Page 89 of Of Sword & Silver

“Whatever looked good. Whatever looked like something I might want.” I shrug a shoulder. Lara’s staring at me though, and I wonder how much Nakush has whispered to her about me, how much she knows in spite of my best efforts.

She might be my only friend, my closest friend, but I keep my secrets even from her.

Anything to protect the truth of what those stolen goods went to fund. Anything to protect those people.

Dario scratches his beard, considering. “The best time to steal from him would be the?—”

“Midwinter masque,” Lara and I chime in together.

“Good thing I have a standing invitation.” Dario smiles, all charm, but I’m not buying it. There’s something slippery about him, something I don’t trust.

Not that I trust many people, anyway.

Still. It puts me on edge. Fil rubs his cheek against my head and I reach up to scratch under his chin.

“How do you feel about traveling into Nyzbern via a barrel?” he asks me. “The rest of you won’t have a problem getting through the gates.” He jerks his chin at me. “Silver Tongue is a different story.”

I preen. “It’s so nice to be recognized for my hard work.”

“A barrel?” the Sword asks, dubious.

Aw, is he worried about me? Not that it matters, the huge asshole.

Dario sizes him up like he’s just now seeing him, and a flash of who Dario really is appears, vanishing just as quickly, replaced by that smarmy smile.

“I’m the official supplier of liquor to His Majesty, King of Diamonds,” he says in a mocking voice. “Beyond pleased to make your acquaintance.” The words are tinged with a familiar air of self-deprecation. “Silver Tongue, I know, though I daresay you don’t remember me. The rest of you, though, are new to me.”

“How did you lose your fingers?” Caedia asks him with her usual off-beat bluntness.

“I gambled them in a card game.”

I can taste the lie, and despite all my promises to myself not to do so, I glance over at the Sword.

He’s watching me. Not Dario, who he should be watching.

Nope. His gaze smolders over me and I quickly look away.

“How soon can you get us into Nyzbern?” I shift my attention back to Dario. “We need as much time as we can get to prepare for the masque.”

“What are you stealing?” he asks.

Lara opens her mouth, but I interrupt before she can get a word out.

“Whatever I feel like,” I answer with a shrug.

No matter what Lara says about him being our sixth, I don’t trust him.

That strange, hyper-intelligent gaze trips over me, replaced by smarm in less than half a second.

I tilt my head, studying him. The oily sweet-talking version, the fake one.

Takes a liar to know one.

I just hope whatever I saw under that facade isn’t even worse.

“I can certainly get you lot inside the ball, but as far as stealing from the King of Diamonds, I’m afraid I won’t be too much help. He keeps his treasures in a vault below ground, guarded with both magic and traps.”

The Sword takes a step closer to Dario, menace simmering in his body language.

---