He came to such an abrupt halt that she slammed face-first into his hard body, banging her nose.
“Ow,” she said, rubbing it.
“You are unbelievable!” he roared, turning on her. “First you steal from me, then you have the gall to ask me for some kind of job, all the while blaming me for you stealing from me in the first place!”
“Well, it’s true! You kept fiddling with the thing. I figured it was either a good luck charm or something worth stealing. You didn’t strike me as the sentimental sort so…” She shrugged.
“You made me look like a fool,” he ground out as he went nose to nose with her. “You seduced me and stole something I risked my life and the lives of my men for! You are lucky I don’t wring your little neck!”
“But you haven’t wrung my neck—”
“Yet!”
“And I don’t think you will because you need me!”
“Ha! What do I need a woman for? I can cook my own meals and mend my own clothes. Women are nothing but trouble and they slow a man down—you proved that to me last night.”
“You don’t need a woman, you need a thief!” He was on the move again so she was back to following at his heels. “I’ve seen your men. Not one of them, including you, could sneak into a situation if you tried. I’m small and light, I can fit into hundreds of places none of you can. The smallest man on your team is the mage, and he isn’t all that small with those long limbs and broad shoulders. Plus, I can detect traps and no one, I mean no one, can pick a lock like I can. Admit it, you can use me.”
He had slowed and come to a stop again, but his back was to her and his fists were clenching and unclenching. When he turned suddenly to face her she ducked to avoid a blow. She was surprised when it didn’t come. Something in his eyes softened when he realized she had expected him to get violent with her. She sprang at the vulnerability.
“I promise I won’t get in the way. And I’ll make it worth your while. All I ask is a place to sleep, food in my belly and…and ten percent of whatever treasure we find.”
“Ten percent!” He laughed incredulously. “You really are a piece of work.”
“Hey, that’s a deal! I’m not even asking for an equal share. Just enough so I can get some coin and then I’ll get out of your hair.”
“And what makes you think there’s even going to be any coin?”
“Isn’t there? Isn’t that what you guys do? Seek out hidden treasures?”
“What makes you say that?”
“That talisman for one. It’s rare and very old, even I can see that. Probably even magical. Not the kind of thing you come across in the everyday world. That’s something you go looking for. And the way your men were partying last night, I’d say whatever you were celebrating had paid off. In a huge way.”
“You know what, you’re too keen for your own good,” he grumbled.
“So what do you say?” she asked—no begged. “Please…I’m good with my daggers and a one-handed crossbow. I’ve even got some really tricky bolts to load it with. I came across a trader who had silverwright bolts in his possession. He, uh…let me have some.”
He snorted out an astounded laugh. “You mean you stole them.”
“Maybe but he deserved it. The creep had a little girl and it was clear he—”
“You know what, I don’t care why he deserved it. He probably deserved it no more or less than I deserved it. You stole from him because you wanted to, because you ruthlessly wanted whatever he had for yourself.”
“I wouldn’t say ruthlessly,” she muttered.
“Shut up!” he snapped. She immediately pressed her lips together. Why couldn’t she just keep quiet? Why did she have to keep pushing all the time? Joey Nuts, a fellow thief, had once told her that her mouth was going to land her in hot water one day and he’d been right several times over so far.
Once she was silent he ran a darkly assessing gaze over her from head to toe.
“You’re too skinny. Too light. One good hit and you’ll be done for.”
She took offense. “I—”
“I said shut up!” he hissed in sharp warning.
She fought with herself, but she eventually shut her teeth together with a snap.
“Well, at least you can listen to commands…sometimes,” he said wearily. “And you’d have to, you know. Listen to commands. There’s only one person in charge of my group. It isn’t a democracy. What I say goes. End of story.”
She nodded vigorously. It was the first sign that he was actually going to accept her offer. She couldn’t believe it! She hadn’t thought she could convince him, but apparently she was better than she thought she was.
“Besides, my men could use some womanly entertainment,” he said, crushing her hopes entirely.
“Oh no!” she ground out. “No way. I am no one’s entertainment.”
“Then there’s no deal,” he said, turning back away from her.
Damn it all she was desperate but not that desperate.
But maybe she could agree with him just long enough to get Hero out of the inn stable and then take off before she found herself in a position to entertain anybody.
“Okay fine!” she snapped. “Fine. I’ll do whatever you want. Just let me come with you.”
Maxum turned back to her, working for all he was worth to hide his incredulousness. He couldn’t believe what she had just agreed to. It made him realize just how desperate she was and he felt a pang of guilt and regret. Of course, he had no intention of letting her service all of his men, he’d simply been trying to find a way to get rid of her. But now he found himself entertaining the idea of acquiring a thief—one who had just agreed to be the sexual slave of a group of rowdy men.
