Fable (Fable #1)(61)

He nodded, conceding. “And what could you possibly have that I would pay that much coin for?”

I reached into my jacket before I could change my mind, pulling the sea dragon from my pocket. I set it on the table between us, and even Saint couldn’t hide the shock that cracked through him in that moment. He turned to stone, his eyes widening as they fell on the necklace.

“Where did you get that?” he croaked.

I knew it was wrong. That there was something truly depraved about using my mother against him. And it was monstrous to leverage her most prized possession to barter. But the necklace had called me to it as I stood before the mirror in Saint’s post, as if Isolde knew I would need it. For this very moment.

He picked it up carefully, the abalone sea dragon swinging beneath his fingers.

“That’s why you went back to the Lark,” I said. “You went back for her necklace.”

He didn’t answer. He’d had that pendant made for my mother in Bastian by a jeweler who made one-of-a-kind pieces. The abalone was rare, the unmistakable green of the kind that only came from the Unnamed Sea. She never took it off.

“So?” I looked up at him, tears burning in my eyes.

He closed his hand around the necklace before he dropped it into the breast pocket of his jacket. He cleared his throat. “Eight hundred coppers is fine.”

I held my hand out and he took it, shaking on the deal. He didn’t look up as I stood, and the sinking knowledge of what I’d just done settled within me. I knew what mattered to him, and I had used it against him. I had become the reason he needed his rules.

I turned my back before a single tear could fall.

“And Fable?”

I froze, one foot already outside the door.

The cool, calm set of his mouth returned as he sank back into his chair, looking up at me. “You ever try to shake me down using your mother again, and I’ll forget you ever existed.”





THIRTY-ONE



I felt her pull away from me as I walked out of Griff’s tavern, leaving the necklace behind. That feeling of Isolde’s presence had followed me like a ghost in the air since I’d taken it from Saint’s post.

Paj tied two full coin purses to my hips, knotting the leather around my belt. “Once we start walking, you don’t stop.”

I nodded, fastening the buckle tighter so the weight didn’t pull it loose.

“You don’t stop,” he said again, waiting for me to look up at him.

“I understand.”

Behind him, Willa stood in the shadow of the alley, watching the street. Saint’s coin master showed up in the middle of the night with the copper, escorted by two men carrying knives in both hands. They’d watched me with narrowed eyes as I signed the parchment in my room at the tavern, but neither of them said a word. If they worked for my father, they knew not to ask questions.

Hamish urged us to make the deal with the sailmaker first and not risk carrying any copper through the city, but West thought our chances were better at getting him to take the commission if he saw all that coin with his own eyes.

There’s no persuasion like the shine of copper, he’d said.

“We’ll get you to the doors and we’ll wait outside.” Auster checked the purses again.

“You’re not going in with us?” I looked between him and Paj. I didn’t like the idea of being in the sailmaker’s loft with so much coin and only Willa to raise a blade against anyone who tried to take it.

“Tinny doesn’t like us much.” Paj smirked, leaning into the wall beside Auster.

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t do business with Saltbloods.”

My eyes widened, looking between the two of them. “You said you’re from Waterside.” My gaze landed on Paj.

He went a little rigid, perhaps uncomfortable with Auster telling me something about them that was true.

But Auster didn’t seem bothered. “We were born in Bastian.”

The gleaming, wealthy city on the shores of the Unnamed Sea was also the place my mother was born. It was rare to meet anyone who’d taken up the life of the Narrows if they’d had one in a place like Bastian. The only people who did were running from something.

There was more to whatever story had brought them here. And I didn’t miss what Auster was doing by telling me. He was giving me just a little bit of trust to see what I’d do with it.

“Time to go,” Willa said, looking over her shoulder.

I closed up my jacket as Auster and Paj took their places at either side of me.

Willa pulled the dagger from her belt. “Ready?”

I nodded in answer.

She stepped out onto the street, and I followed, walking in step with Auster and Paj, who stayed close enough to hide me between them.

The sailmaker’s loft was one of twelve piers that reached out over the water on the east side of Ceros. The framed glass windows spanned an entire side of the building, overlooking the city. The red brick was covered in thick green moss, the mortar crumbling. I walked with my hands in my pockets, my fingers curling around the heavy purses to keep them from jingling.

I didn’t miss the way everyone who passed us took a long look at Willa’s scarred face, but she kept her head up, as if she didn’t notice. I hadn’t seen her try to cover the scar once, and I wondered if it was of use to her now, letting the Narrows know that she’d seen her share of its brutality. It wasn’t uncommon for women to crew ships, but they were definitely outnumbered. And the softer you looked, the more likely you were to become prey.