couldn’t draft it, couldn’t use it against Sharp in any way.
“No, no,” he said at the light. “That’s almost worse. Elijah ben-Zoheth. Damn that Seer.” He strode toward Teia and snatched up a black bag from a table, but he didn’t pull it over her head. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. But ever since she called me that . . . The Separated One. The Cutoff.” He scrubbed his fingers through his hair angrily. “I wanted you to be the one, Teia. You’re the only one who could understand me, you know? You know, you’d be my disciple, and you’d look up to me, and you’d ask me things. You’d rely on me. And, and as you got more and more experienced, our relationship would change. We’d become partners, with a profound respect between us, and have a thousand adventures, and then one day you’d look at me, and you would still see all this”—he gestured awkwardly toward his face—his teeth, Teia realized—“but you wouldn’t care. You wouldn’t care that I’m older, and I’d say, ‘No, no, no you have to find someone your own age,’ but you’d set yourself to winning me over and . . .”
Red light. It was definitely, definitely red light.
Wait. What was he talking about?
“Ridiculous, huh?” He looked up at her face just as her first shock had worn away to be replaced with revulsion.
He saw her expression, and his own darkened instantly.
Ah, shit, Teia. A little pretending would’ve gone a long way right there.
“Yeah, I know,” he said hoarsely. “Stupid. Instead we gotta do it this way.”
“How’d you find me?” Teia said quickly.
“You really gonna try to stall me?”
“You did kidnap me a second time. If that wasn’t to talk over our little contest, why would you do that?”
“No, it wasn’t that. More the loneliness. So maybe sort of? But more for . . . another reason. A darker one.” He scowled at the candle. Reds were not known for their deviousness. He threw the bag over her head, and then she heard the flare of a candle again. A normal one, apparently, because he sighed. “Oh, that’s much better. Don’t know why it’s affecting me so bad these days.”
“You know, I ran across you at the corner of Farbod and Low,” she said. What time was it? How long had she been unconscious? Were they underground?
“Really? Why didn’t you kill me there?” Sharp asked.
“Thought I had a chance at the Old Man. I followed him instead,” she said.
“You always did have guts,” he said. “But now, tell me, why didn’t you come after your father? I sat on him for weeks waiting for you to make your move.”
“You did?” she said. “I had no idea where he was.” Still don’t.
“What?! I left hints everywhere! I mean, I went to all your old haunts and left things that’d point you to him. Blackguard taverns. Parks you liked. That place where you bought fruit.”
“Well, I was avoiding those places because I thought you’d be stalking me at them.” He’d known where she bought fruit?
“Huh. Good thought,” Murder said. “Great discipline. You always had great discipline. Just tended to try things that were a little much for your skills. It’s too bad.”
“So how did you find me?” Teia asked. She did not like him using the past tense about her.
“When your friends came. The Mighty. I knew you’d go to them right away. Trouble was, there’s a bunch of them. But Kip and Ben-hadad split off from the others. Really thought you’d go for your old bed buddy first, see if he wanted a quick roll while his wife’s head was turned. But then I camped out on Ben-hadad. Scared the hell out of me once I realized they were working on cracking open the Old Man’s office! I was like, Do I go report this right away, or wait? So I split the difference and waited until they had the solution—or thought they did. Anyway, I knew you’d come. How could you help it? Patience is so key in our work, isn’t it?” He sighed. “Forget about earlier. Don’t know what got into me. Never been the sensitive type before.”
Did he not know he’d gone wight? How could he not know?
Because he had no one to tell him. He’d been alone so long, he’d become a monster and he didn’t even know it.
Could she use that?
Murder Sharp said, “You’re not getting out of here, Teia. You’re too resourceful for me to leave in this