Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart, #1)(32)

He reached into his pocket, and I held my breath.

His hand emerged. In his palm rested a gold coin, stamped with the Saldana Family crest. My coin. I flinched. A slow smile spread once more across Lefevre’s face.

“Ah, I thought you might recognize this.”

“Any Loveran would. You should be rid of it. It does not belong to you.”

“Oh?” He flicked the coin between two of his fingers. “And who does it belong to?”

“Safraella.”

He tilted his head. “I don’t understand.”

I examined his face before I dropped my gaze to the coin. If he was faking his confusion, then he would make any stage player envious of his skills.

“That coin belongs to Safraella. It is a bribe, to request that She resurrect someone quickly. The coins are placed on dead bodies by clippers. If you are not a child of Safraella, you should not have taken the coin. You could draw Her ire, or the ire of one of Her disciples. It would be best for you to make that coin a gift at Her church.”

He examined the coin between his fingers. “And this stamp, this Family crest, if you could just tell me which Family this coin belongs to and how to reach them, then maybe I can converse with them. Lovero may be a country of murder and death, but here in Rennes, our laws and gods are different.”

“I can’t, I’m sorry.”

“You do realize it is illegal to impede a lawful investigation, yes? I could bring you to jail for refusing to answer my question.”

“I’m sorry, Captain Lefevre, you misunderstand. It’s not that I won’t help you, it’s that I can’t. That coin is stamped with the Saldana Family crest, but there are no Saldanas left.”

He stared at my eyes. I let him see the truth in them, showed him that in this, at least, I was not a liar. He scowled. “Well, isn’t that awfully convenient.”

“Hmm.” I thought of Brother Sebastien and how he’d dispatched the Addamos. “I would say it’s awfully inconvenient for you and your investigation.”

He closed the coin in his fist. “The Saldanas made their home in the city of Ravenna, right? They share territory with the Da Vias, if I recall.”

It was clear he knew more about the Families than he’d let on. He’d been testing me. Or trying to catch me in a lie.

Lefevre snapped his finger. “I know. I’ll send a letter to the Da Vias, perhaps. Ask them about this coin. I’m sure they’ll help.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, desperately trying not to give anything away. If he really did send a letter to the Da Vias, they would know I was hiding in Yvain.

I smiled. “The Da Vias are not known for their love of the common. I do not think they would help you, even if they could. Now, if you would be so kind as to point me to the main street?”

He stepped in front of me, so close his warm breath brushed across my face. It would have been easy to slip my knife between his ribs.

“I think you’re hiding something from me, little girl. And until I find out, you won’t be able to shake me. As a lawman I see terrible accidents all the time.”

I clenched my jaw.

“People slip and fall into canals, never to come up. It happens every day.” He flicked a lock of my hair and stepped away, his smile like a knife slash in his face. The smile I realized, too late, was his own mask.

I’d underestimated him. He was not a man to toy with.

“You can find your own way home,” he said. “I hope you’re fast enough to outrun the ghosts.” He walked out of the alley, whistling once again until he was gone from sight.

I took a deep breath and released it. No one had ever threatened me before. The lawmen in Lovero would never dream of wielding their power like that over people, because they could never be sure someone they had wronged wouldn’t hire a clipper to seek vengeance. Lefevre was the first person to show me what a man could do if his power wasn’t held in check.

I could only hope his threat to send a letter to the Da Vias was a bluff.

I pocketed my dagger. I needed to locate my uncle and leave this city before I found any more trouble.





fourteen


THE WIND LIFTED THE CORNER OF MY CLOAK AND I jerked it under control, shifting my weight. I’d been sitting on the rooftop of this damn inn since late afternoon and nothing even remotely interesting had happened in this dull city. I could have taken a longer nap and missed nothing.

Below me in a square, women washed their laundry in a fountain. The women in Yvain wore long skirts and short-sleeved blouses with shawls around their shoulders. I’d had to leave my hair uncovered, and more than once my long bangs had flopped into my face.

Stupid Yvain with its outdated fashions. I tugged the cloak around my shoulders, and my injured arm flared in pain. I should’ve been home in Ravenna, listening to music and revelers instead of watching the common go about their chores. I missed the smell of the sea and lantern oil. Yvain smelled of rotting fish and canals, and the common seemed to think putting flowers everywhere could somehow disguise the stink.

Thinking about Ravenna made my chest ache. I needed to find my uncle and go home where I belonged. Ravenna was all I’d ever known and I missed it, like another piece of my life had been stolen from me.

Children played in the water of the fountain or ran through the streets, hitting one another with rags and sticks.