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CHAPTER TWELVE

“ O h boy, are you off to the shire of Wander too, Miss Everest?” Galomp fell into step with me as I reached the black sand beach at the bottom of the Escalade.

“No, I was just off for a stroll into the ocean,” I said dryly.

My pack was fit to bursting with blades and items of clothing I’d made for Mavus and as I came to a halt with Galomp, it jangled loudly. I lowered it from my back to give my shoulders a rest while we waited, leaning it against an obsidian boulder behind us.

“Gosh golly, it will be cold in there,” Galomp said, gazing at the sea with a frown.

I looked up at him, a grin twisting the corner of my mouth. “It’s not so cold once the glug fish come and latch onto every part of my body.”

“E-every part?” He looked down at me uncertainly. “Like what happened to Ransom Rake? You want that to happen to you?”

“I’m joking, Galomp,” I said and he frowned for several seconds before releasing a booming laugh and smacking me on the back. My knees nearly buckled from his strength and his laughter carried out around us. I found my smile growing. It definitely wasn’t funny, but I was a sucker for the ego boost.

“Oh boy, you are funny, Miss Everest.”

“Just Everest,” I corrected as Calcifiend shifted on the back of my neck, his snores tickling my skin. “And it was a shit joke.”

“My uncle always taught me to say Miss and Mr and Mrs and Ma’am and Sir and Sargent and Master and all of the titles,” Galomp said with a serious nod, straightening his spine. “Politeness grants keys to kingdoms, Miss Everest.”

“Is your uncle a warrior?”

“Oh boy, he was once. A fine, fine warrior, yes. Best of the bunch, they say. But now he is an upstanding citizen in a very different way. He works for the Magistrine, he does. Yes, oh boy, I am most proud.” His chest swelled up.

“He must have hated giving up his swords for politics,” I muttered. “I couldn’t think of anything more dull.”

“After he lost an arm, I believe he could not swing his swords so well, Miss Everest.” He frowned. “Three toes and a kneecap, too. Oh boy, I do hope I lose a kneecap one day. What a tale that would be to tell.”

“Only if you kill the fucker who took it,” I pointed out with grim glee.

“I’d give him a bash and a right hook, I would,” he said seriously. “Or I would shift and chomp his head off if I was really cross.”

The casual way he said that brought another smile to my lips, but it flattened at the sound of Ransom’s laughter.

I glanced around, finding him and his friends sharing smirks. My brother’s eyes slid my way, his brown hair fluttering in the sea air. He offered me a wave and a friendly look that made me glower as Alina let out a high-pitched laugh.

I turned back to Galomp, resolutely ignoring them. “Hey, do you ever let anyone ride you in your Polar Bear form?” I asked curiously. Harlon had often let me ride around on his back and I imagined it would be exhilarating to explore the tundra north of Never Keep on a Polar Bear’s back.

“Oh boy, I have not tried. But I do wish to now you say it.”

“Would you let me sometime?” I asked keenly.

“I would most enjoy that, Miss Everest.” He took out a notebook and quill, and I noticed the fine feather and the magical nib that produced ink endlessly as he scrawled out a list of items he likely wanted to seek in the stores.

That was a fancy damn thing, and maybe I’d secure myself one from Wandershire today in exchange for all my hard work.

The hulking form of the floating town appeared on the horizon and the crowd on the beach shuffled towards the water’s edge in preparation of its arrival.

“I’ll catch you later.” I grabbed my pack and raced off up the steps into Wandershire, preferring to keep my dealings with Mavus a secret.

The grey sky grumbled with an oncoming storm, framing the tall, narrow buildings of the town.

The slate roof tiles sloped down from all angles as I wound toward the clock tower at the centre of Wandershire and something about the chatter between the streets and the bright window displays felt like a reminder of home.

It wasn’t long before I was stepping into Mavus’s bureau, smug as a cat who’d caught a fat mouse. I swung my bag from my shoulder and prepared to show him my wares, but the room was disappointingly empty.

I was about to take a seat to wait for him when a hidden door swung open in a bookcase to the right of the large windows and Mavus stepped out.

“Ah, if it isn’t me favourite feline,” he purred, swinging the door shut before I could get a look inside that room.

