Page 44 of A Heist for Filthy Rivals (Mythic Holidays #3)

I would never call Devilry my pet out loud, but during those first few weeks, I feel a little like a man who has adopted a highly intelligent, occasionally vicious, rather feral cat whose favorite spot is my bed and who enjoys licking and being licked.

When she gets anxious about Candle and the Javelins, she prowls the room or ventures onto the tiny balcony to watch the life of the city pass by in the streets below.

But she doesn’t suggest an excursion to the Hearth, nor does she make any move to visit Candle.

Though she’s fully healed in body, her soul has suffered a wound I can’t repair.

Her spirit is injured, and her motivation is gone.

I don’t press the issue of the Javelins or Candle.

Instead I focus on learning all the things about Devilry that I didn’t discover during our time in the fortress.

Like the fact that she enjoys the strong Icilian tea from the East Market, and she prefers gold-spiced rum to other types of alcohol.

She has a passion for fish, especially fresh salmon, but when she’s at her lowest, the only thing that comforts her is a dish of tender chicken and rice drenched with broth.

She’s allergic to milk-flowers, but scarlet winter roses make her eyes shine.

She doesn’t like snuggling when we’re going to sleep, but in the deepest part of the night, she’ll crawl over to me and fling her limbs across mine.

When I wake up with her arm draped on my face, or her leg arched over my hip, I feel like the luckiest son of a bitch in Belgate.

One evening, three weeks after our return from Annordun, she’s standing on the balcony, wrapped in one of my blankets, looking like a goddamn queen with those blood-red streaks in her black hair.

The winter sun was warmer than usual this afternoon and it’s sinking in a storm of golden glory behind the rooftops.

Quietly I take out my book, the one in which I jot down ideas for chemical compounds or sketch out plans for the jobs I intend to pull.

Devilry’s healing was expensive, and I’ve also been secretly paying Witch to look after Candle.

Both circumstances have depleted my savings.

If Devilry and I are going to continue living in Belgate or earn enough money to go elsewhere, I’ll need to return to my usual thieving ways.

While I won’t openly suggest that Devilry accompany me, I won’t hide my intentions from her, either. Watching me plan a theft might be enough to lift her out of the darkness that’s been dragging her down.

Especially if I’m doing a terrible job with the plans.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, I spread out the map of Constable Tremlin’s house.

It’s a larger dwelling than someone in his position should be able to afford, which isn’t necessarily surprising, because I’ve heard rumors that he takes bribes from hessen lords.

And I know for a fact that some of those lords employ girls as young as fourteen to service the patrons in their drug dens.

Which makes Tremlin exactly the kind of person that Devilry would love to go after.

Cobble, the healer of questionable talent who repaired my first stab wound from Devilry, is also one of the few informants I have in Belgate.

He’s the one who told me about young girls being forced into sexual slavery for the hessen rings, and he would know, since he’s often called in to heal them up after they’ve been mistreated.

He says most of the hessen lords receive their drugs and slaves from Valigrad, a port city that’s a few days away by carriage.

Cobble believes that Constable Tremlin is so deeply involved in the trade that he sometimes holds money for the hessen lords, which he pays out to the wagoneers on delivery days.

If I gather a little more information and time this heist correctly, I can access Constable Tremlin’s personal vault on a day when he’s holding the hessen lords’ funds along with his own stockpile of ill-gotten wealth.

I rustle the map loudly, then rip out a page of my notebook and start making notes, delineating an entry and exit strategy. I’m well aware that the scheme I’m concocting would never work, but it’s not for implementation—it’s bait for my Devil-cat.

Devilry glances over her shoulder, irritation written across her face. “Why are you making so much noise?”

“Just planning something. Never you mind. Enjoy the sunset.”

She resumes watching the sky, while I count in my head. One, two, three—

She spins back around. “What exactly are you planning?”

“Don’t worry your pretty head about it.”

“Is it a job?”

“Nothing you should concern yourself with, love. You need rest, not stress.”

