Web of Lies

by Jennifer Estep

  alive.

  But all that knowledge, all that planning, didn’t help

  “Pick her up,” the dwarf ordered. “I want the bitch to me with the fist whistling toward my body at warp speed. see exactly what she’s dying for.”

  I managed to lean back and turn my body enough so Two giants stepped out of the shadows and lumbered that his fist hit my left shoulder instead of slamming into over to me. I recognized them as two of Dawson’s men, my face. The hard blow bowled me over onto my side, the two that had come with him to Country Daze to and I felt it reverberate through my whole body. An elecbrace Warren and Violet Fox. The giants hauled me to my tric shockwave of pain. A low groan escaped from befeet. More pain blossomed in my shoulder and jaw, and I tween my clamped lips, but I forced myself to tense up, let out another low groan. But I didn’t offer any resistance to try to defend myself against another sharp blow. But to the giants. Not yet.

  the dwarf didn’t come after me again. Instead, he stepped I was already injured, which meant I needed more of back and regarded me with his cold blue eyes. Since Toa plan than my usual method of hacking and slashing my bias Dawson wasn’t immediately going to beat me to way out of trouble. I didn’t know how long I’d been undeath, my gaze flicked around the area. conscious, but Finn had surely realized things had gone I’d been right—I was deep in Dawson’s coal mine. to hell at Mab’s party. He was probably working his conGray and brown rock surrounded me on all sides, and nections, trying to figure out where Tobias Dawson had seams of coal ran like black ribbons through the various taken me. Finn might even be on his way to the mine layers of stone. The passage was wider than I’d expected. right now, with Sophia and Jo-Jo Deveraux in tow. Taller too. Concrete beams shored up the roof, and a variBut I couldn’t count on them to save me. I wouldn’t. ety of old, broken equipment lay scattered on the ground. In the end, the only thing, the only person, you could The air smelled of rocks, dust, metal.

  ever count on was yourself. Another lesson Fletcher Lane All around me, the stone muttered. Sharp, angry had taught me. Something else I’d already figured out for sounds that told of massive explosions and heavy equipmyself long before I’d met the old man. ment burrowing into the heart of the mountain. The The giants held me between them and carried me stone didn’t like what had been done to it anymore than deeper into the mine. They hoisted me up so high my I had. I listened to that anger, let it clear my aching head. feet didn’t even touch the ground. While they carried me, Feeling sorry for myself wouldn’t be any help in this situI rubbed my thighs together. But the slots on my garter Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 326-327

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  belt were empty. They’d taken the silverstone knives that The ceiling was just as tall, with thick stalactites that had been strapped to my thighs. The ones up my sleeves hung down like elegant stone icicles. That was beautiful were gone too. Something bumped against my hip, and enough by itself.

  I looked down. Dawson or one of his goons had been But the diamonds made it truly breathtaking. kind enough to loop my purse around my neck. The top The gemstones lay embedded in the rock walls. They flapped open, and I could see the empty space where my were raw, of course, uncut and completely untouched by final knife had been. The bastards had been thorough, if man. They lacked the polished look of a finished stone, but nothing else. Too bad for me.

  my Stone magic let me see the pure fire inside them, the Dawson led the way, carrying a flashlight. The two gibeautiful potential they possessed. More seams of coal ran ants also carried one apiece in their free hand. I eyed the around the diamonds, making the gems seem as though flashlights. Not as weighty as a baseball bat, but a crack they were resting on a velvet tray. I could also hear the across the throat with one of those would be a good way diamonds. They resonated with the same sort of brilliance to start cutting my captors down to size. Assuming I had the stone in Tobias Dawson’s safe had. often, the more the strength or guile to wrest a flashlight away from one intense a gemstone’s vibration, the more beautiful and of the three men.

