The Confectioner Chronicles Box Set

by Claire Luana

  Griff shrugged. “It’s the only bargaining chip I have. It’s impossible to break anyone out of this town. You’ll see. This is the only way.”

  “And why would this slaver even agree to take you in exchange for Captain Brimmer? Isn’t there a bounty on his head? You’re…” Hale paused, swallowing the word “nobody.”

  “I have to at least try, all right?” Griff’s voice cracked.

  “All right, I’m sorry. I don’t think trading yourself for the captain is the answer. He wouldn’t want that. He got you out of here, right?”

  “If my plan is so terrible, I’m open to suggestions. But we should get the hell out of here. If someone heard you fall, they’ll be here any minute to investigate.”

  “I do, in fact, have a plan,” Hale said, turning his torso tenderly. His back popped in five different places and he sagged in relief. “Lead the way.”

  Griff wrinkled his nose. “Follow me.”

  The streets of Sryalta were twisted and dark. Tall, mismatched buildings leaned precariously over the narrow alleyways. The people they passed eyed Hale and Griff with dark eyes full of suspicion, which was fine by Hale, as he couldn’t help himself from doing the same. He had never come across a shiftier set of people—scarred, dirty, ugly, bristling with weapons, sporting mismatched clothes. He shuddered. How had he gone from sipping minted bourbon with the King of Aprica to this?

  As they made their way from the outskirts into the city center, Hale explained the plan in low tones. “We’re going to walk into this slaver’s gambling hall and walk out with my mother and Captain Brimmer. Plus a set of horses, provisions, and an escort to Alesia. Easy as pie.”

  Griff scoffed. “And how are we going to accomplish that?”

  “He’s going to hand them over.”

  “Hale. This man is a cutthroat. If the sick bastards of this city were civilized enough for a monarch, he’d be their king. He didn’t get that power by giving things away because people ask nicely.”

  “We’re not going to ask nicely. We’re going to win it. In a wager.”

  “You plan to gamble for your mother?”

  Hale paused, stepping into the shadow of an alley. “We haven’t known each other for very long, so you’ll have to take my word for it when I say that I am very, very good at gambling. I’m uncannily lucky. You saw me fall off that cliff! What are the odds I would have fallen into a soft feather bed and not…I don’t know, a blacksmith’s shop? You’re going to have to trust me here.”

  Doubt was written across Griff’s freckled face, but he finally nodded. “What are we going to gamble with?”

  Hale rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “That is a better question. We’ll have to go in looking like high stakes players—people of importance. We’ll need to steal some nice clothes, get a good bath and a shave—though not you, you don’t even have one whisker, do you? And steal some money to start playing with.”

  “You don’t rob people in Sryalta. That’s a great way to get yourself killed.”

  “I’m open to suggestions,” Hale mimicked.

  Griff turned, pacing into the darkness of the alley, kicking a blackened head of cabbage out of his way. He turned back, his eyes troubled.

  Hale perked up. “You have an idea, don’t you?”

  “It’s a last resort…”

  “I think we’re in last resort territory. Don’t hold out on me, man!”

  “I might know someone who can help us.”

  “What? You have a contact here? Why didn’t you say so?”

  “Because I don’t…know…that they will be friendly. I didn’t leave…on the best of terms.”

  “Will they slit your throat on sight?”

  “No.” Griff heaved a sigh.

  “Then we’re going.”

  Griff’s contact was an innkeeper who kept one of the safer establishments in Sryalta: The Black Boar Inn. They wound their way through town, crossing a large market square filled with colorful tents and even more colorful merchandise. Hale slowed to gawk at the wares: fortunetellers with cards and crystals spread over purple cloths, apothecaries with bottles promising all sorts of impressive results—a powder to grow what, how big?

  “Come on.” Griff grabbed his arm and dragged him past as he tried to peer at the little green bottle.

  “The ladies will sing songs about you, my friend!” the merchant called after him.

  “This place is amazing,” Hale said, some of his disgust turning to awe. “What kind of fruit is this?” He picked up a spiky ball about the size of an apple.