His golden hair hung around his shoulders, brushing against the lapels of his cerulean blue jacket, the garment hanging open to reveal his muscular bare chest and the range of amulets dangling from his neck.

He smiled like a rogue as he took a brass key from his pocket, sliding it into a keyhole that was hidden on the spine of a green leather book and locked the room up tight.

At a flick of Mavus’s hand, I sensed a magical barrier going up across it too, then he smiled big at me.

“That place is for storing my more delicate wares.”

“You mean illegal,” I sang and he shrugged innocently.

“What’s the use of laws in a lawless land, eh lass? Now come, I’ve been anticipating this meeting out on them cold, shivery open waters. But wait a minute...” He closed in on me, twirling his finger between us. “Do me a spin, will ya? Let me see this fine, fine new outfit of yours.”

My chin lifted at the attention he offered my clothes and I slowly turned, letting him study the blood-red coat I’d stitched with golden thread, the delicate embroidery spiralling down the sleeves of the water constellations, and the silk belt that clasped it at my waist with a black painted shell.

It hung open just enough to show off the ebony corset I wore beneath it above lace-lined, fitted trousers.

“The material of the coat is fire resistant,” I said. “I’m working on perfecting the lacquer though. I think I’ll soon be able to create armour that is entirely fireproof once I refine it.”

“Marvellous,” he declared and my chest warmed from the compliment. “The stitching is immaculate too. I could claim a hefty price for fireproof armour.”

“I hope to test it on a certain Fury soon.”

Calcifiend’s small claws dug into the back of my neck, but I ignored the creature’s anger.

Mavus nodded, his green eyes drinking in my expression which warned him not to laugh at me. But he remembered not to. “How’s that particular endeavour treating ya, lass?”

I thought of the Fearsire magic that now tethered me to Kaiser and my lips pressed tight together. “Fine. Better than fine actually.”

“Mmhmm,” he hummed, not asking more and my skin itched at the sound, the simple response telling me he was hardly surprised I’d made no progress with seeking my revenge. “So let’s see them wares then.”

He grabbed his curved wooden pipe from a stand on his desk, taking a pouch of fogweed from his pocket and filling it up.

I placed my bag among the haphazard chaos of his desk, settling it between the stacks of maps that charted unfamiliar places, one featuring a series of lines intersecting all across The Waning Lands with images of the constellations drawn beside them.

On some of the maps, places had been circled and others crossed out as if whatever he had encountered in those locations hadn’t pleased him.

If I wasn’t mistaken, it almost seemed like he was searching for something.

I tried to get a closer look, but the maps were partially hidden by a pile of books and a collection of brass navigation devices, cutting off my view.

“Do ya know much of astrocartography, lass?” Mavus asked and I shook my head. “It teaches ya about places of meaning selected for you by the divine choosings of the stars. And not just you, doll. Your enemies too, if ya study them well enough.”

“And how is that helpful in war?” I frowned.

“If ya know where a Fae was born, to the exact coordinates, and ya know the precise time they stepped into this world and all the placings of the planets at that very moment, ya can learn many a thing about which locations they might become extraordinarily lucky in life, or extraordinarily misfortunate.”

“And what do you use such coordinates for?” I glanced at the maps again and the places he’d marked on them. “What are you looking for?”

He grinned darkly, following my gaze then wetting his lips. “Something I lost a long time ago, lass, something I plan on returning to my care. Now, you’ve kept me in suspense far too long.” He gestured to my pack. “Show me.”

Glad to flaunt my wares, I pulled out the first sheath of leather that completely concealed the iron axe I had forged with the essence of a gelwick horn, making it unbreakable.

I rolled out the sheath, ready to unveil the beautiful axe, but only black sand tumbled out of it, spilling across Mavus’s desk.

“Holy mother of Aries,” Mavus cursed.

“What the fuck?” I gasped, sifting through the sand, but finding no hint of my axe. Panic reared in my chest and I grabbed the next sheath from my pack, unrolling it and causing a tide of ebony sand to pour across Mavus’s floor.

“Watch it, will ya?” Mavus barked, but I only grabbed another sheath in panic, unfurling it and finding no crystal hilt as I expected, but more sand.

