Even with the heavy trunk, he was able to move fairly quickly.
Pairce had her knives at the ready, should they come across any of the many guards were roaming throughout the house.
But they encountered no one on their way back down the steps and to the door where they had entered.
Pairce pushed the door open, and there was Mairli in the carriage, holding the reins of the horses, waiting for them.
They started forward.
From the left, coming down an adjacent hall, there was a roar.
Cadon turned in time to see Madigain rushing down the hallway. He was the one roaring. He was practically frothing at the mouth.
“Thieves!” he cried.
Behind him came a throng of people—musqueteers and guards, yes—but also people of the aristocracy—men in black neckbows and women in dresses, all eager for the spectacle of this.
And there was Haid, squirming through the bodies to try to get to Madigain. He was clutching Sefoni’s hand and pulling her along with him.
“Go!” shouted Haid.
But Cadon set down the trunk instead and stepped out to intercept Madigain. “You call it theft, do you?”
Madigain only let out some kind of unintelligible guttural sound in response.
Cadon took three steps forward and held out one of his massive hands.
Madigain skidded to a stop only a foot from touching him. He panted, looking at Cadon with murder in his eyes.
“I consider it payment,” said Cadon. “Tell me, Your Grace, what is a cowntdom worth, do you think?”
Madigain swallowed, glancing over his shoulder at the gathered people who had come along for the spectacle.
Cadon lifted his chin and spread his hands. He addressed the crowd. “Come now, you must recognize me, don’t you?”
“The Orc!” called out a voice.
“Cadon Whiss, former cownt of Bretigern,” he countered in a bitter voice.
A collective gasp rippled through those gathered. Whispers broke out, a buzz of conversation.
“He took my cowntdom from me,” said Cadon, and everyone quieted, gaping at him. “He robbed me of my will and my intellect. He made me a beast. And then he paraded me about in front of everyone, profiting from the use of my body.”
Madigain’s face twitched.
“So,” said Cadon, “here’s what I propose, Madigain. You can let me take this, which I imagine is only a fraction of what you actually owe me. Or we can fight a duel.” Cadon smiled. “I like my odds at beating you in combat.”
Madigain let out a noisy breath. He glanced from Cadon to the crowd and then back again.
Cadon turned and walked back up the hallway to pick up the golden trunk.
Madigain didn’t say anything.
Haid pushed past Madigain, bringing Sefoni along.
Cadon started for the door.
They all walked out and climbed into the carriage.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“FASTER,” HAID WAS saying. He was leaning out the window to yell this at Mairli as they took off through the streets of Rzymn.
“But he let us go,” Tristanne responded from within.
“He did not,” said Haid. “He waited until we were gone and everyone else was distracted by the chaos. He’s coming after us with his hired musqueteers, and we need to be to the docks as quickly as possible.”
Mairli flicked the reins and murmured a suggestion to the horses.
Suddenly, they were going very, very fast, and the wind was in Haid’s face. It was threatening to tear him away from the carriage itself. He barely climbed back inside.
He plastered himself against the seat, panting.
“Mairli said that you didn’t hire a boat as you planned,” said Pairce. “Tell me there’s a boat waiting for us at the docks.”
“Oh, there’s a boat,” said Haid, still struggling to catch his breath.
And indeed, when they arrived—in moments, at the docks—a huge ship rose high above the surface of the water, waving a black flag with a skull emblazoned on it.
“Pirates?” said Mairli as they all climbed out of the carriage. “But what are we—”
“That’s our ship,” said Haid.
“What?” said Sefoni.
“I worked it out with Chevolere Vox,” said Haid. “I don’t know why Madigain threw him into our path, but I think he was hoping to tempt me with iubilia, because Vox sells it. But Vox is supplied by pirates.” He gestured. “So, I asked him if he’d broker an arrangement with them. It solves the problem of getting our percentage delivered to the Abrusse family. The pirates will give it to Vox.”
Sefoni blinked. “Last night? That’s where you were last night?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” said Haid.
“Blazes, why couldn’t you have just told me that. Maybe that’s why I lost the shanj game.”
“Oh, he cheated,” said Haid.
“Because he studied my games?” said Sefoni.
“And wouldn’t allow you to study his,” said Haid.
At this precise moment, another carriage burst into view, and musqueteers jumped down, coming for them. Madigain was following them. He bellowed at the top of his lungs, “I won’t let you take from me this time, Darain!”
Haid gestured toward the ship. “Go, everyone, go!”
Cadon picked up the golden trunk and ran for the ship, everyone else on his heels.
Haid stayed put, eyeing Madigain, and Sefoni stood behind him.
“Do you think I could burn up bullets in the air?” she said.
“Go, love,” he said. “It’s not going to be a problem.”
Indeed, the pirate ship had turned its cannons on the musqueteers. From the ship came the sneer of the pirate captain. “We get paid extra if we have to fight you, so do go ahead and start using those piddly pistols of yours.”
Madigain’s face was a mask of rage. “Flames take you, Darain!”
“Oh, inevitably,” said Haid. “Don’t flames take us all in the end?” He found himself itching to say something to Madigain about the tiara, but he held his tongue. This truly had never been about Madigain suffering.
