Page 30 of The Flame and the Forsaken

But there were still those trifling thoughts stewing in the back of his mind, about Mariel, Sandymount... all of it.

“Erran, I have to ask. What doyouthink she’s up to?”

It was obvious she was no longer headed to the jail, but it was far too premature to voice his new suspicion, which was ostensibly ridiculous. “I prefer not to speculate.”

“Should we then?” Samuel asked. “I take the man. You take the women?”

“Nay,” Erran said distantly, his stare locked on the tavern. “We wait, together. Whatever they’re up to, it starts and ends with my wife.”

Remy was already waitingfor them near the tree when Mariel and Augustine arrived.

He wiped a band of sweat from his brow. The sun was blistering; a midseason gift, some called it. “His office is south of here, near the fork that splits you between Leecaster Bay or Devon. Three Points.”

“I know it,” Mariel said. She remembered seeing a business at Three Points, but it wasn’t a broker’s office.

“He shares the building with his wife, a dressmaker. The sign outside is for her business, so that’s what we’ll watch for. They warned me he has important business today and might not be in.” Remy laughed and scratched his cheek. “Took all my reserve not to tell themaye, I’m familiar with it.”

“All right, so what next then, Tactician?” Augustine asked, quiet enough only for the three of them.

“This is Mariel’s show,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking about it the whole ride,” Mariel answered carefully. She did have a plan, but it was nowhere near as solid as the others were used to. It was haphazard at best, and its success depended very much on certain particulars falling conveniently into place—another reason she preferred taking each moment as it came. “It’s good for us if Bannerisat his own office. He won’t be foolish enough to have stored the gold there, so his place shouldn’t be teeming with guards. We just have to find the right pressure point to sway him. If it’s the gold itself, so be it. We’ll give him a share, and it won’t even scratch the surface.” She frowned. “But if it was gold, he’d never be trusted with an event like this. It must be something else. I’ll know what it is when we get there.”

“What are you thinking, Mar?” Remy asked.

“Does he have children... Is he in love with his wife... We’ll know when we see where he spends his time, won’t we? And we use that, to get him to call off the dogs wherever the gold is stored and get us in. Out. He’ll most likely have a wagon we can use, but we’ll have to be quick because wherever we go, the law will not be far behind.”

“You want to kidnap his wife and child?” Augustine leveled a dubious look at her.

Mariel clawed at her neck, itching from sweat. It wasn’t the heat though. She’d never felt so unsteady about a heist, but those were the last words they needed from her. “He only needs to believe we would.” She grimaced. “We only have two masks. I may need to reveal myself, but it will be all right. These men are scared of Obsidian Sky, even if they’d never admit it. This is our best chance, and we won’t get another.”

“Reveal yourself?” Remy scoffed, his lip curling. “You don’t mean that.”

“They don’t know any of us.Our faces mean nothing, not really.”

“Auggie and I maybe, but you’re married to a Rutland!”

“And I’m anobodyin their eyes,” Mariel retorted. “It’s the whole reason they chose me for their precious son. Even if Banner or his cronies were at our party last night, a hundred coin says not one of them could pick me out of a crowd, because they don’t care aboutme.They were there to preen before his father and Lord Warwick.” She shook her head. “Even if someonedidrecognize me,would it be so bad? We’d have the gold. I wouldn’t need to stay in this sham marriage and pretend to like the princeling and his vapid family. We could...” The next part was hard to say, but it was what they wanted to hear—what they’d been waiting for. “Retire. Keep just enough gold to exist on. Distribute the rest.” She pointed south, in the direction of the sea. “TheMistwitchis anchored just off Devon. We could go anywhere, after we collect Destin and Alessia and Magnur.”

“You’ll take my mask,” Remy stated, reaching into his pocket.

Mariel laid a steadying hand on his arm. “I won’t argue this point. The two of you get the masks. I’ll figure something out. It will be fine. If anything goes awry, you ride hard. You run.”

“No one would believe him,” Augustine said, her eyes clouding in thought. “Banner. If he told people he was assaulted by twowomenand a man, they’d think he was telling tales to excuse his negligence. Wouldn’t they?”

“Maybe,” Remy said, but he didn’t sound convinced. His hand was still fixed to his mask pocket, his eyes studying Mariel. “But this isn’t just our lives we’re risking. Everyone we help... the miners, the grocers, the dock workers...”

Mariel nodded, tilting her head toward the sky and the scorching sun. “I’ll go in alone. If something happens to me, it won’t stop you from continuing the work.”

“Not a fucking chance am I letting you walk in there without me,” Remy said gruffly. “This is really the best way? You believe that? And not just because you’re desperate to help Destin but because youtrulybelieve it?”

“I’ve believed since I first heard of the auction. I knew... I knew it was what we’d been waiting for, working toward. Aye, it’s a longshot now, without more time to plan, with mere hours to sort things, but what... Remy, Auggie, what if wewin? What if we actually succeed? Is it not at least worth trying? We may never get another chance like this.”

“You are truly insane, Mariel,” Augustine said, shaking her head. “But that’s the girl I love, and it’s the one I’ve followed for ten years. I go where you go.”

“Aye,” Remy agreed, sighing. “It’s not much of a plan, but we’ve learned to improvise over the years. We’ll think of something when we get there.”

Mariel exhaled her heavy relief, wondering if they would still follow her if they knew that, should it come down to it, she planned to sacrifice herself to save them.

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