Hmm. He eyed her lithe body from head to toe. Screw the rest of his men, but the idea of her being his sexual slave had definite merits. He was still craving her, he discovered, even in spite of what she had done to him. More the fool he. But he would make her sweat a bit before he let the little wench off the hook. He might want her, but he’d be damned if he let himself have her in that way.
Oh, this is a bad idea, Maxum, he told himself with a groan. You have a goal and it’s something like this that can make you lose sight of it.
For all he knew one of the gods had put her in his path for expressly that purpose. The thought made him frown. Now he was being paranoid. But the fact of the matter was that one day the gods would figure out what he was up to and then there would be a hefty price to pay. He simply had to make sure he was more than ready for it by the time they caught on.
Besides, what price could he pay that would be steeper than the one he was already paying? He had made the leap for immortality and had paid the price for it. Many times over. And the only other choice was to continue to pay that price for the rest of eternity.
He regarded her once again.
Come to think of it, she had a point. A thief could come in very handy. Provided she wasn’t overselling her skills, he might be able to use her in their next little adventure.
“Cooking, mending, thievery, and…sex,” he said, grinning on the last lasciviously—at least to her eye he was. “And five percent of the take.”
“Ten or you can forget it!” she snapped.
“Fine. Forget it then.”
She had no choice but to blink first. “Oh, all right. Five percent! But with the option to bump it up to ten after I have proved my worth.”
“You must be quite good in bed,” he mused, scratching his chin, “to merit ten percent.”
“I meant proving myself as a thief!”
“Oh,” he said, clearly being purposely obtuse. “Well, I guess that’d be fair. But I decide when you’ve proven yourself.”
“Of course,” she muttered.
“Now let’s go. I’ve already wasted enough time chasing after you.”
“Um…” They were moving again and she hurried to keep up with him. “There’s one other thing. I stabled my horse and I…um…don’t have the m
oney to pay to get him back.”
He shot her a glare. “That was stupid,” he said.
“Well, I was planning on having cash and plenty of it,” she pointed out. “The gems on that thing would have fed me and my horse for a couple of months at least.”
He sighed, sounding very put upon. “Where is he?”
“The Ox and Lamb.”
“Lead the way,” he said, sweeping a hand in front of himself. She hurried to get in front of him, which left him with a rather nice view of her bottom in the skintight breeches she wore. They were practically obscene, he thought grouchily as he forced his gaze to the crowd, making sure to keep an eye out for trouble in case there was any. Cities were known for being wild cards. There was always the potential for trouble. Of course some were maintained better than others. When his brothers ruled a city there was very little in the way of crime and discontented behaviors. People didn’t starve in his brothers’ cities.
But none of that mattered. What mattered now was getting to the Ox and Lamb and then gathering up his men. Upon reaching the city he had immediately sought out the five most likely places a thief might go to sell a pricey item. Fro’s had come up first and foremost, so he had taken to watching for her there. He had sent his men to the four other likely places on the off chance she would go there but he had suspected she would take the easiest and quickest route first and he had been right. She was damn smart, but desperation had made her drop her guard. He had no doubt that she would have preferred to skip the nearest city and ride to the next one just to avoid the possibility of getting caught, but clearly she’d had no other choice.
And now, looking at her more critically, she did look a little thin. Like she hadn’t been eating regularly. He wondered how she had let it get so bad.
“So if you’re such a good thief, why are you starving?”
Her step faltered a little and she stole a glance at him over her shoulder. “A string of bad luck,” she said. “Besides if I can avoid thieving I do. Getting caught is always a possibility no matter how good you are and some things just aren’t worth the risk.”
“And yet you risked thieving from someone like me,” he said, his tone low and dangerous, almost angry. Was he still peeved about her swiping the talisman? That was over and done with, he should learn to move on, she thought.
What she didn’t know was that he wasn’t angry because she had stolen from him but that she had risked her little neck stealing from someone like him. Had he been a different man he might have sought a fierce retribution. He could have easily been the type to kill a thief for something like that, woman or no.
“I didn’t have much of a choice. As you’ve noted, I am in a bad way.”
“Maybe you should give up thieving, find a good man, and settle down.”
She scoffed and shot him an acidic glare. “You’re just saying that because I’m a woman.”
“You’re damn right I am! Traveling the open country is no place for a woman alone. You could find yourself in all kinds of trouble.”
“You mean like now?” she muttered. Louder she said, “Are you going to lecture me the entire time we’re together? If so, I’m going to have to rethink this situation. I could easily go back to the market and pick a few pockets for the cost of my horse.”
It would be a risk…a great risk. Each pocket picked was one pocket closer to getting caught. But risk was a thief’s forte. She was just afraid desperation would make her sloppy. As it already had. Otherwise he’d have never caught her.
“Consider it a perk of being with my group,” he said with a smug grin.
She grumbled some more and continued to lead the way.
