by Ellie Margot
Riette ground her foot into his toes and punched him in the throat. Years of physical training she’d been convinced had no purpose came to the forefront of her mind.
Benson stumbled back. Cassian punched the guy on the right hard enough that he stumbled against the building wall next to them.
“Let’s go,” said Cassian.
“Let’s finish them,” said Riette. “What if they try to send others after us?”
Cassian widened his eyes. “Okay, bloodlust. That’s enough. We have somewhere to be.”
Mekhi flipped them off when he passed by them on the ground, but when he looked to Cassian and Riette waiting for him, he smirked.
“What?” he asked. “We can go now.”
“You hear that? We’ve been granted permission.” Riette shared a look with Cassian.
Mekhi walked ahead. “Ha fucking ha.”
The Low End Tide was a hole in the wall. Literally.
The streets that led them there were cobblestone and uneven. Dirt covered their feet, and puddles of mud collected in the low spaces. Riette moved to try to avoid them, but after so many steps, her feet were soaked through regardless. She looked up at the Low End building in front of her.
The thing being used as the door was broken in places, and the building, without the wall’s support, seemed to slump in its absence. There were men outside, just as the women said, and they all stopped to watch Riette when they got closer to them.
Riette stopped and looked down to make sure the cloak was still in place.
“What are they staring at?” she asked.
Cassian was notably silent. Mekhi rolled his eyes.
“What?”
“Let’s go inside,” Mekhi said.
Riette felt a rumble in her stomach that she chalked up to nerves. She stopped Cassian.
“Let me do the talking,” she said. Cassian gave her another look she didn’t fully interpret. “Just let me do it. You’ll bark at him, and Mekhi will stick his foot in his mouth all the way up to his tonsils.”
“You’re not the queen of decorum, Princess,” said Mekhi.
“Quiet with that shit,” said Cassian.
“It’s just an expression until you lose your shit over it,” said Mekhi. “Classic Cassian.”
“See? You all are walking examples of why I’m handling this.” Riette moved past them and walked up the steps.
The men on the steps parted to let her by but just barely. Riette had the fleeting thought they might have wanted her to touch them walking by, but that idea made her want to throw up in her mouth, so she didn’t dwell on it.
The place inside was dark. The light outside was waning, but inside, the room was mostly lit by low lights and candles. The candles would make it seem romantic, but the place was far from that. The women in there wore hardly anything, waiting tables, except for the woman at the bar slinging drinks.
Riette hadn’t been around alcohol much. The Elves had their own version, but it was contraband and had been for years. Seeing it, or something akin to it, flow freely gave her a second pause.
The crowd looked at them as they walked in. Riette felt more eyes on her than she wanted, but she adjusted her cloak and didn’t let her face change. Why they would look at her when there was a woman almost fully naked was beyond her.
She walked to the woman at the bar who looked all business. Tall. Another creature Riette hadn’t seen before. She had long brown hair, long enough to touch the top of her waist, and she had deep brown eyes and lines around her mouth even though she didn’t look old enough to have them.
“I’m Riette,” she said, right before feeling the slight pressure of Cassian’s elbow in her ribs.
“Good for you, sugar,” she said. “I serve drinks. Shitty food. Not conversation.”
Riette respected her no-nonsense attitude. She reminded her of Georgette.
“I’m looking for a captain named Guy. I was hoping you could help me.”
“And I’m looking for tips and quiet company,” said the woman. “Peace and quiet too.”
Riette smirked, but she knew Cassian and Mekhi were getting antsy.
“Is he here?” Riette asked, pressing.
The woman tilted her head. Her eyes cut to the far corner of the room. “He normally darkens that corner.”
“Thank you,” Riette said. She turned to Cassian and Mekhi and gestured with her head.
They started to walk toward the corner.
“See?” said Riette. “You all would have gotten nowhere.”
“You didn’t work magic,” said Mekhi.
“No, you’re right. I worked a miracle getting her to talk to me.”
“I’ll get you a cookie later. Right now, I need to find this dickhead and Corin, not necessarily in that order, and get out of this shit hole.”
Riette rolled her eyes. If they beat someone up, they wanted all of the credit. But when she found out pertinent intel, they wanted to move right on past it.
They walked to the corner and saw a man, roughly Cassian’s age, flanked on both sides by women who were dressed in just enough to keep them from being naked. They hardly looked old enough to be outside by themselves, and that idea alone made Riette uncomfortable.
There were men in his party, too, on the outskirts of the room at tables grouped together. Some were having conversations, and some were trying to rival the best of them with how much liquor they were drinking. They weren’t all Elves either. Again, Riette felt at a loss, not knowing what these people were or where they came from.
The man in the center of the collection of tables looked up at the approaching group. His eyes got wider when he looked at Riette, and he leaned forward, startling the women next to him. He looked Riette up and down, and he had a smirk plastered on his face that Riette didn’t like.
The man wasn’t bad looking, and she knew it was Guy. She could feel it in her gut. He kind of looked like what she had imagined a pirate to be before she had been in close quarters with them on the ship. He had some tattoos, and his ink-black hair that was a little longer than what would have suited his face. He was skinny but not bony. Like a swimmer, long and lean.
