Page 124 of Throwing Fire

“Guarding water?” The edges of his mouth twitch. “Dream assignment.”

“Good,” Kez says, without responding to his sarcasm. She’s got a lot on her mind, my kitten. “Acker, if you want a free ride back to the Clouds with your friend there, the bus leaves in six minutes.”

Acker looks surprised but then nods. “Thank you, Lightfoot. Come along, monster, we have a bus to catch.” He nudges B with his foot.

B rocks forward, unbalanced. Maybe his knees really are hurting. “Wait, wait. Surely we can resolve this.”

“We resolved it,” I tell him. “Didn’t you get the memo?”

“No, wait. You can’t mean to send me into a den of—” He glances at Acker and shudders.

“You’ll fit right in,” I reassure him.

“Erin,” B pleads, turning to the woman kneeling beside him, who is watching with disinterest. “Erin. Please.”

“Darling, if I had any say in the situation, I wouldn’t be kneeling on the floor next to you. Have a nice trip.” She makes a little kissing noise with her teeth. “Try not to get bitten. I hear Rabies-E is hard to cure.”

Acker leans down and snaps his teeth a centimeter from Erin’s swollen nose. “If I discover you had anything to do with the attacks on my people, I’ll be back for you. And you will find out personally.”

Erin winks at him. “Something to look forward to.”

Payton hands Acker a corporate eskey and a sheet of flimsy before he’s out the door with Mech Tyng. “You’ll be able to contact your people as soon as you’re clear of the Cloudline,” she tells him.

“Thank you.” He lifts his eyes and looks at me. “And you, my friend.”

I nod. “I’ll see you soon.”

The door snicks closed behind him. After watching him go, Erin makes a show of checking her wrist, which is bare, before she says, “Well, Kezzy, if we’re going to make our departure window, we’d better get going.”

Kez swings around from the console to stare at Erin. “What are you talking about?”

Erin wets her lips with a red tongue that should be forked. “Our shipment today includes more than Hex. You need to be on that boat, too.”

Kez takes a few steps toward her sister but stays out of reach. Smart kitten. “Andwhydo I need to be on that ship?”

“Because I’m a woman of my word,” Erin says. “And I promised my contact on the Clouds a sweetener.”

I feel the bottom drop of out of my stomach.

The Hex ain’t the sweetener.

Kez is.

“Jaxon,” Kez says flatly.

“Is that his name?” Erin shrugs. “I didn’t ask. All I know is that he and I share a certain, mmm, interest in your welfare. Now, tick-tock. Boat’s leaving.”

“You are out of your head if you think I’m going anywhere with you,” Kez responds, a second before I growl, “No.”

Erin’s smile gets wider, sharper. “Oh, Kezzy, I hoped you’d feel that way. I hate it when a good plan goes to waste, and so much planning has gone into this.” She stretches and climbs to her feet. That makes her the target of Exeter’s big gun. She ignores both the gun and the merc. “If you and I aren’t on that boat, then Ape and that pregnant Hexhead, and your oversized rodents, and everything else you care about in that reeking pit you’ve turned Granna’s house into are going to burn. Now, tell me again, how crazy am I?”

Kez goes pale and reaches out for me. I’m there before she staggers. Catch her and tuck her tight against my good side. “Kitten, it’s an empty threat,” I say to her.

“Is it, Halemano?” Erin purrs. “I mean, you keep hiring Sabadeen, so there must be something to their services.”

Fuck. Burning down the Warren was one of the options Mike-the-Merc gave to Old Man Tyng as a way to break Kez. I didn’t doubthe’d do it then. If Halemano Hauser gives him the order, I don’t doubt he’ll do it now.

I glance at Exeter. He’s already got his hand cupped over his ear and is murmuring frantically into his wrist. He meets my eyes and shakes his head.