Devilry turns back to the window with a flounce of her blanket. But a moment later she scoots a few steps closer to me, standing by my shoulder while I continue marking the map.

When she leans down, I conceal a triumphant grin.

“You’ll get caught if you go in that way,” she comments.

“Hm?”

“The side door. It’s right on a busy street. You shouldn’t enter there. You need to climb to the second-floor balcony and—”

“Sweetheart, I appreciate your interest, but I’ve got this handled,” I tell her.

“Clearly you don’t.” She seats herself beside me and peers at the map. “I’ve cased this house before. It’s a tricky one because of all the foot traffic in the area, right here, and also here. There’s no way you can pull this off alone, Ravager. It’s at least a two-person job.”

“I’ll find someone. I found Slaughter, Grisly, and Needle, didn’t I? There are more evil bastards where they came from.”

When she doesn’t reply, I glance up. She’s looking straight at me with blended humor and annoyance in her eyes.

“I know what you’re doing,” she says softly. “It’s sweet.”

“You’re too fucking clever, love.”

“And you’re too smart to design a plan with this many holes. You’re trying to tempt me into pulling this job with you.”

I give her a wide grin. “Is it working?”

“Fuck you.” She shoots me an affectionate glare and bends over the map. Her hair tumbles against a cheek that’s newly flushed with excited interest. She licks her lips unconsciously as she peruses the papers I’ve laid out.

My feelings for her go so far beyond my initial fascination, or the antagonistic obsession that followed.

It’s more than lust, more than a liking for her personality, more than the bond of survival we forged together.

It’s more than the love I felt for her that day, when she gave me the healing candy she could have eaten herself and then sucked my cock in the kitchen of Annordun.

It’s more than the devotion I experienced when I understood what she’d done for me by carrying me on her shoulders, away from the inferno we created, back to the mortal realm.

This love is fierce and quiet. It might shift on the surface, creating new colors and shapes, but it’s rock-solid underneath, a foundation I couldn’t blow up if I tried.

I can imagine her old, with wrinkles and wispy white hair and that devilish tongue, and I want to fucking roar with joy at the possibility of being with her for that long, getting to experience the sweet-hot spice of her for decades.

I will love her body as it softens and crinkles and breaks down, just as I love it now, in the flush of health and beauty—because it is the vault that holds the treasure of her.

“Garrick Heath,” I say quietly.

Her gray eyes flash up to mine, wide and startled.

“My real name. Garrick Heath,” I repeat. “You can call me Rick. And you don’t have to tell me your name, I know it’s not the thieves’ way, even with close partners—”

“Angelyn,” she says. “Angelyn Mercer.”

“Angelyn.” I cradle her name on my tongue like the gift it is. “Beautiful.”

“I like Devil better.” She gives me a wry little smile, so of course I have to kiss her. Her lips beg to be kissed.

Devilry responds with a joyful passion I haven’t felt from her in days. She’s waking up again, and nothing thrills me more than seeing her come back to herself.

“I’ll help you with your heist,” she says. “The one thing I lacked before, when I was trying to plan a hit on Constable Tremlin, was an explosives expert. Do you think you could create something that’s both destructive and relatively quiet?”

“For you, I can try.”

“Good.” She takes a deep breath. “And I’m going to need your help with a few more things.”

The next day, we visit Witch’s place. She’s a tall woman with a dark complexion and a mass of tightly woven gray braids, strung with gold beads, hanging like a regal cloak down to her knees. Devilry runs right past her to hug Candle, who is rocking in a chair by the fire.

“So that’s what I’m worth to the child,” Witch says dryly. “Not so much as a ‘how do you do.’”

“She’s grateful to you,” I assure the healer, surreptitiously passing her a small pouch of coins.

Witch pushes my hand away. “Keep it, boy.”

I give her a questioning look.

“Don’t make a scene,” Witch says under her breath. “Candle isn’t bad company. And she doesn’t have much time left. She won’t eat.”

“When she passes, it’s going to hurt Devil,” I mutter. “And she’s already been through so much.”