  valuable it was. If the song skipping through my head was We went down, down, down into the earth. The tunany indication, there was several million dollars’ worth of nel grew narrower, tighter. The bits and pieces of equipuncut diamonds nestled in the heart of this mountain—

  ment on the floor vanished. So did the concrete support just waiting for someone to come and claim them. beams. Slowly, the violent mutters of the stone gave way Tobias Dawson stalked to the center of the cavern. The to older, calmer vibrations. We walked through a natural giants dragging me followed along behind him. The dwarf tunnel now, instead of a man-made hole in the ground. snapped his fingers, and the two brutes threw me down. I noticed a light up ahead. A soft, white glow, like a I put my hands out to break my fall, but the stone still beam of sunshine slanting through a cloud. Some sort of dug into my palms and scraped my already raw, bloody industrial spotlight that had been rigged up so folks could knees. Even being a Stone couldn’t protect me from being see what they were doing in the belly of the mountain. injured by my own element like that. I huddled on the Tobias Dawson rounded a corner and disappeared from ground, once again scanning the area for anything I could sight. A moment later, the giants dragged me around it use. Any sort of weapon. Hell, I’d even take a bolt hole at as well.

  this point. Folks who said you were a coward if you ran And my breath caught in my throat.

  away from a fight usually didn’t live long themselves. I Because the narrow tunnel opened up into a circuwouldn’t care if I was called a coward, as long as I was still lar chamber that was more than two hundred feet wide. breathing in the end.

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  The top of the cavern was damp, and phosphorescent for? Who are you working for? Did Warren Fox hire you mold covered most of the jagged stalactites, a strange, to kill me?”

  pale green contrast to the rest of the gray, brown, and I stared at the dwarf and kept my eyes cold, my face black rock. A drop of water fell down from one of the expressionless. I might be on the express bus to dead, but stones and spattered onto my upturned cheek. I looked I wasn’t going to snitch on the Foxes and take them with up, backtracked the drop, and realized a steady stream me. “I don’t know any Warren Fox.”

  of water rushed down one wall of the cavern. Still more

  “Bullshit,” Tobias snarled. “I saw you at his store the water dripped from other stalactites over my head. Hmm. other day.”

  That might be useful.

  I raised an eyebrow. “You mean that shack by the side Tobias Dawson walked in a loose circle around me. of the crossroads? Yeah, I was there. So what?”

  His snakeskin cowboy boots clattered on the rough stone.

  “Why?” Dawson demanded.

  “Do you know where you are?”

  “I had to pee,” I quipped. “And I didn’t feel like getting I put my hands on the ground and pushed myself up a briar in my ass by going in the woods.”

  to my feet. Spots swam in front of my eyes again, but I The dwarf stared at me, considering my words. “I blinked them away. “I have a pretty good idea.”

  don’t believe you.”

  It was hard to talk through my broken, throbbing jaw,

  “Doesn’t much matter to me whether you believe me and my words came out mushy and mumbled. Just the or not.”

  way my face felt.

  Tobias spit a stream of tobacco juice out of his mouth. The dwarf stared at me. “You broke into my office, It spattered against my bare, scraped leg. The dwarf was into my safe.” His floppy mustache bristled with anger. going to pay for that. I might die down here, but before I shrugged. No use denying it now. If Tobias Dawson’s I went, I was going to get at least one good blow in. Just elemental talent for sensing and identifying others’ magic fo
r that.

  was as good as he claimed, no lie of mine would con“Who are you working for? What do you want?” Dawvince him otherwise. Besides, I was already on the hook son asked again. “I have ways of making you talk, you here. If I played my cards right, maybe things would stop know.”

  and end with me. I didn’t want Dawson to start thinking My jaw twitched with pain, which kept me from rollabout who else might have been involved with me—and ing my eyes. Yeah, I’d figured out the dwarf could hurt I didn’t want him going after Finn, the Deveraux sisters, me the first time he’d slammed his fist into my face. The the Foxes, or even Donovan Caine.

  memory was still fresh in my mind, even if it had appar“Yeah, I broke into your office.”

  ently slipped his.