And it was better if he was ignorant of it.
Haid would count it a triumph, even if Madigain never knew.
“You don’t even need that money,” said Madigain.
“No, I don’t, but they do,” said Haid. “Some of them, anyway. And for that matter, you don’t need it either.”
“You torment me for sport, is that it?”
Haid shrugged. “Our business is concluded, Olien.” He used Madigain’s first name both as intimacy and insult, not acknowledging his title or lands. He gave Madigain a salute and a smile, and then he turned and ran for the ship.
He boarded and found the others on the deck, all huddled together as the pirates leered at them.
The pirate captain touched his hat. “That everyone, then?”
“Indeed,” said Haid.
“Then we’ll be off.”
Haid and the others went to the railing to watch as they drifted away from the harbor.
Madigain stood on the docks with the musqueeters, hands clenched in fists, watching them as they sailed off.
“So,” said Pairce, “I remember once you told me this long story about being on iubilia and seeing your mother’s tiara in Madigain’s ballroom, but… we didn’t get that tiara.”
Haid laughed. “Of course we did.”
“I got it myself,” said Sefoni. She smiled at Tristanne. “Even though you said that I was useless at lockpicking, I managed just fine in the end.”
“And I didn’t spend months crafting that fake tiara for nothing,” said Mairli.
“I can’t believe I didn’t realize that’s why you wanted her,” said Tristanne. “Couldn’t you have just said something when you saw that brooch, Haid? Why do you have to be so purposefully secretive?”
“I did say something,” said Haid. “I remember pointedly asking you who made
it. You were the one who snatched it away from me and wouldn’t talk about it.”
“Well, that was because I didn’t want to talk about Mairli, not because I wanted to conceal that she made it,” said Tristanne.
“She’s very talented,” said Haid. “You know, Mairli, if you wished, I think you could probably make real jewelry with actual gem stones and precious metals instead of… what did you call it? Glittery trash?”
“So, wait,” said Pairce. “Sefoni took the tiara?”
“Yes,” said Sefoni.
“But when?” said Pairce.
“The night I went in to practice,” said Sefoni.
“Yes, I had to make sure that no other players would be in there, so we engineered all of the players in the finals to be men who didn’t practice. But then Madigain was there, which was almost disastrous,” said Haid.
“Until you carried that off nicely,” said Sefoni, grinning at him. “So, I picked the lock on the display case, replaced it with Mairli’s fake tiara—which looked exactly like the real article, I may say—and then I took it back to the inn.”
“And where is it now?” said Pairce.
“It’s with my luggage and our servants,” said Sefoni.
“We sent them ahead on the proper ferry,” said Haid. “They’ll be meeting us at the inn where we’re staying tonight. With any luck, Madigain will never even know the tiara is gone.”
“If he never knows,” said Cadon, “then it never hurts him.”
“No, but Haid knows,” said Sefoni. “Haid knows he tricked him.”
Haid took a little bow.
“I don’t understand you, Darain,” said Cadon, shaking his head.
Pairce furrowed her brow. “Then… the entire heist… everything that Cadon and I did, Tristanne picking the Biancce lock, Mairli with the horses, all of it, it was… what? Why?”
“Well, a distraction for one thing,” said Haid. “So that Madigain wouldn’t know about the real target of the heist. And because I did need to pay everyone. I promised you all riches galore if you helped me. So, we needed to steal something.”
“Surely we could have done it… at night or something,” said Pairce. “Or… not during the tournament. We could have come at some point when Madigain wasn’t even here, and then it all would have been easier.”
“No, easy is not the point,” said Sefoni. “Haid didn’t do it for the riches but for the challenge.”
“I don’t understand you either, Haid,” said Pairce, sighing.
“I do,” said Sefoni, looking up at him.
He smiled down at her. She did, at that.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
THE PIRATES GAVE Cadon a wide berth, but Cadon didn’t like the way they looked at the women. He wasn’t sure how long pirates went on ships without seeing women, but that was no excuse for their looks. Furthermore, pirates weren’t the least bit scrupulous in the best of times.
Maybe Cadon shouldn’t throw stones, since he was officially a thief himself. He’d declared himself in front of a throng of aristocrats from all over the realm, so he really couldn’t conceal it anymore.
He supposed he hadn’t thought that through.
Would people expect him to be taking his cowntdom back? Blazes, he hoped not. They were going to be disappointed when they discovered he wished to be a lowly blacksmith.
Thankfully, they weren’t on the ship for very long, and they were deposited back on land soon enough. Then it was a short journey in a hired coach to an inn where they were staying for the night.
As promised, Haid’s servants were already there, as were Tristanne’s, and Haid immediately retrieved the tiara and passed it about so that everyone could look at it. When it was in Cadon’s hands, he felt doubly clumsy next to its small magnificence. It was delicate and gleaming and beautiful and he passed it off to Pairce quickly, frightened he might somehow break it.
Later, in their rooms, he sat in bed next to Pairce and asked her questions about the tiara. Apparently, it had belonged to Haid’s mother, and it had some sentimental significance.
