by Sarah Ahiers
He lunged. I stepped away. Below me, the canal boat creaked against its moorings.
I released my left hand from my sword and found one of my long needles stashed in the lining of my cloak. I jabbed a pouch on my belt. The tinkling of broken glass told me I’d struck true.
I hid the now poison-coated needle beneath my cloak and waited for Nik to make another move. It came almost immediately. Instead of sliding left or right as he expected, I ducked. With a quick thrust I stabbed the needle into his thigh. He hissed beneath his mask and retreated, yanking the needle from his flesh.
“Is that the best you have?” He threw the needle to the ground. “This is what Lea Saldana has to offer?”
“No,” I said. “This is.”
I jumped off the roof, trusting that the canal boat was still in place.
I landed. The boat rocked and my ankle twisted sharply beneath me, a lance of pain shooting through my bones and calf.
A shadow from above told me Nik had taken the bait and followed.
When he landed, the boat rocked again, but Nik was unable to keep his balance. The leg I’d stabbed collapsed beneath him, and he shouted in surprise as I let the boat tip like Les had taught me and spilled Nik into the dark waters of the canal.
I sliced through the rope and shoved off, saying a silent prayer of thanks for the canals of Yvain. And to think I’d once hated them.
I flipped open my pouch of poisons and checked which vial had shattered. Pieces of glass lay against the other vials and the etched cork sat on top of the shards. Good. The needle had been doused in a nerve poison. Nik’s leg and probably most of his right side would be paralyzed for the better part of a day. He’d be lucky if he didn’t drown.
My boat floated away as I watched the ripples on the water to see if Nik would emerge.
His mask broke the surface, his hands splashing as he fought against his numb limbs to reach the edge of the canal.
“I’ll kill you!” he shouted as I drifted farther away. He struggled to pull himself out of the canal. Finally he managed to flop onto the street. “You’re dead for this!”
I pushed the boat around a corner. His threat held no new fear for me. The Da Vias already wanted to kill me.
My ankle pounded with pain, but when I tenderly put weight on it, it supported me. Not broken then, only twisted. Of course, it didn’t really matter. The Da Vias were in Yvain, and they knew I was here.
I’d run out of time.
I steered the boat as close to my safe house as I could, then let it go, to drift freely on the canals. I stumbled onto the street, my ankle giving beneath me painfully. It would be a problem. I’d have to wrap it tightly and hope to avoid another fight until it had healed.
The sun had crested the horizon. Taking the roofs would have gotten me back sooner, but the Da Vias could be looking for me. They wouldn’t be watching the canals, though. Like me, they’d assume clippers wouldn’t use the waterways.
One more day. If I’d had one more day before the Da Vias had showed up, I would have been gone from here. They could have searched Yvain to their heart’s content and never found me.
I limped down the alley toward the street that connected to my safe house.
I would need a disguise, now, to get out of Yvain. They would be watching the gates into the city.
Brother Faraday’s robe could work again. Maybe. I’d have to be careful, though.
I turned the corner.
In front of me stood Lefevre in uniform and four other lawmen.
“Well, well, Lea. It seems we’ve caught you in a bit of a predicament.” He smiled and tapped the basket of his rapier with a ring on his pinkie.
My first instinct was to run. To flee the way I’d come. But the alley ended at the canal, and I’d set the boat free.
I could fight them. I could kill them or disable them.
But I was exhausted and injured. Lefevre and the others wore rapiers, and though I had my sword and usual stiletto, I’d just fought with, and nearly lost to, Nik Da Via.
“What do you even want?” I asked Lefevre. “The Da Vias already know where I am. There’s no money anymore.”
Lefevre’s face darkened at my news.
Another lawman shifted. “Did you honestly think you could come to our city, commit murder, and leave the bodies lying around and we wouldn’t notice or care?”
They didn’t understand. They thought me a common murderer. “I didn’t kill that boy in the alley. The gold was a kindness I did for him,” I said. “To grant him favor with Safraella, to earn him a fast resurrection. The only crime I saw was a lawman stealing a holy coin from a corpse because he wanted it more than a god.”
“There were other murders,” the lawman said.
He was right, of course, there were other murders. Lefevre’s men. “They attacked me.”
Lefevre’s smile faded, and he dropped his hand from the basket of his rapier. “So, how do you want to handle this?”
I had nothing left. “I’ll go quietly.”
Lefevre scowled. He’d actually been looking forward to a fight. He grabbed my wrists and bound them behind me, then pulled off my mask. He was not gentle.
He leaned closer to whisper in my ear. “Maybe you could run from my men, but you couldn’t run from me. Looks as if the little girl didn’t know the rules of Yvain. My rules.” His hands brushed the nape of my neck and I shivered. He chuckled.
“Touch me like that again,” I hissed, “and there will be nothing quiet about what I’ll do to you, and you’ll find no peace at the end of your life.”
“What do you mean by that?” he growled.
“I am a disciple of Safraella, and I don’t think She will look upon you with mercy.”
“Is that true?” one of the lawmen asked, stepping away from me.