“What happened to you two? No—I take that back—don’t tell me. It’s better if I don’t know.”

“I’m not sure anyone would believe the tale, anyway.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair.

“But the two of you are still…” Witch raises an eyebrow.

“We are still,” I confirm. “And will be, for as long as I live.”

“Smitten, are you?” She chuckles. “I have to say, I’m glad to see it. In this business you try not to get attached or have favorites, because they tend to die, but Devilry is a special one. She deserves a better life than she’s had, with a better quality of people. Is that you, Ravager?”

“Not sure if I’m better quality, but I’m fucking loyal.”

She clasps my shoulder. “That’ll do.”

Devilry comes back to us and takes Witch’s hand in both her own. “I can’t thank you enough for taking care of her. What do I owe you?”

“Not a damn thing.” Witch jerks her chin toward me. “Thanks to him, you’re all paid up.”

I glower at her for revealing the truth, but the healer only smirks.

“You’ve been paying her this whole time?” exclaims Devilry.

“And paying well, too. He’s a good one,” Witch says. “Keep him.”

“If he can manage to stop keeping secrets from me, I might.” Devilry frowns at me, but there’s no real resentment in her gaze.

“Would you be able to keep Candle here a little longer, Witch? Ravager’s room isn’t big enough for the three of us, but we have something in the works that might change our situation. We could take her in a few more weeks.”

Witch purses wrinkled lips and lays her fingers on Devilry’s arm. “In her condition, I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep changing her surroundings. It could cause more harm than good. She’s comfortable here, and I’m used to her company. Let her be, child, until it’s over.”

“Over?” Devilry steps back, her eyes stricken. “Do you mean—”

“There are things I can’t fix, my girl. You know this,” Witch says quietly.

“Each time it happens, I’m able to repair less of the damage, and she loses more of herself.

We had a conversation, she and I, and she said the next time she has an episode, I should not interfere beyond the easing of any pain.

She would prefer to pass away rather than suffer the fracture of the mind that comes with this disease. ”

A fragile, disgruntled voice issues from the rocking chair by the fire. “You’re talking about me, aren’t you? Come say it to my face.”

“Keep your slippers on, Candle,” Witch replies in an equally crotchety tone. “It’s nothing we haven’t discussed. Talk it over with Devilry, while I finish making the tea.”

Something about their friendly petulance with each other makes me smile.

Devilry takes my hand and draws me with her toward the rocking chair. “Candle, this is Ravager.”

I sink to one knee so I’m on the same level as the woman in the chair. Her eyes wander a bit, focusing on my face with difficulty, but I can tell they used to be as bright and sharp as Devilry’s.

“Ravager.” She shapes the word carefully. “Has he got a decent cock?”

Witch bursts into laughter, and Devilry turns scarlet. I find it hilarious and adorable that my wicked girl, who swallowed every bit of my cum last night, is so prone to blushing at the mere mention of my dick.

“Yes, Candle,” Devilry splutters. “It’s more than decent.”

“Good. That’s important.” Candle waggles a finger at me. “See that you use it well.”

“Time for your tea, you sweet old pervert.” Devilry gives her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll visit you again soon.”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” Candle says. “Let’s say our goodbyes now, and have done with it.

Next time I might not remember you, and I don’t want you to see me like that.

” She forestalls Devilry’s protest with a brisk wave of her veined hand.

“I used to worry about dying and leaving you alone with the Javelins. These past few months, they’d talk around me like I wasn’t even there, like I wasn’t a person anymore.

I heard how they spoke about you, but I didn’t tell you because you still needed them. ”

Devilry’s lips tighten, and I place my hand at the small of her back.

“We’re both free of them now,” Candle continues.

“And I want to know that you’re enjoying your youth, like I enjoyed mine.

Flirt, fuck, and steal. Drink liquor, sing loudly, and wear sparkly dresses.

Run barefoot on the grass. Kiss that handsome boy whenever you feel like it.

And most of all, remember that sometimes, you need to jump into the canal with all your clothes on, just to know you’re alive. ”