But Cadon still didn’t understand.
Pairce was exhausted from the day’s events, and it was true they’d done quite a bit of physical activity that day. She fell easily asleep next to him in the bed in the inn, but Cadon didn’t sleep. Couldn’t sleep.
He eased himself out of bed and knocked on Tristanne’s door.
“Your grappling hook?” he said. “How much weight does it hold?”
“Oh, lots,” said Tristanne. “I could use it to haul up a harpsichord if I wanted.”
“Good, then. Could I borrow it?”
“Well, all that depends,” said Tristanne. “For how long? Can you guarantee you’ll bring it back?”
“I’ll have it back to you by morning,” he said.
She sighed. “If you lose this, Cadon—”
“How much could it truly cost?” he said.
“Oh, it’s not about that.”
“So, what is it about?”
She only sighed. She gave him the grappling hook.
He left the inn and hired a horse back to the docks. He then asked around until he was able to rent a small ship with oars, which he had to row all the way back across to the island of Rzymn.
This wasn’t easy, nor was it quick.
But by the time he was back to the water-facing side of Madigain’s home, dawn was still two hours off.
He knew which window was Madigain’s bedchamber. That had been pointed out with Haid’s diagram when they’d been planning their attack on the place. He hurled Tristanne’s grappling hook up at it.
It took three tries to get it hooked securely.
Climbing up was difficult, even with his superior strength. He was a large man and not used to doing such feats of agility. Even so, he made it, and he pushed open the glass in the window and climbed inside.
Madigain lay sprawled out on top of the covers of his bed, still dressed, a half-empty bottle of wine on the table beside the bed.
Cadon moved forward to wake him.
But then he hesitated.
It was true that he’d said that he didn’t understand why Haid didn’t want to make Madigain suffer, but he remembered the thought he’d had about this deed. That if he did it, it wouldn’t be about revenge for himself or for Pairce, but because the man needed putting down.
If that were the case, there was no need for the man to wake. Indeed, it would be more than Madigain deserved to give him his last words.
Instead, Cadon seized a pillow from the bed and put it over Madigain’s face and held it there.
Madigain never woke.
When Cadon was satisfied that the man had stopped breathing and that he was truly dead, he climbed back out the window and down to his waiting boat.
When he got back to the inn, Pairce was awake. She was with Tristanne, and she was angry.
“Where have you been? Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going?” she said.
“I said I would kill him after the job was done,” said Cadon. “Didn’t I say that?”
She sighed heavily.
“I didn’t do it for you,” he said. “Not even for me. It wasn’t about revenge. It was about all the other people that Madigain was going to hurt if I left him alive. It was about that bad world you’re always talking about. Madigain made the world a worse place. His being gone is only a boon to everyone.”
TRISTANNE HAD THOUGHT about trying to speak to Mairli the night before but had eventually decided against it, mostly because she was incredibly tired. She needed rest, and they all did.
The next morning, she was occupied by Pairce, who was looking for Cadon, and so she was late getting down to the large tavern in the inn, where breakfast was being served.
Haid and Sefoni were there, their plates nearly empty of food.
“Tell everyone that we can’t be dallying,” Haid said to her. “We can’t be sure that Madigain won’t pursue us.”
“He won’t,”
said Tristanne. “Cadon went back and killed him last night.”
“What?” Haid dropped his fork and it clattered against his plate.
“You did say he could.”
Haid looked devastated.
“Where’s Mairli?” said Tristanne.
“Haven’t seen her this morning,” said Sefoni, whose eyes were only for her husband.
Tristanne left and continued her search.
She found Mairli in the stables talking to the horses. She knew that Mairli had spent much of the pirate ship ride talking about the poor horses they’d had to abandon on the dock, but they’d belonged to someone else. Of course they’d had to leave them.
“You,” said Mairli.
“Me,” said Tristanne, feeling chagrined. She’d known, of course, that Mairli was angry with her, but perhaps she hadn’t considered the depths of it all. At one point in time in her life, she’d considered Mairli’s sins against her quite as bad as her sins against the other woman, possibly even worse, because Mairli was so dismissive and so insistent on thinking herself better than everyone else.
Once, she remembered Mairly uttering the phrase “ill-bred” in reference to Tristanne, and this had raised Tristanne’s anger to a fever pitch. How dare Mairli think herself superior because of her parentage, when Mairli’s father was so clearly a monster?
But now Tristanne saw it for what it was. Mairli’s attempt to cling to something—anything—in a world in which she’d been stripped of everything, a world in which she was all alone, a world in which she was shunned and disgraced, a world in which she’d had no one but Tristanne.
And Tristanne had pushed her away and been angry and self-righteous as well.
“I’m sorry,” said Tristanne.
Mairli rolled her eyes.
“I think I’ll begin conversations in this way for a while,” said Tristanne. “Every time we see each other, I’ll apologize. I truly am sorry, Mairli. It should have been you and me against the entire world, but I was an imbecile and I didn’t do what I should have done. You don’t owe me forgiveness, and I can understand if you never want to see me again.”
Scars and Swindlers Page 29