“Don’t listen to her tales.” Lefevre grabbed my arms and pushed me forward. “She’s just a stupid girl.”
“But all those men she killed in that alley . . .”
Lefevre laughed. “You really believe what those survivors told you? That she did it by herself? No. She had help. A man, I’m sure. Even the survivors said there was someone with her. I doubt she did anything more than cower in a corner.”
A few of the lawmen nodded, but the worried one kept his distance. Smart of him. The more Lefevre talked, the more I regretted not sinking my stiletto into his heart when I’d had the chance.
He pushed me across the street, and the morning sun poured over us.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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thirty
LEFEVRE AND THE LAWMEN TOOK EVERY OPPORTUNITY to parade me through crowds of people as we headed west into the city. There was no real point to the charade. The people didn’t know me or what I’d done. All they saw was a limping, dirty girl wearing strange leather clothing. But Lefevre enjoyed the spectacle of it, enjoyed how people looked at him with respect and a touch of fear.
A man like him would never have amounted to anything in Lovero. Someone would’ve paid to have him clipped years ago. Maybe that was why he’d left.
Every time we approached another crowd of people I scanned their faces, looking for ones I recognized. But each face was a stranger to me, every eye soft, not hardened by Safraella’s tenets.
Lefevre marched me to a squat brick building, its window boxes empty of the fragrant flowers that adorned the other buildings in the city. Inside, we paused so he could search me. He found my stiletto and dropped it into a box beside my mask, sword, and cloak. Another lawman carried the box into a small locked room. I marked its location in my memory.
Lefevre pushed me through a gate and around a corner to an empty row of cells with iron bars. He shoved me into the last one on the right, then slammed the door, locking me in. He motioned for me to turn around, so I did, and he released the bindings on my wrists. I rubbed the sore skin.
; “I’d get comfortable while you can, Lea,” he said. “You won’t be here for long.” He smirked and tapped the bars with his knuckles before he turned on his heel and walked out of the cell room.
In the evening the guards delivered what they considered “dinner”: a piece of stale bread, cheese that appeared ready to grow mold, and a watered-down cup of wine.
I ate every crumb. Forget crispy duck skin, or flaky fish and cream sauce. Stale bread and moldy cheese were my new favorite foods.
I set down the plate and thought about my situation.
I thought of the way Lefevre had grinned at me, the feel of his hands on me. I couldn’t let him win. But I was getting ahead of myself. First, I needed out of this cell and out of the building.
On the wall, directly to the right of my cell, was a small window about eight feet high. Most people would have a hard time getting through it, if they could at all, but I was a clipper and I wasn’t very big. I just needed to unlock my cell without any weapons or tools.
The window creaked. I stilled.
The window, hinged at the top, pushed in and someone slipped through headfirst. He grabbed the sill and flipped over to land on his feet.
Les.
I scurried to the front of the cell, my hands wrapping around the cold bars. “What are you doing here?”
He glanced around the room, then fired me his crooked smile and approached the bars. “What do you think I’m doing here, Clipper Girl? Can’t have you rotting away in prison.”
He wrapped his fingers around mine, holding me in place as he stepped closer, until only the bars separated us.
My pulse quickened and my skin flushed. I dropped my gaze. It was too easy for him, too easy to make me feel this way. I would always be the better clipper, but he wielded a different power over me.
“How did you know I was here?” I asked.
He tapped my fingers with his own, and then released me and took a step away, examining the cell block.
“I went to find you. Thanks for packing my weapons, by the way.” He patted his hip, where he’d strapped his cutter against his thigh. “But you weren’t there. And then, of course, everyone in the market was talking about the murderer the lawmen had arrested.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said. “You should be resting. I can’t believe Marcello let you leave.”
Les rolled his eyes and rapped his skull with his knuckles. “It takes more than a brick wall to crack my thick head open. What’s one more lump on this head of mine, right? And I snuck out.”
He took everything so lightly. “You could’ve died.”
His smile faded at my tone of voice, and he stepped closer to the bars again. “It’s not your fault, kalla Lea.”
“Don’t call me that.” I shook my head, my hair brushing against my cheeks.
“What? Kalla?”
“Beautiful.”
He exhaled, a smile brushing his lips. “You figured it out?”
“You told me when you were injured. You shouldn’t be so kind to me. I don’t deserve it.”
“Lea . . .” He sighed and pushed the hood off his head. “Since that first moment we met, when you held that dagger to my throat and threatened me and reminded me of how little I actually knew about being a clipper, I’ve been mesmerized by you. Even before I knew your name, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And then, when I did get to know you, the feeling just got worse. I cannot get you out of my mind. You fill me up.”
“Les, I can’t love anyone again. The last time I did, I lost everything—”
“No.” He waved a hand at me. “You’re not allowed to lessen what I’ve said by telling me how I’ve made a mistake, by coming up with some ridiculous reason why you don’t deserve it. You don’t get to decide that for me. Gods, Lea!” He threw his hands into the air. “You drive me crazy!”