  “Why?” the dwarf snapped. “What were you looking

  “I’m sure you do. As for what I want, well, it’s more Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 330-331

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  about what my employer wants. Maybe we can work out he’d already sold himself on. I could see the suspicion in some sort of deal.”

  his eyes. All I had to do was fill in the name for him. And The dwarf stopped his circle to stand in front of me. even if I didn’t make it out of here alive, I still planned His pale blue eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.”

  on causing as much trouble as I could for one certain

  “You let me go, and I tell you who wants you dead. individual.

  How does that sound?”

  “Who hired you? Why? Tell me right now, or I’ll let The dwarf nodded. “All right. You have a deal.”

  my boys have some fun with you.” Dawson jerked his Lying bastard. He wasn’t going to let me go, and we thumb over his shoulder at his two men.

  both knew it. But this was how the game was played Behind him, one of the giants rubbed his crotch and when you were sloppy enough to get captured. Dragging rocked his hips forward. His buddy laughed at him and things out to the bitter end. I’d only get one shot to try gave me a slow wink. Their casual mockery made my to take out Dawson. I knew what I was going to do, but anger ratchet up from a slow simmer to a boil. Those baswhether I had the strength for it was another matter. Still, tards weren’t laying another hand on me.

  it was best to keep him talking as long as possible. But I still had my part to play for Tobias Dawson, so I backed up a few steps from the dwarf so that I was I took another step back from the jagged stalactites and clear of the stalactites and the water dripping down from threw my hands out wide. “Isn’t it obvious who I’m workthe ceiling. He didn’t follow me. His first mistake. “So ing for? Who else knows about this little diamond mine you’ve figured out what I am, what I do.”

  you’ve stumbled upon? Who else have you told about it?

  “You’re an assassin,” Dawson said. “That’s the only exWhy don’t you think about that for a few seconds and get planation for all those silverstone knives you had on you back to me.”

  and the way you threw yourself at me at the party.”

  The dwarf frowned and spit out another stream of toWell, at least he wasn’t stupid enough to think I’d rebacco juice. His blue eyes turned inward as he reviewed ally been attracted to him. That would have been rather the list of folks he’d shared his underground discovery sad on his part. I gave him a thin smile. “Actually, I was with. I was willing to bet it was a real short list—with enjoying my retirement, if you can believe that. But then, only one woman’s name on it.

  as the old story goes, I got one last job offer, and the

  “Mab,” he muttered. “Mab Monroe. That’s who you’re money, well, it was just too good to pass up.”

  working for?”

  Another assassin, Brutus, had said those words to me I shot my thumb and forefinger at him. “Give the man once—right before I’d killed him. of course, they were a a prize.”

  complete fabrication on my part now. But it was just the Dawson frowned. “But why would she hire an assassin sort of fairy tale Tobias Dawson wanted to hear, the story to kill me?”

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  Despite my broken jaw, I managed a laugh. A loud, why not just quietly take them out of the walls yourself mocking laugh that echoed off the walls. “Because, you and be done with it?”

  idiot, she wants all this for herself. All these lovely, lovely Dawson shook his head. “All that Stone magic you diamonds, and the money that’s going to come along have, and you don’t really know anything about your own with them.”

  element, do you?”

  “No way.” Dawson shook his head. “There’s no fuckI shrugged. “Geology isn’t my strong suit.”

  ing way you’re working for Mab. She wouldn’t turn on The dwarf pointed to the ceiling, where water dripped me like that.”

  off one of the stalactites. “This whole cavern is directly I snorted. “Take your head out of your ass. of course underneath a creek that runs through Fox’s property. Mab would turn on you like that. It’s what she does. The ceiling’s strong enough as it is, but if I start digging She’s made a career out of it, as a friend of mine would diamonds out of here, there’s a good chance the whole say. You’re just the latest casualty in her ever-expanding thing will collapse in, leaving a giant sinkhole right in the empire.”