I reached frantically into the bottom of my pack where the arm guards I’d made should have been, but there was nothing there besides more of the beach.

I dropped to the floor, desperately sifting through the sand and Mavus’s leather boots crunched into it before me. I looked up at him from my knees, my pulse escalating as my mind fell on Ransom. His laugh. The way he’d smiled at me.

“I know who did this,” I snarled. “I’ll get the weapons back.”

“Oh you’d better, Everest Arcadia,” Mavus said, a dangerous edge to his tone. “Because if you don’t, our contract will be void. And you don’t want that contract broken, trust me on that, lass.”

“What happens if I break it?” I whispered, trying to remember the details of the small print. Nothing had stood out to me of concern. I’d read every detail. Every damn letter.

He yanked a drawer open in his desk, producing the contract in question, turning it over and pointing to a tiny, almost impossible-to-read line of text.

I leaned in close to inspect it, my hands curling into fists at the injustice of him hiding this line away.

Void the contract and you shall be magically bound to serve eighty-five years of unpaid labour to Mr Mavus Angelico.

“ Eighty-five years ?” I rounded on him in fury, my fist raising to strike him. The contract term had only been as long as my time at Never Keep. He couldn’t make me work for him for the rest of my life for free. It was insanity.

“You said you read it thoroughly, and I told ya to read it front to back, did ya only read it frontways?” he asked, his eyes widening in a show of innocence.

“This is bullshit. You’ve set me up,” I barked, swinging for him and Calcifiend growled where he was hidden in my hair.

Mavus dodged to avoid the blow then caught hold of my arms, shaking me. “Better you keep ya word than trouble yourself with the consequences of failing me, lass. Wandershire will be docked here for two more hours. Can you guarantee the return of my weapons within that time?”

“Of course I-” I hesitated, damn well hating myself for the crack in my confidence, but Ransom might have hidden my weapons, and I could have to take him on alongside the entirety of his cold-blooded friends to get them back too.

The last fight we’d had, I’d secured a moment of victory, but could I guarantee it again?

Could I risk breaching the contract on that possibility?

“Yes I can,” I spat out, smothering my whispering doubts.

“Hesitations are perilous parasites in this game of debts and deals, doll.” His green eyes darkened, like the light in them had crackled out.

“Can’t you just let me out of the contract? I’ll sign another one that doesn’t have that damn clause in it,” I demanded.

“It don’t work like that, girl,” he growled and I pushed to my feet, not liking the way he was towering over me.

“I’m bound to them words as surely as you are.

You’re contracted until you graduate so you’re best to wait for your get-out to arise if you want free of it, because the ways to break it before then ain’t pretty.

No, the answer today is to fulfil the contract’s wishes, so you either supply me them weapons or you supply me with something of equal or greater value.

And actually…now I think upon it…there might just be an item that would meet that description within your darling Never Keep. ”

“What is it?” I asked, unblinking as I prepared to do whatever it took.

“A traitor’s skull,” he revealed and my lips parted in shock.

I’d heard tales of the wielders of dark magic using pieces of the Fae they killed with their blood magic, blood and bone offered up in sacrifice to their deviant power.

The skull of a traitor was rumoured to be able to tell the Fae wielding it if someone they were interrogating was lying, but I’d never wanted to believe that kind of twisted magic was used by many.

I spat on the ground, offering an oath of loyalty to the stars and glancing up at the roof in their direction before giving my attention back to Mavus.

“Where would one of those be kept in Never Keep?” I asked sceptically because only the most skilled practitioners of blood magic were supposed to be able to wield such dark objects.

“I hear rumour that the Sky Witch is in training this season. And I happen to know she possesses such a thing. Secure it for me, lass, and our deal will be done this month.”

“You know she’s dead, right? She died during the Vampire attack,” I said, my face a mask against my conflicting feelings on that fact.

He frowned, rubbing the blonde stubble on his chin. “That so?”

“But her stuff might still be in her room,” I conceded.

“Better check then, eh?”

I nodded, backing up toward the door, torn between going after Ransom and heading straight for Vesper’s quarters.

“One way or another, I will return to pay off my debt,” I swore for my own sake. Not his.

“Make haste,” he called as I ran from his bureau. “Two hours, lass. Tick tock.”