  In a blink, he found the fruit replaced with the point of a sword aimed between his eyes. “No sampling the merchandise,” the man behind the cart said through the gap in his leering smile.

  “Apologies,” Hale said, putting the fruit away before backing away hastily and hurrying after Griff. But before he reached him, he caught sight of a bottle in a wine merchant’s stall. The label looked familiar. He leaned over the makeshift counter, trying to get a closer look.

  “You have fine taste, my friend,” the proprietor said. “Wine from one of the finest vineyards in Aprica. They say drinking a bottle takes a year off your life.”

  Hale’s heart did a somersault into his gut. Now he knew why he recognized the label. It was his mother’s. To think it had made it this far, that it was being touted as one of the finest vintages in Aprica… Brea would have been beside herself with excitement had the circumstances been different. Who knew where his mother was at that moment, whether she was safe? Even if she was, she’d never be making a bottle like that again.

  “Hold on to that one,” Hale said. “I have it on good authority that the vintner’s retired.”

  The dark-haired man raised an impressive eyebrow, but before he could reply, Griff returned and tugged Hale along by the bicep.

  “You’re going to get us killed,” Griff said under his breath. “You keep touching things and talking to everyone!”

  “Pardon me for talking to someone. I wasn’t aware that was a crime.”

  “In Sryalta, catching the wrong person’s attention will get you killed. Stay out of people’s notice.”

  “Easy to do when you’re a tiny redhead,” Hale muttered. “Less so when you’re built like an Aprican god.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” Griff retorted.

  “Demi-god?”

  “There’s The Black Boar,” Griff said, pointing to a three-story building with a cedar shake roof that looked…almost respectable.

  “How do you know this person again?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Better make it uncomplicated. Don’t want me screwing things up by saying the wrong thing, right?” Hale flashed his devilish grin.

  “Fair point.” Griff pursed his lips, making his way down the side of the hotel around the back. “When I here before…I was a slave. To a rich merchant. We came to the tavern here sometimes, and the proprietor, Theo, he kind of…took notice of me. The situation I was in. It was a bad one. My master was…not kind.”

  Hale furrowed his brow. Took notice?

  They rounded the back of the hotel into a small courtyard with a few chairs and a trash bin. A wiry boy in a white apron was straining to tilt a heavy trash can into the larger bin. “Let me help you with that,” Hale said, striding across the courtyard and lifting the bin, tilting it effortlessly.

  The boy skittered back like a started cockroach, his eyes wide and wary. “Who are ya? What ya doin’ ’ere?”

  “We’re old friends of—” Hale looked at Griff. “Theo. Is he around?”

  The boy rubbed the back of his neck, clearly unsure about his next move. “Old friends, ya say?”

  “We’d just like to say hello,” Griff said, glaring at Hale. “We won’t cause any trouble.”

  The boy nodded, apparently deciding they looked trustworthy enough. “I’ll git ’im,” he said before disappearing through the back door.

  “So, Theo helped you out?” Hale asked.

&
nbsp; “He helped me escape. Unfortunately, I was robbed outside of town, and left with nothing. Like I said, I would have been screwed if Captain Brimmer hadn’t found me.”

  “That’s great. I don’t see why you were so hesitant to see him.”

  “Theo wanted me to come back. And I didn’t.”

  “Come back—why? It wouldn’t be safe for you, right?”

  Griff shook his head. “Right. But that was the deal. I promised, in exchange for his help. Once things died down, I’d come back, and…”

  “And what?”

  Griff looked at Hale with an inscrutable gaze. “There’s something more… Something you don’t know.”

  “No shit. What’s this all about?”

  “I—”

  A tall, sturdy man with a thick beard and forearms like clubs appeared in the doorway. On his face was an expression Hale couldn’t quite place. Astonishment? Reverence? “As soon as Jay said there was someone asking for me, I knew it was you.” The man rushed to stand before Griff, and to Hale’s utter amazement, fell on his knees before him, pressing his face into Griff’s stomach. “Augustina, I knew you’d come back.”

