithilear.com/newsletter
Hope to see you there!
- Beth
P.S.—Even though this book went through a lot of editing and proofreading, I know accidents still happen. If you find any typographical or formatting errors in this book, please let me know so I can fix it for the next reader!
About the Author
Beth Alvarez has enjoyed writing since childhood and is a ravenous reader.
A visual arts major, Alvarez has worked as a freelance web designer, graphic designer, illustrator, and video game programmer. When not writing, she enjoys drawing, playing video games, driving, and sewing for her unusual collection of Asian ball-jointed dolls. Her collection can be seen on her YouTube channel, Lomi’s Playground.
Raised in southern Illinois, she now resides in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee with her husband and daughter, their Siberian husky, and a very m
ean cat.
If you enjoyed this story, consider signing up for Beth’s author newsletter so you’ll never miss a future release: http://www.ithilear.com/newsletter
Books by Beth Alvarez
FANTASY BOOKS
Gale’s Gift
Of Blood and Rain
To Steal the World
To Steal the Crown
To Steal the Queen
Serpent’s Mark
Serpent’s Tears
Serpent’s Bane
Serpent’s Wake
Serpent’s Crown (coming 2021)
Serpent’s Blood (coming 2021)
PARANORMAL BOOKS
Keeper’s Finder
Her Midnight Cowboy
Her Midnight Wedding
Her Midnight Hunter
The First Hunt (Newsletter Exclusive)
Death of the Sun
Born of the Moon
