Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2)(112)

He looked ridiculously smug. “Lots of poker games, actually—well, until I got banned after the Flower Fest. Twenty-five would go a long way for you.”

“I’d almost have Lonzo’s bond. Not enough for my own contract, though.” Still, a surge of excitement shot through me. Forty gold. So close to Lonzo’s freedom. But then . . . “No, I can’t. I can’t accept that. It’s yours. Don’t worry about me. Just focus on figuring out this conspiracy. I still get the money that way, and you can go back to the Balanquans.”

Grant shifted away, onto his back, and stared upward. “I should’ve told you about that before . . . everything.”

“Not if you weren’t ready.” He smiled at his words being echoed back. “And I was so worked up, I didn’t really hear what you were saying. I heard, but I didn’t understand. I do now, and . . . I think you should do it. You need to reclaim that piece of you that was lost. It’s just that . . . I’ll miss you.”

Even just in profile, I could see the astonishment in his face. He kept his eyes trained upward. “The eastern part of the Empire is beautiful. It’s where all the cities are, all the art and culture. The ambassadors will visit there, but I’ve heard they’ll spend most of their time in the west. It’s less settled out there. Colder, wilder. But still beautiful. You’d like it.”

Another quiet stretch, both of us lost in thought, until I finally managed to say, “I think . . . I think I’d maybe like to see that someday. The lands up north.” It took as much effort for me to reference the passing offer he’d made the last time we were in bed, the one I’d dismissed in anger. I was no better than he was at admitting certain things.

Grant slowly turned his head and regarded me with something almost like apprehension. “Would you?”

“Yes, but . . .” Now I averted my eyes and stared off at the flame of a small candle. “I have to . . .”

“Your brother.”

I nodded, still unable to look at him. He sat up beside me and turned my face toward his. He kissed me. Long. Deeply. I wrapped my arms around his neck and wished the world could just be this simple.

“Can I come back tomorrow?” I asked, when I was finally able to draw away.

He ran a hand through my hair. “Bas agiba kor; kalichi hanek.”

“What does it mean?”

“‘The dam has burst; make way for the river.’”

I couldn’t stop the grin that spread over my face. “Well, well, you do recite poetry in bed.”

He smiled back, but there was an uneasiness to it. “It’s more of a warning than anything sentimental. It’s a proverb for when there’s no going back.”




I moved with a lightness in my step when I left. It was hard not to, with my body still humming and content. But it was countered by the darkness of all the uncertainty that hung over me. Uncertainty about what exactly was between us. Uncertainty about saving Lonzo. Uncertainty about my own future.

And Tamsin.

She’s alive, she’s alive, I told myself. There’s just more to this than we know yet.

I reached the crossroads where I’d normally turn to reach the city’s main gate, but I stopped instead—so abruptly that a group of men stumbled into me. I stared down the street that led to the Dancing Bull and made a decision.

My Aviel wig had been irrevocably ruined in the storm. The one I wore now was a deeper gold, and I’d braided it back to further conceal me. Now, as I walked, I shook it all out. The color was close enough. I’d worn the mask out of habit, even though the warming weather no longer required it. And even without the starry cloak, the rest of my clothes would make me recognizable.

Sure enough, the tavern came to a standstill when I entered. Tom and his regulars sat at their usual table, and a couple of the men stood up. One of them was Elijah. “You’re alive!” he said, relief visible on his rough face.

Tom remained sitting, with no change in expression. He brought a mug to his lips and drank deeply. “I told you she was.”

“I’m surprised you gave me any thought at all,” I said icily. “You certainly didn’t last night.”

Tom grimaced and set his mug down with a thump. “Excuse me, gentlemen. This is a conversation best done in private, I think.”

He led me to the door in the back, the one where all the goods and supplies came and went from. Stepping through it, I found myself on a landing next to a stairwell that led underground, into darkness. Tom shut the door and faced me.

“I’m so thrilled to see you, my dear,” he said. “Though, as I said, I wasn’t worried about your safety. Not when I heard that the crew of the Sun’s Promise miraculously made it off. I knew exactly which agent of divinity had helped with that.”

I crossed my arms. “Were you so certain of miracles when you left me and those sailors to die?”

“I didn’t want any of you to die! You have to know that.”

“Then why did you leave? You only had to wait a few minutes.” I held up a hand. “No, don’t answer because I already know why. You wanted to get your gunpowder back to land before the storm got worse. You needed your profit because, as it turns out, you really do value your agenda more than your followers.”

“Aviel, it was a tense situation. I had to make an ugly decision, right then and there. Everyone’s scrambling for ammunition these days. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s worth a fortune.”