Warbreaker (Warbreaker #1)(81)

“Aw, did you have to let him go so fast?” Tonk Fah said, sitting down on the floor, looking morose. Whatever he’d done to look dangerous was gone, evaporating faster than water on metal in the sun.

“Now you’ve done it,” Denth said. “He’ll be sullen for the rest of the day.”

“I never get to be the bad guy anymore,” Tonk Fah said, falling back and staring up at the ceiling. His monkey wandered over and sat atop his ample stomach.

“You’ll get over it,” Vivenna said, rolling her eyes. “Why were you so hard on him, anyway?”

Denth shrugged. “You know what I like least about being a mercenary?”

“I suspect that you’re going to tell me,” Vivenna said, folding her arms.

“People are always trying to fool you,” he said, sitting down on the floor beside Tonk Fah. “They all think that because you’re hired muscle, you’re an idiot.”

He paused, as if expecting Tonk Fah to give his usual counterpoint. Instead, however, the bulky mercenary just continued to stare at the ceiling. “Arsteel always got to be the mean one,” he said.

Denth sighed, giving Vivenna a “This is your fault” look. “Anyway,” he continued. “I couldn’t be sure that our friend there wasn’t a plant arranged by Grable. He could have pretended to be a loyal subject, gotten inside our defenses, then knifed you in the back. Best to be safe.”

She sat down on the stool, and was tempted to say that he was overreacting, but . . . well, she had just seen him kill two men in her defense. I’m paying them, she thought. I should probably just let them do their job. “Tonk Fah,” she said. “You can be the mean one next time.”

He looked up. “You promise?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Can I yell at the person we are interrogating?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Can I growl at him?” he asked.

“I guess,” she said.

“Can I break his fingers?”

She frowned. “No!”

“Not even the unimportant ones?” Tonk Fah asked. “I mean, people have five after all. The little ones don’t even do that much.”

Vivenna paused, then Tonk Fah and Denth started laughing.

“Oh, honestly,” she said, turning away. “I can never tell when you shift from being serious to being ridiculous.”

“That’s what makes it so funny,” Tonk Fah said, still chuckling.

“Are we leaving, then?” Vivenna said, rising.

“Nah,” Denth said. “Let’s wait a bit. I’m still not sure that Grable isn’t looking for us. Best to lay low for a few hours.”

She frowned, glancing at Denth. Tonk Fah, amazingly, was already snoring softly.

“I thought you said that Grable would let us go,” she said. “That he was just testing us—that he wanted to see how good you were.”

“It’s likely,” Denth said. “But I’ve been known to be wrong. He might have let us go because he was worried about my sword being so close to him. He could be having second thoughts. We’ll give it a few hours, then head back and ask my watchers if anyone has been poking around the house.”

“Watchers?” Vivenna asked. “You have people watching our house?”

“Of course,” Denth said. “Kids work cheap in the city. Worth the coin, even when you’re not protecting a princess from a rival kingdom.”

She folded her arms, standing. She didn’t feel like sitting, so she began to pace.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about Grable,” Denth said, eyes closed as he sat back, leaning against the wall. “This is just a precaution.”

She shook her head. “It makes sense that he’d want revenge, Denth,” she said. “You killed two of his men.”

“Men can be cheap in this city too, Princess.”

“You say he was testing you,” Vivenna said. “But what would be the point of that? Provoking you to action just to let you go?”

“To see how much of a threat I was,” Denth said, shrugging, eyes still closed. “Or, more likely, to see if I was worth the pay I usually demand. Again, I wouldn’t worry so much.”

She sighed, then wandered over to the window so she could watch the street.

“You should probably stay away from the window,” Denth said. “Just to be safe.”

First he tells me not to worry, then he tells me not to let myself be seen, she thought with frustration, walking toward the back of the room, moving toward the door down to the cellar.

“I wouldn’t do that, either,” Denth noted. “Stairs are broken in a few places. Not much to see, anyway. Dirt floor. Dirt walls. Dirt ceiling.”

She sighed again, turning away from the door.

“What is with you, anyway?” he asked, still not opening his eyes. “You’re not usually this nervous.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Being locked in like this makes me anxious.”

“I thought princesses were taught to be patient,” Denth noted.

He’s right, she realized. That sounded like something Siri would say. What is wrong with me lately? She forced herself to sit down on the stool, folding her hands in her lap, reasserting control of her hair, which had rebelliously started to lighten to a brown. “Please,” she said, forcing herself to sound patient, “tell me of this place. Why did you select this building?”