  middle of his backyard—even bigger than the one that’s Dawson paced back and forth in front of me as he there right now.”

  thought about it. I took another small step back. Ten He wasn’t telling me anything I hadn’t already guessed, feet now separated me from the dwarf. Not as much as I but it was nice to have some confirmation. would have liked, but it was going to have to do. After a

  “And you couldn’t risk that,” I said in a soft voice. “You few seconds, the dwarf stopped pacing. The doubt in his couldn’t risk him finding out about the diamonds that are eyes faded away, replaced by sparking anger. I’d sold him on his own land.”

  on the lie. Even if I didn’t make it out of this cavern alive,

  “Smart and pretty. A shame you’re going to die so Dawson might do something stupid and go after Mab young,” Dawson mocked.

  Monroe himself. She’d probably kill him, but at least he’d

  “I thought we had a deal,” I said, although there was feel her wrath before he died. And he might inconveno real protest in my voice. I’d expected the double cross. nience her slightly. Either way, it was the best I could do, The dwarf laughed. “Ah, the foolishness of youth. But given my current situation.

  I’m a sporting man. I’ll give you a chance to get out of

  “Although I am curious about one thing,” I said. here.”

  “What?” Dawson asked.

  “Really? And how would I do that?”

  “The old man at the store. Why did you brace him like Dawson stared at me. “All you have to do is beat me—

  that? Why do you need his land so badly? We’re in this in an elemental duel.”

  cavern right now with all these gorgeous stones. I know you don’t own the mineral rights to the diamonds, but Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 334-335

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  in with Dawson’s cowboy fetish. Too bad it was going to be the death of him.

  “A duel, huh?” I asked again.

  30

  “A duel,” he repeated. “You and me. Right here, right now. Think about it, how strong your magic is. You might beat me.”

  But Dawson didn’t sound too concerned by the possibility. Bastard was trying to goad me into making the first move. Into doing something sloppy. oh, I was going to do something all right, but it wasn’t going to be what he expected.

  Still, I had to play this out to its inevitable conclusion, so I reached for the cool power deep inside me. Gathering it up, letting it fill every part of my being. Al
though I

  “A duel?” I asked.

  couldn’t see them, I knew my eyes were glowing a bright He nodded. “A duel. That’s how I take care of my silver with my elemental power. All around me, the stones’

  problems. Haven’t lost one yet in more than two hundred murmurs intensified, sensing my command over them. years.” He looked over his shoulder. “You boys might But the dwarf wasn’t worried. If anything, my reaching want to step out of the way for this.”

  for my magic amused him. Tobias Dawson grabbed hold The giants moved off to either side of the cavern, of his own Stone magic. Power poured off him like the leaving Dawson standing by himself in the middle. water sliding down the cavern wall, and his eyes glowed a The two men looked bored, as though they’d seen dull, slate blue. The dwarf was strong, and his magic felt their boss do this a dozen times before. They probably old and well-worn, like a horse he’d broken in over the had.

  years. No wonder he wanted to duel. one burst of magic The dwarf stood relaxed with his knees slightly bent. from him would be enough to take down most elemenHe tipped his cowboy hat back on his head to give himtals. Maybe even me. self a clearer look at me, and his hands hung down by The dwarf let out a low laugh. “You have power, bitch, his sides, fingers flexing and unflexing. He reminded me I’ll give you that. A lot of raw power. I’m going to enjoy of some old West gunfighter who’d just called the town this.”

  sheriff out into the dusty street for a noon showdown.

  “So why give me this chance, if I’m so strong? If I Yeah, I could see how elemental dueling would fit right could beat you?”

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  “Because I like challenges.” Dawson grinned and spit had maybe another two or three seconds before he figured out another stream of tobacco juice. The foul brown mixit out and hit me with everything he had. ture landed at my feet.