My blood surged. He had no right to be angry at me. “I drive you crazy? What about me? What about how I feel? I come here with a mission, and then you show up and complicate everything! Look at us, we can’t even go five minutes without fighting! This is really the last thing I need right now.”
“Then what do you need?” He stared at me. “Because I’ll give whatever you want. I would give my life if you asked it of me.”
I stepped away. “No. Don’t say that, Les. I have so much blood on my hands, and I don’t want yours added to it.”
He reached through the bars and captured my fingers, though I tried to pull free. “They look clean to me. You take too much on yourself. Your Family’s death is not your fault. My injury is not your fault. The way I live my life is not your responsibility. Killing the Da Vias, you don’t have to be responsible for that either. You can let it all go, Lea.”
“Let it go? After all I’ve been through?”
“Because of all you’ve been through! Don’t you think you’ve suffered enough? Whatever debt you feel you owe, it’s been repaid. Leave the rest for the gods to sort out.”
“But that’s just it,” I said quietly. “I am Safraella’s mortal hands in this world. If I don’t do this, no one else will.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the bars, pulling my hands to his lips. He kissed them, and everything in my body coiled and curled until I felt dizzy, until I felt like I’d never find my breath again.
“Then I will come with you,” he said. “And you can’t stop me. I will follow you no matter where you go.”
Maybe it really was that easy. Maybe it simply came down to accepting his help, truly accepting it and not just deciding to use him for my own ends. Accepting him. If he could allow me to make my own decisions regarding my life, to take on the Da Vias even if it led to my death, then I had to let him do with his as he wished. I had no right to stop him, just as he had no right to stop me.
I nodded and leaned my head on the bars below his, clutching his hands tightly. “All right.”
All my worry and stress melted out of me. Whatever happened, happened. I didn’t have to keep Les safe. I simply had to deal with the Da Vias. Everything else was out of my hands. And it would be nice to have someone firmly on my side again. With Les, the loneliness that had plagued me since my Family’s murder drifted away, set free on the night air.
From down the hall the gate unlocked, a familiar whistle echoing through the stone cells.
“It’s Lefevre,” I whispered. “You have to go!”
“I won’t leave you here.”
“Then don’t. Just hide outside until he’s gone. I don’t plan on staying, but there’s no sense in you fighting him.”
He looked about to argue.
“Les,” I hissed, jerking my hands away. “If you’re going to help me with the Da Vias, then you have to defer to my expertise. Starting with this.”
He frowned, but nodded. He jumped and grabbed onto the windowsill and pulled himself through the window, closing it behind him as the gate opened.
I ran to my bed and lay down.
Lefevre stopped outside my cell and knocked on the bars. “Lea. It seems you have yourself a visitor.”
A visitor. Who would visit me? I sat up and peered out of my cell.
A shiver ran up my spine, and I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips.
Val.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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thirty-one
HE WORE HIS FAVORITE GRAY LEATHER VEST AND matching boots. His shirt and pants were navy blue with gold trim. His smile, when he saw me, rivaled the diamonds that sparkled in his ears.
“Lea,” he breathed. His voice made me tremble. “I knew it.”
I’d forgotten how beautiful Val was. I’d forgotten the richness of his cologne and the thrill that ran through me when his eyes reached mine.
But I hadn’t forgotten my Family. And I hadn’t forgotten Rafeo, dead in the tunnel.
I turned my back on him and sat on m
y bed. My hands shook. I clasped them together. Why was he here? And why did my traitorous heart skip when I remembered his low, throaty chuckle and the feel of his lips on mine? There couldn’t be room left in my heart for Val. There just couldn’t. Not after everything.
Val gestured for Lefevre to open my cell and let him in. Lefevre complied, locking it again before he left us alone.
“You cut your hair.” Val examined my face. “It looks nice.”
“It wasn’t meant to look nice,” I snapped to hide the quaver in my voice. “It was meant to remind me I would never be the same.” Tears welled in my eyes. I rubbed my face, trying to hide them from Val. I didn’t want him to see me like this. I didn’t want him to think he had any effect on me, even though I could almost taste him on the air, feel his hands on my skin again. “Why are you here?”
“I came looking for you. Well, Rafeo, actually. Me and some others. But then I found that flower in the monastery, the one I’d left for you to find later, and I . . . I hoped it meant it was you who had survived. That the Addamos had gotten it wrong. Did you get my letter? I sent you a letter. You probably didn’t get it.”
I’d never heard him babble like this before. He took a breath and composed himself. “And then I heard about the Loveran girl who’d been arrested for murder, and I knew I was right. That it was you we were tracking.”
“So, what, you thought you’d come here and we’d talk or kiss or make up or something?” I looked at my legs, my feet, my hands. Anywhere except him. Please, please just go away. . . .
He leaned against the bars. His shoulders sagged. “What do you want from me, Lea?”
Want from him? I already had the key to the Da Vias’ home. I knew the two places the entrance could be. I had a firebomb.
I had Les.
Val had nothing I needed. “I never want to see you again.”
“After everything we’ve been through?”