The man leaned back when they got within a few feet. He glanced at the other men in Riette’s party before focusing his attention solely on her once more. He wiped off his clothes and stood when they got to his table.
Riette chanced a glance at Cassian and saw that his jaw was clenched. He didn’t like him either. Mekhi, on the other hand, just looked pissed. His hands were in fists, and Riette knew it was because even a cursory glance told them Corin wasn’t by this man’s side.
“We’re all set on women tonight, but I’ll make an exception for you. You all,” he gestured at Cassian and Mekhi, “I can’t help.”
“I’m not here to be a companion,” said Riette.
“But you’d make such a good one,” he said, laughing.
“I’d make a souvenir of your skin,” she said. She didn’t mean it, but it didn’t keep her from warming on the inside when she saw him swallow.
“What can I help you with?” asked Guy.
“Corin, we’re looking for her,” said Mekhi.
“Who?”
“Don’t play dumb; it wastes time we don’t have,” said Riette. She stepped closer, and even though she was shorter than this man by just a little, she made her shoulders fill the space.
Guy looked her over again, his eyes widening.
“You are something else,” he said, and his voice was almost a breath.
“Corin, now,” said Cassian. He pushed forward into the space between Riette and Guy.
“She’s not here,” said Guy. He moved his eyes to Cassian slowly, as if it cost him much to lose eye contact with Riette. It confused her.
“Where is she?” asked Mekhi. His voice was hardly his own. “What have you done with her?”
“I don’t know where she is,” said Guy again. He lifted his hands. Half a second later, Guy’s head reared back as Mekhi
’s fist found his nose. Blood spurted out from the contact.
Guy covered his nose instantly. The other men in Guy’s party stood as Cassian pushed Mekhi back. Riette was surprised, but at the same time, she wasn’t. They had traveled this far for Corin, and the man who’d brought her into this world, one they never wanted to be a part of, didn’t have her.
It was a blow she didn’t know if any of them could recover from.
“It’s all right,” said Guy. He looked at his hand to see the blood there and jerked his nose back into place, quickly and without flinching. A closer look at his nose told Riette that this wasn’t his first broken nose.
“Let’s go somewhere to talk,” said Guy. His voice softer now. He grabbed his jacket from between the two women.
“Guy—”
“Not now, Bernadette,” he said, but then he paused to kiss her on the cheek. “Later, though.” He smiled, and the girl returned it.
Guy moved and leaned into Riette’s ear. “They get so lonely with their husbands at work.” He laughed at her expression when Riette jerked her head back.
“You want to talk?” Riette said. “Let’s talk. And that’s it.”
“Oh, you breaker of hearts,” said Guy. “It’s a good thing I like you already.”
Riette rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide it, and she checked on Cassian and Mekhi. Mekhi stilled looked murderous, and Cassian’s brow was still pinched. The look on his face showed he hadn’t missed the exchange between the two of them, and he didn’t like it.
Guy led them a small way to the other side of the bar, out of sight of all the people in his party. Guy scratched his neck and gestured for them to sit down, which they did.
Riette sat closest to Guy, even though she knew it pissed Cassian off. He’d had his hands busy keeping Mekhi under wraps and hadn’t had time to intervene. Mekhi was barely contained though. He looked like he wanted to reach over and strangle Guy, and Riette wasn’t above having similar thoughts.
“Drinks?” asked Guy.
“We’re good,” said Riette.
“Oh, come on. I know for a fact that if you’re looking for that girl, you just traveled the same hell of a long way that I have. You have to be thirsty. I’ll be right back.” He stood and headed to the same woman at the bar.
As soon as he was gone, Mekhi dived into the conversation.
“I say we fuck him up until he talks,” Mekhi said.
“No,” said Riette.
“It’s not the worst idea,” said Cassian.
“Really, Cassian? From where I sit, we need him to find her. We don’t know anyone here, and he was the one who brought her over. If he has nothing but broken teeth, I highly doubt he’ll be any help.”
“I’m doubting he’ll be any help right now,” said Mekhi.
Riette took a breath. “He’s our best shot, so we play nice until we have Corin back or a better plan. Clear?”
“I’m not saying he won’t have broken teeth if he keeps looking at you like that,” said Cassian.
“He’s not looking at me any kind of way.”
“Every guy in here is,” said Mekhi. “Present company excluded.”
“Obviously,” said Cassian.
“You all are on high alert just because every girl in here is half naked and everyone looks like a killer. I get it. But no one is looking at me with fresh meat all around them, and if they are, it’s because they’re waiting for me to show off my talents like they are.”
“Let’s not talk about your talent, okay?” said Mekhi. “I’m still trying to recover from your peep show.”
“There was no peep show,” Riette said. She rolled her eyes and adjusted her cloak.
It was humid in the bar, and she wanted to take it off, but they made her paranoid. Not that she couldn’t take on the bar full of creeps, but she didn’t want to have to.
She turned away from them to check her bag, Bark and the monkey specifically. Bark was fine, sleeping, but the monkey? Riette looked down deeper in the bag, not seeing him at first. When she did, she gasped, but Cassian and Mekhi hadn’t noticed. They were too busy talking.
