time, that was his Josie. Her mouth hooked up into her lopsided grin, and Rillen wasn’t in line for delight. Robbed or killed, that was what she’d be thinking, and this had been her goal all along. This room, this wealth.
“You know, you could have just asked nicely.”
Rillen laughed, a spiteful sound like needles jabbing, and he grabbed her chin, held it tight when she tried to jerk away. He nodded at a guard to come and hold her as her hands came up. Van Gast made to move, an automatic step forward, hands groping for a gun that wasn’t there.
A single word, “Stop,” and he froze. All his muscles seemed made of ice. He tried, fought against it, but each try sent the black lines inching along his arm, brought a spasm of pain that lanced his head with steel. Josie shook her head, a miniscule movement, and he stopped trying, stopped fighting. For now.
Pain flowed out of him, draining his will and strength with it. He’d bear it though, as she once had, bear it long enough. I swear, if it means you’re safe. I promise on my conniving little soul. You did it for me, I’ll do it for you. To the end, Josienne, to the end.
When Josie was subdued to Rillen’s satisfaction, he leaned forward, his face pushed to hers. “Because I didn’t need to ask, and I don’t deal with racks, I use them. Here, have this.” He shoved a purse of clinking coins down the bodice of her dress and patted them home. The evil look Josie shot him didn’t bode well for him if she ever found him once out of her chains.
Rillen threw other pouches to Skrymir and Haban, and the guards made sure they stowed them in their clothes. Josie caught Van Gast’s eye, and he could see his own thought mirrored there—this looked worse and worse, a twist of the direst kind. Yet she tipped him one of her sly winks, and the hot coal in his chest subsided a little. Josie couldn’t be conned. She had the twistiest mind of anyone he’d ever met. Yet the bond that throbbed at his wrist, that even now tried to shroud his thoughts in fog…
Rillen came between him and Josie, blotted her out with his shark-face. “And one for you, Van Gast. Find somewhere for it.” Van Gast fumbled the pouch into a pocket in his breeches, unable to do anything but obey the voice the mage had told him to. He could maybe have fought it, but for what? Not now, he must bide his time.
Rillen took his pistol out and handed it to Van Gast, butt first. “I wouldn’t try shooting anyone but who I tell you to. The bond wouldn’t like that, and I understand the pain is unbearable. Sergeant, you know where to take the others. Van Gast, you’re coming with me.”
The others didn’t go quietly. Skrymir managed to knock out one guard and break the arm of another by his sheer weight and the hammer blows of his meaty fists. Blood from the hastily dressed wound on his shoulder mingled with theirs and dripped to the floor, but Skrymir didn’t seem to notice. Josie brought a screech from a third as her foot connected solidly with his balls. Only Haban, emaciated, subdued and gray where once he’d been expansive, laughing and dark as midnight, went willingly.
Rillen snatched a gun from a stricken guard and shoved it in Van Gast’s face. “You go, or I blow his head off. The guards will set you loose down by the river gate. I suggest you get going, quick as you can.”
Skrymir stopped, guard dangling from his hand, watching Van Gast with appraising eyes. He’d sworn his oath, to serve Josie, to protect her. An oath on his soul. Van Gast didn’t need to say anything, they just shared a look, and Skrymir put the guard down, almost gently. His solemn nod was enough. He would keep her safe if it killed him, on his oath, on his soul. It was enough.
Josie stilled and cast a despairing look at Van Gast. “Fight it, Van, you fight it with everything you’ve fucking got.”
Words seemed to evade his tongue, flitting through his mind before he could grasp them, but he had to. He had to fight it, as she’d done. He had to get her safe, or as safe as she could be. Skrymir would do all he could to keep her from