  Hale looked from Griff to the man and back to Griff, who had taken off his hat. Her…hat. “Augustina?” he asked weakly.

  Chapter 13

  Hale’s knees threatened to buckle beneath him. He sank onto a wooden crate. Griff was a girl. He was an idiot for not seeing it. Slight frame, small stature, not a whisker on her face. Traits that Hale had credited to Griff being young were so obvious in retrospect. Always running off to pee behind trees and boulders… He cursed himself. Stupid.

  Griff was standing, her hands flapping in the air uselessly, her green eyes fixed not on the man who continued to press his cheek to her stomach, but on Hale. Apology was etched across her face. Griff’s reticence to talk about her time in Sryalta—her enslavement—suddenly took on new meaning. What kind of horrors had been done to her here, a young girl innocent and beautiful enough to inspire such devotion? Hale found the embers of his anger at Griff quickly dying. Who was he to judge her? He didn’t know what her life had been like. It was probably easier to be an unnoticed boy than deal with…this. Hale curled his lip as Theo stood, taking Griff’s hand in his own.

  “I knew you hadn’t betrayed me. Hadn’t gone back on our deal,” Theo said. “I waited for you. I didn’t take a wife. There is no one but you.”

  Wife?

  “Can we get inside?” Griff…Augustina…said. “I’ll explain everything.”

  Theo nodded, looking suspiciously back at Hale.

  “He’s my traveling companion,” Griff said quickly. “He helped see me safely here. He’s a friend.”

  Hale offered a friendly smile and stuck out his hand. “Hale.”

  Theo took his hand after a moment of hesitation. The boyfriend usually didn’t like him. He was used to it.

  “All right,” Theo said. “Come on in. Can I get you two something to eat?”

  Hale’s grin broadened. “Theo, your words are music to my ears.”

  The Black Boar was a reputable establishment, at least for a town full of thieves and cutthroats. Tall windows spanned the two-story common room, which was flanked by balconies leading to the upper levels. The room was filled to bursting with patrons enjoying hot stew and cold pints, but Theo managed to snag them two high stools at the bar.

  “Venison stew all right?” Theo asked.

  “Actually, do you have a juicy flank steak?” Hale asked. “I’m craving—”

  “Shoulda clarified. Venison stew’s what we got.”

  Hale closed his mouth and nodded. “Venison stew will be great.”

  As soon as Theo vanished into the kitchen, Hale turned, giving Griff his best raised eyebrow. “Augustina? Or should I say, my lady?”

  Griff’s face turned scarlet. “Shut it. I have nothing to apologize for. I learned a long time ago that life’s easier when you’re a man.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with you.”

  Griff continued. “I mean, take you, for instance. You probably would have spent our entire trip trying to sleep with me, had you known I was female.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, darling. You’re not exactly my type.” Though now that Hale was really looking, really seeing Griff, he had to admit, there were some appealing parts. Delicate bone structure and hands, a quaint, upturned nose, full, rosy lips…

  “I’m quite a vision when I get cleaned up. I wasn’t a prize slave because I was good at climbing.”

  “Wait, are you…mad at me? For saying I wouldn’t have hit on you? Do you want me to hit on you?”

  Griff’s face turned even redder. “No, you idiot. I’m just trying to explain—” She broke off as Theo returned with two bowls of stew and dark rolls. “Thank you,” she said weakly.

  “Don’t suppose I can trouble you for a pint?” Hale asked. “I have a fierce hunger.”

  “Just have a pale ale on tap,” Theo said.

  “Whatever you got,” Hale said.

  When Theo put the frosty glass down before him, Hale thought he would weep. When he took his first sip, he closed his eyes with delight, enjoying the cold bite on his tongue. If there was one thing he would say for tragedy and travel, it was that they brought out life’s small pleasures in stark relief.

  “I’ll have one too,” Griff said.

  “Ah, beer ain’t a drink for a lady,” Theo said. “I’ll see if I have some sherry in the back.”

  “Do you see what I mean?” Griff said after he had disappeared again. “I can’t even get a beer as a woman.”

