D. Jackson - Thieves' Quarry

“I told you to be quiet.”

“Sephira wouldn’t agree to a price, would she? That’s not her way. She’d demand to see them first, and you, knowing her as you do, would understand that bringing her the pearls, even if it was just for her to look at, would be like putting that pistol to your head and pulling the trigger. Which means that you have the pearls, but you have no agreement, and you don’t know what to do next. She’s probably got her men watching you, and so she’ll know if you try to sell them to anyone else.”

“That’s enough!”

“She knows about this place,” Ethan went on. “Nigel and Nap were here just a couple of days ago. She’s going to come looking for you. And then you’ll really be in trouble.”

“How do you know so much about it?” Hester asked.

Ethan laughed, his gaze still on Osborne. “There’s no one in this city who knows Sephira Pryce better than I do. If your father was smart, he’d let me help him. But that would mean splitting his share of the sale, and we know how he feels about that. Certainly Simon Gant does.”

“I said that’s enough!”

Ethan knew what was coming, but he held his ground and braced himself. Osborne took two quick steps in his direction and hit him again with his pistol, this time connecting just above Ethan’s left eye. Ethan staggered but stayed on his feet. Osborne struck him again in the same spot and Ethan collapsed, pain clouding his vision, and blood running down his face.

But if there had been any doubt in Ethan’s mind, Osborne’s assault erased it. For all his bluster, the man had no intention of shooting him or Diver. He had let his daughters do all the killing up until now, and he would be content to let them do the rest. That was Ethan’s best hope.

The man dragged Ethan back to the center of the room.

“Help me, Hes,” he said.

Osborne’s daughter joined him at Ethan’s side, and together they lifted him into the same chair he had been trapped in earlier.

“Now, bind him like you did before. Both of you.”

“How much do you think you’ll get for the pearls, Osborne?” Ethan asked through the throbbing pain. “Were they worth the lives of all those men on the Graystone ?”

This blow Ethan hadn’t anticipated. Osborne hit him in the jaw with what felt like a cobble from King Street. He flew off the chair, landing hard on his side and smacking his head against the floor.

“ Shut your mouth! ” the man hollered at him.

Ethan tried to push himself up off the floor, but he couldn’t seem to make his arms or legs work. He lay there, trying to clear his head and waiting for the pain in his jaw and teeth to subside.

“What did he mean by that?” Hester asked after a brief, tense silence.

“He’s talkin’ nonsense, Hes. Don’t worry about it. Just help me get him up.”

Ethan felt someone grab one of his arms, but not the other.

“Molly, grab his other arm,” Osborne said. “Let’s put him back in that chair.”

“What did he mean, Father?”

“Now, Molly!”

A moment later, someone took hold of Ethan’s other arm, and once more he was lifted into the chair. He started to topple back onto the floor, but strong hands held him up.

“Gimme that rope.”

With some effort, Ethan managed to open his eyes. Osborne stood over him, tying him to the chair once more.

“Now, bind him,” the man said, when he had finished with the rope.

Molly turned to look at her sister, but Hester didn’t seem to have moved. She still held the pistol, though she appeared to have forgotten about it. She stared hard at her father, fear and disgust and rage chasing across her features.

“You told us it was nothing,” she said, her voice so low that Ethan had to resist the urge to lean forward to hear her better. She pointed at Ethan. “The first time he came to us, he said something about an attack on the Graystone , and you told us later it was nothing to worry about. Just something that the fleet commanders had made up to cover your escape.”

“He lied,” Ethan said.

Osborne had turned to face his daughter, but at this he whirled on Ethan again. He pressed the barrel of his gun against Ethan’s face, just below his bleeding eye, pushing so hard with it that he tipped Ethan’s head back.

“I swear to God, Kaille! Another word and I’ll blow a hole in your face!”

“I want to know what he meant, Father!”

“First you bind him, like I told you. We’ll talk when you’re done.”

Hester still didn’t move. At last Osborne dismissed her with a wave of his hand and turned to Molly.

“You’ll have to do it,” he said. “Quickly girl, before he tries more of his magick. Use the blood on his face.”

Molly gave Ethan a pained look, but nodded to her father. Ethan watched her, waiting. And as soon as she opened her mouth to speak the spell again-“ Corpus alligare ex cruore evocatum. ” Bind body, conjured from blood-he chanted a spell to himself, hoping that this once Reg would do what Ethan needed him to. “ Teqimen ex cruore evocatum, ” Ethan said in his mind. Warding, conjured from blood. He finished reciting his spell to himself just an instant before Molly finished speaking hers.

He felt the blood vanish from his face, sensed conjurings humming in the old worn wood of the shack. They felt powerful, but not so much so that anyone would guess that there had been two spells cast instead of one. And just as Molly’s bright yellow ghost appeared beside her, Reg materialized as well. He was behind both Osborne and Molly. Neither of them could have seen him. A smile flashed on his glowing face and he vanished again.

Ethan couldn’t be certain that Hester hadn’t seen the ghost, and he dared not look at her. He would have to trust that Hester was angry enough with her father, and suspicious enough of what he had done in recent days, to keep Ethan’s secret. He was supposed to be bound, and so he held himself still. But though he felt the leaden weight of Molly’s spell on his body-that same feeling of a heavy net that had come when Hester tried the binding spell outside-he knew that his warding had worked.

For several seconds no one spoke. Ethan could almost feel Hester weighing her choices, and he feared that despite the tension in the room, she would remain loyal to her father. But at last she said, “All right, he’s bound. Now tell us what happened to the Graystone. ”

“Nothin’ happened to it,” Osborne said, turning away from her and walking to where Diver lay, still pale and unmoving. The man let out a small laugh and looked back at his daughters. “Looks like you saved this one after all. What a waste.”

“Why did Kaille ask you about the lives of those men?” Hester asked. “What did he mean by that?”

“Stupid girl! He’s tryin’ to confuse you, t’ turn you against me! Can’t you see that?”

Hester raised her pistol. “Don’t you dare call me stupid! And don’t lie to me anymore! I want to know the truth!”

Osborne stared at her, dropped his gaze to the weapon in her hand. Ethan thought he might strike her. Instead he began to laugh, which might have been worse. “No, Hes, you’re not stupid. But you don’t know a thing about pistols. That’s a single-shot flintlock you’ve got in your hand. And there’s nothin’ in it.” He gestured vaguely back at Diver. “The lead’s in him, isn’t it?”

Her face blanched, perhaps with the realization of what she had done in pointing the weapon at her father. She looked down at the pistol and sagged into the nearest chair.

“But fine,” Osborne went on, his voice eerily calm. “You want the truth. I’ll give you the truth. That spell you both did, the one that was supposed to make me look and feel like I was dead. It worked fine.” He laughed again. “It worked more than fine. It was remarkable. A thing of beauty. It made me look dead all right.” His laughter bubbled over once more, but he talked through it. “It made every man on the ship look dead. Imagine what it was like. The officers from those other ships come to the Graystone , and every man on board is lyin’ there, lookin’ like someone came along and poisoned the food or somethin’ of the sort.” He wiped away the tears of mirth that were now streaming from his eyes.