They reached the Ox and Lamb a few minutes later and fetched Hero. Then they made their way back to the market where they gathered up his men one by one. If his men thought anything of a woman joining their ranks, they didn’t say much about it. Clearly Maxum was in charge and what he said was what happened and there were no arguments about it. Well, that might work for them, but she wasn’t exactly the docile following type.
“So where are we going?” she asked once they had retrieved their horses and left the city behind them.
“East,” Maxum said shortly.
“East where?” she asked.
“We’re going east. That’s all you need to know.”
“That is not all I need to know. Where east? Why east? How far east? What will we do when we get east?”
He released a put-upon sigh. “We are going east to Docking Bay.”
“There, now was that so bad?” she asked smugly. “Why are we going to Docking Bay?”
“Why does anyone go to Docking Bay?” he countered wearily.
“To catch a boat?” she asked.
He glanced at her with a raised brow.
“So we’re catching a boat. To where? How far is it? Why?”
“Enough! Enough questions!” he barked. “Keep quiet or I’ll bind and gag you and you’ll ride the rest of the way fanny up across my lap!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Wouldn’t I?” he asked, the gleam in his eyes dangerous.
She swallowed noisily. “Fine. I’ll stop asking questions. For now. But if you think I’m going to just blindly follow you you’re sorely mistaken. I haven’t kept my neck safe on my shoulders this long only to have you get me in trouble.”
“You’re already in trouble,” he said. “Or have you forgotten how you got here and the agreement you made to stay?”
She blanched.
He really should let her off the hook, but he was enjoying putting her in her place too much to do so quite yet. Besides, he wasn’t sure if he was going to let her out of her predicament completely. He rather liked the idea of having that sweet little backside all to himself.
He sighed.
No, he wouldn’t do that. But still, it was fun to imagine. Especially when she was irritating him with a thousand questions.
Airi found herself fidgeting in her saddle frequently as they traveled the rest of the day. She knew they would eventually make camp and when that happened she would be forced to keep her end of the bargain. She was working her mind incessantly to try and think of what her next step should be. There was no way Hero could outrun the powerful stallion he was riding, and anyway there were no opportunities to escape along the way.
She had finally settled on a course of action by the time they had made camp. She could only hope it was enough to keep her out of trouble until they reached Docking Bay and she could make her escape.
“Make yourself useful,” he said. A pit of dread sank into her stomach. Useful how? She decided to build a fire.
She made up the fire from dead wood she found along the path of the forest they were riding through. She could wait until everyone was asleep and sneak away then, but there was only one way in and one way out on horseback and that was via the road. There was a good chance they’d catch up to her so that was not an option.
Kilon disappeared into the woods as she built the fire and returned a short time later with three xixi pheasants hanging from his belt. He dropped them unceremoniously in front of Airi and it was clear they wanted her to pluck and cook the birds while they kicked back and relaxed. As the sun set, Maxum disappeared from sight, having walked off into the deep woods for some unexplained reason.
She began the task without complaint. She had signed on for this, offering her skills. And more, she thought with a gulp. Maybe if she performed her other duties satisfactorily she could weasel her way out of her other expected services.
She plucked the birds, then went into the forest in search of wild herbs and vegetables. She asked for and received a tin pot and prepared the potatoes and mushrooms she’d found within it. The mem, the religious woman at the orphanage where she’d grown up, had taught her how to cook. It was a key skill for any woman, she had said. Of course, the mem had thought she was going to use the skill when she married and settled down. Airi snorted to herself. Like that woul
d ever happen. She wasn’t ever going to tie herself down to one place, never mind one man. Far too many men looked at women as their possessions. Someone to care for them and fuck them when needed and to keep quiet and out of sight the rest of the time.
Well, no thanks. She couldn’t keep quiet if she tried. As was obvious all through dinner as she made nervous conversation with Maxum’s men.
“So how long have you all been together?”
“A year or less,” Dru said. “I’ve known Maxum the longest. We set out on the road together from the moment we landed on the Black Continent. I was with Jaykun’s army until then.”
“Who’s Jaykun?”
“Maxum’s brother. Anyway, we were on the road about a month when we came across Doisy. Then a few weeks later we met up with Kyno. A month after that Kilon. We’ve been together ever since.”
“And I gather from last night’s celebrations that you’ve had a good deal of success together?”
“That’s right,” Doisy said. “Some good treasure to be had in Maxum’s company!”
The men agreed with a round of grunts. During the conversation she found out they’d had a great deal of success; if she could bear staying, five percent would net her a great deal indeed. By the time Maxum returned, sometime after juquil’s hour, she was heavily weighing her options.
Maxum went to the fire and reached for what remained of the game birds. He sat across from her and watched her steadily as he ate. His regard felt lecherous to Airi. She shivered in the cool night air. Winter was coming soon. She needed to secure a warm place before the snow fell. Maybe she could barter passage on a boat heading south…or maybe she could find a job at an inn in Docking Bay. Something just to get her through the winter.