Page 60 of The Last True Hero

"A regular pain in her ass was how she put it," Sage whispered.

That sounded more like it.

Sage's wariness vanished however, and she gave him a disconcertingly thorough stare, as if there'd been more to it than that.

"I'm a bounty hunter working for your sister." The room behind her was bare; a metal bed with a lumpy mattress and a single blanket. Water basin on the floor and a refuse bucket in the corner. Nothing much else. Clearly Vex valued those she took as slaves more than the rest of the reivers did, but there were limits. "Can you talk?"

"Quietly." She gripped the bars. "Is Jake there?"

"No. Just me. Mia's keeping watch."

Sage released an unsteady breath, her knuckles paling around the bars. Those big green eyes suddenly glistened. "You have to get them out of here. It's not safe. If Vex realizes who they are, and why they're here—"

"Hey." He curled his hand around hers. "Look at me."

Sage did. The blind faith in her expression nearly undid him.

"I won't let anything happen to them. But if you think that I can convince the pair of them to turn around, then you don't know them very well."

Sage laughed under her breath, a fierce, sucked-in little sound that told him how close to breaking she was. It died swiftly. "You don't know what Vex is like. If she finds them here...."

"She's not going to. I promise. You just need to keep quiet, and try not to look at the others too often. We told Vex we're here to buy slaves. We just need a little time to work out how to get you out. Can you hold on until then?"

It was clear she didn't entirely believe him, but some of the life was starting to come back into her eyes, now that she knew she wasn't alone. "Yeah. I'll be alright."

"Are you okay? Nobody's hurt you, have they?"

Sage shook her head. "Just bruises." She hesitated. "Some of the reivers got a little touchy and they talked about doing things... but it's... it's okay. I'm okay. Rykker didn't want them touching us."

"What about the other girls? And the Hannaway kid?"

"Thea's in the cell next door. They brought her in after me, but I could hear her voice. I don't know what happened to the others," Sage admitted.

Which made his job just that little bit more difficult. Two parties to rescue, instead of just one larger one. Jake could look for the others in the morning when he made his rounds of the slave markets. At least there was one more confirmed safe in Vex's stronghold.

"We're going to get you out," he promised. "All of you."

"You can't. This place is locked up tighter than a prison. There's got to be at least two hundred reivers in the town. Possibly more."

"We'll deal with that," he replied. "Can you describe the interior of Vex's stronghold to me? We saw her courtyard and her throne room, but I need to know a little about the layout inside. And what her security detail is like."

Sage paused.

"There's no detail too small," he prompted. "I just need to know what the situation is like inside."

That got her talking and once she started, it seemed to calm her. The place was exactly as he'd suspected. Vex's private quarters; Zarina's chambers below; and cells for the private slaves Vex had plans for. Sage had seen at least five guards slinking around—dangerous-looking men who resembled Rykker more than they did the other reivers—but she didn't think Vex was overly concerned with security.

"I don't think she believes anyone would attack her," Sage murmured. "She laughs sometimes, and calls the reivers wild dogs. Makes them cower and kiss her boots, and they do."

A serious mistake to underestimate them like that. Unless Vex knew she had some other sort of hold on them?

"Tell me about Zarina."

"Zarina?" Sage squinted through the bars at him. "I don't know much about her. She hasn't said a word to any of us girls."

It still bothered him. "Is she friendly with her mother? Any of the other reivers?"

Thought raced in Sage's eyes, but she ultimately shrugged. "I don't really know. She seems quiet and... just there, I suppose. Watching everything."