  “You can have a sip of mine,” Hale passed it over. “But only because I’m a good person who wouldn’t have hit on you.”

  Griff rolled her eyes but took the beer, groaning in pleasure after taking a sip. “Damn, that’s good.”

  “So how long have you been Griff?” Hale asked, motioning at her form.

  “Since I left this place. I wanted to learn to sail with the captain, but it’s bad luck to have women on board, or so they say. He thought it’d be safer if I was a boy.”

  “And you don’t mind living that way?”

  “The captain was my family.” Griff tore off a hunk of bread and dipped it in the stew. “Only person who’s ever done anything for me without wanting something from me. I’d dress up as a goat if it meant sticking with him. Plus, I love to sail. And I’m damn good at it. Captain thinks my people were sailors from the Centu peninsula. In Alesia.”

  “You don’t know where you’re from?”

  Griff shook her head. “Grew up in Sryalta. Don’t know how I got there. Captain’s theory is that my parents’ vessel was attacked or sank in a squall. Slavers brought me here.”

  To not know where one came from… Hale shook his head. He couldn’t imagine. “Have you been to Alesia? Investigated?”

  “Been there,” Griff said around a bite. “This is really good, by the way. Maradis, the capital, is the loveliest place you ever saw. Green trees for days, silhouetted by snowcapped mountains on both sides…and so many islands. Hundreds of ’em. A pirate could hide out there all his life.”

  “Nowhere’s prettier than Aprica,” Hale said, his heart twisting. “The beaches and the palm trees…”

  “It’s a different kind of beautiful. Aprica is pretty on the surface…but Alesia has depth. And good food.” She took another bite. “Maybe Captain Brimmer and I will head south when this is all over. It’s time to try something new. Plus, I have a bad feeling about this new Aprican government.”

  “You’re not going to stay here and marry Theo?” Hale asked, bringing his hand to his chest in feigned chock.

  Griff glared daggers at him and opened her mouth to answer, but at that moment, Theo returned with a glass of golden sherry for Griff.

  “Thank you,” she said sweetly, but when Theo turned his back, she stuck her tongue out at Hale in a gagging motion. Hale grinned and lifted his beer in a mock toast.

  Theo turned back, pu
shing his sleeves up. “All right. I have a few minutes to talk. Augustina, I want to hear all about where you’ve been. Why it’s taken you so long to return…We only thought it’d take a month or so until the search for you died down.” The man wasn’t terrible to look at, Hale supposed. Gentle brown eyes, a round nose, that full dark beard. Tall and stocky. Strong. But Hale didn’t blame Griff for not wanting this life. It’d be like being married to…a tame brown bear. Hale chuckled to himself, and when Theo looked his way with a glare, he buried his face in a spoonful of stew. Griff was right—it was good. Spicy and warm—fennel and shallots and bits of smoky venison.

  Griff was spinning a tale now about wanting to return, but being taken by pirates. According to Griff’s wide pleading eyes, it had taken years for Captain Brimmer to find her. It seemed she was doubling down on her betrayal of this man. Hale didn’t mind. It seemed unlikely that Theo would help them if Griff told him she never intended to marry him. And they needed his help.

  “But now the captain has been taken, and there’s a bounty on his head, and I need to make it right, to save him. Hale’s mother’s been taken as well. We need your help to free them. Consider it a wedding present?” She smiled halfheartedly.

  “It’s no easy feat, negotiating with the slaver. What do you have to trade?”

  “We’re not going to trade,” Hale said, cutting in. “We’re going to win them.”

  “Win them?”

  “Yes. Griff, er, Augustina, explained that this slaver is a gambling man. We need to go in as worthy opponents. Make him a wager he can’t refuse. Beat him, and we walk out with my mother and Captain Brimmer. Easy peasy.”

  “You’d have to have the luck of the gods to beat Rakoni in his own establishment. It can’t be done.” Theo crossed his burly forearms over his chest.

  “Hale’s…very good at gambling,” Griff said weakly. He could tell she was doubting their mad plan. “He thinks it can work. We have to try.”