The monkey had changed. He was smaller, compact, and hard. He wasn’t animated at all. Instead, he was a small keepsake of a creature, looking the same but like a hardened statue version of himself.
“What the hell?” said Riette to herself out loud.
“Is that...”
Riette shoved it back into her bag and looked up at Guy. He had a few drinks in his hands, but his eyes were set on the bag. Or what she’d just put into it specifically.
“You have a—”
“Nothing. I don’t have anything. At all. Period.”
“I know what I saw,” said Guy, and his eyes were still wide.
Riette turned to Mekhi and Cassian before whipping back her attention to Guy. He saw the warning in her eyes.
“Fine. I didn’t see what I saw in your bag, but if you’re smart, you’ll keep it close, girly. Those things are insanely valuable.” Guy shook his head. “You all have gotten so interesting already.”
Chapter 14
“I have a room around the corner,” said Guy. “We can chat. You all can get some rest.”
“Not interested,” said Mekhi.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you have all the money and pull in the world to fend for yourselves out here,” said Guy. He took a sip of his drink, sat back, and shook his head, looking at each of them. “Listen. We started out on the wrong foot.”
“The wrong foot?” Mekhi asked. “The only purpose you serve is to help me get her back, and so far, all you’ve done is bullshit us.”
“Khi,” Riette hissed.
“He’s right. You all are busy people. You don’t want to be here. Frankly, you’re making people uncomfortable. This one especially.” He pointed at Riette. “I get it. So let’s start over. I’ve been waiting for you all.”
“You waited for us?” asked Riette.
“I knew you would come looking. It’s all she talked about.”
“Corin talked to you?” asked Cassian. He leaned forward.
“We didn’t spend the journey in silence, champ,” said Guy. He took another sip. “I knew you all would show up eventually.”
“If you were waiting for us, why weren’t you at the docks?” said Mekhi.
“I knew you’d find me. If you asked anyone where I am, they would tell you to come here. People know me.” He waited. “Obviously, you all aren’t that impressed by that.”
“Not really,” said Riette. She shrugged to soften the blow.
He smirked at her.
She realized he would have been cute if there wasn’t something wrong about his face. He was traditionally good looking, but she knew there was a reason not to trust him, even if she couldn’t name the reason just yet.
“You all don’t want to drink something first?” Guy asked. “Loosen up.”
“Stop stalling,” said Cassian.
Mekhi stood, fist clenched.
“Easy, man,” Guy said. He took a breath and let it out. “I found her a job. I traded her.”
“What?” Mekhi said, and Cassian growled the same simultaneously.
Riette stood in front of them. She put a hand on each of them to hold them back.
“For what, why?” asked Cassian.
Guy took a breath.
“I suggest you explain before they rip you apart, or I do,” said Riette as she looked over her shoulder back at Guy. For someone dangerously close to the end of his life, he didn’t look afraid. That made Riette peg him as being stupid.
“They wanted a fire Elf. The guy they had on their team, Danny, has skills I needed. You can’t run around without someone to sponsor you. They needed a fire Elf. I needed Danny. They took her on in trade. She’s not in danger. They assured me when they paid me my finder’s fee that she was in good hands.”
“Bullshit,” said Cassian. “You traded my sister like a fucking coin.”
“Listen to me. T
hat’s not how this works. She wanted a job. She found out she could work with them, and she told me you all would come for her. I can help you. That’s why I waited for you. I didn’t want to leave you finding her up to chance. We can find her. We just have to work together to do it.”
“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you right where you fucking stand,” said Mekhi.
“Because I’m the only chance you have at finding her. It’s business. She didn’t have a place to stay while she was here. I offered—”
Mekhi’s growl cut off his words.
“Rest easy, man. She’s loyal. Just think of it as free room and board until I help you get her back. Okay? She’s not in danger. I swear it. I wouldn’t do that. I need to find her because Danny didn’t do his part of the deal. They fucked me, okay? The least I can do is let you all come with me when I find her and handle my part.”
“Do you know where she is?” asked Cassian.
Guy looked at each of them. “Of course I do. She’s heading to the territory closer to where the Mages reside. That’s where all of the traders go. I can show you.”
“Forgive us, but we don’t know you well enough to know what you’d do,” said Riette. She released Mekhi and Cassian, but not before shaking her head at both of them.
“He lives so she does, okay?” She shoved them both lightly. “Okay?”
Cassian nodded, breathing out of his nose, and Mekhi barely stopped glaring to bark out grunt of a “yeah.”
“We can leave to find her first thing in the morning,” said Guy.
“Tonight,” said Cassian.
“We can’t. Not and live. The Midlands is not a place you’d want to travel by moonlight. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust you to tie my fucking shoes correctly,” said Mekhi.
“Fair enough. You think the monsters in the sea were bad? I know you had to have seen them. Okay, they are, but the ones that go bump in the night here aren’t any better. And you can’t swim, jump, or run away from them without losing something, like an appendage, in the process.” Guy ran a hand through his hair. “You’ll stay with me until we find her. Okay?”