All the merchants looked at him now, assessing, balancing, seeing his reaction. Seeing if he was like his father. Now would be the time he hooked them all, or played the line too hard and lost them, lost his chance. He kept the smile steady. “All in good time, all in good time. First, I need to show Estovan and the racks how I deal with people who displease me. I expect you’ll take as much pleasure as I in Van Gast’s final debt-payment.”
A threat, and an offer, all in one. Van Gast had stolen or conned from every man here, most like. Yet no mention of racks being punished, and the hint of “people who displease me” had hit home. Lips tightened, skin paled, men looked away from him. Subtle—you couldn’t be a successful merchant without hiding your true feelings—but there. He could almost smell the fear on them. Good.
Now, once the fear was there, the tempting bait. What would keep them on the hook, keep Estovan’s trade alive and well, keep Rillen rich. “And once he’s disposed of, once you can trade without fear of him robbing you blind, then contracts will indeed be renegotiated. I’m prepared to be most generous. Most generous, to those whose trade will benefit Estovan.”
I have them now. Pulling them along by the greed that hooks their mouths.
* * *
Holden sagged against the pole and wiped his face with his sleeve. Tallia had got them out of the palace, led them to a gate that opened directly onto the river. There had only been two guards—from the noise behind them, the rest had been called away. Two guards hadn’t stood much chance, and the small punt tied up at the steps had got them away, Holden poling them downstream to the delta, toward all the little islands where they could slip unseen.
Josie had only stopped fighting when Skrymir dropped her, his face pale and haggard, blood dripping down his shoulder. Josie went from spitting feathers to quick concern on the instant. He lay in the bottom of the punt and she fussed over him like he was a child.
“I thought you said this was patched up,” she said.
“It was. Maybe if you’d stopped trying to bite me for long enough, you’d have noticed.”
They switched to talking in Gan as she saw to the bullet wound, her voice soft and apologetic.
Tallia got Haban settled and came to stand with Holden. He poled them along the edge of the river, the only sounds the gentle bickering between Skrymir and Josie and the muffled slap of water on wood.
At last, the first of the jetties along Mucking Lane came into view. The Glass Dagger was there, and tucked up behind it lay the Lone Queen.
“I had them move berth. Reckoned we’d all be coming out together,” Josie said. For a heartbeat, Holden thought she was going to jump over the side, into the water. Maybe back to the river gate and into the palace. She tensed to do it, her face hard and implacable, but Skrymir lurched up and grabbed her.
Holden got the punt nudged up to the Lone Queen even as she turned on Skrymir, next to a net over the side. Skrymir didn’t give her a chance but shoved her up.
Skrymir scrambled up after, wincing at the effort but that was the only sign he gave that his wound hurt him. Inhuman. Holden tied the punt and followed him. At the rear, Tallia helped Haban.
Now they had little breath for talking. That didn’t stop Skrymir, who started shouting orders the moment his feet hit the deck. “Cast off, right fucking now!”
Josie glared at him. “We aren’t—”
Skrymir whirled to face her. Holden had known him a long while, they’d been crewmates and friends, but he’d never seen him angry. Not like this. He loomed over Josie like a storm cloud, dark and threatening. She never gave an inch, stood square before him, her own features as dark, but not with anger.
“They know where we’re all berthed, remember? Those guards will be here quicker than you can say ‘shit.’ You might be the captain, but I’m the one with a clear head here. Holden, get your lot moving too.”
Crew hurried to obey Skrymir, and Holden called across to his own crew, ordered them all to cast off before he turned back. Within moments the gentle rock of the ship was replaced by smooth movement as they began to glide away from the jetty. Sails