Page 62 of King Among the Dead

“That’s a discount,” the dealer said. “Take it or leave it. If you argue, it’ll be four-hundred.”

The kid swore – but dug into his pocket and came out with a grubby wad of cash. He opened his jacket, zipped the vial away in a secure inner pocket, and the three of them fled like startled rabbits.

“Nice doing business with you,” the dealer called, smoothing and counting the bills.

She looked at Beck, who lifted a two-fingered wave, and then leaped.

Rose followed. She landed on the grass, in a ready crouch, hand finding her knife before she sprang upright.

Beck landed on the dealer’s back. The dealer yelled, and flailed, but it was no use. With a few brisk movements, Beck had him flat on his back, a foot at his throat, one of his meaty hands held in a pinching, disabling grip.

He bellowed in outrage, and reached for Beck’s ankle.

But Rose was at his side, her knife bared. “Shut up,” she told him, and he snapped his mouth closed.

Beck shifted his boot, smearing mud off the sole onto the man’s shirt. He titled his head, so his hood fell back a fraction. “Do you know who I am?” Rose thought the sudden burst of wind that swirled his coat around his legs added to the overall threat of the moment.

The dealer gaped at him a moment – and then his eyes widened. “Shit.Shit, you son of a–”

Beck pressed harder against his throat, and he cut off with a garbled croak. “If you know who I am, then you know that I don’t deal in empty threats.”

Beck’s book shifted when the dealer swallowed. Rose could see him debating, weighing his options. It wasn’t surprising that Beck had a reputation; she knew it was well-earned, and doubtless inspired fear in low-level hangers-on like this man.

After a moment, the dealer subsided, the tension bleeding out of his large body. “What do you want?” he asked, resigned, temples gleaming with fear sweat.

“Castor has a new conduit.”

The dealer’s gaze flicked toward Rose, and then back to Beck. “Are you asking me about it? ‘Cause I don’t know shit.”

“You just sold heavensent to those kids.”

“Yeah, and it was the real shit. Which comes from conduits. You know that.”

Beck tightened his grip on the dealer’s hand until he hissed. “How much of it is he producing?”

“I dunno!” Desperate, now. “Look, I don’t ask those kinds of questions. I take what they give me, and I sell it.”

“How much heavensent are you selling?”

“It’smostof what I sell. Castor’s making it again, and all the low-level dealers are trying to get in on it, too.”

“Just the one conduit?”

“I don’t–” He choked against Beck’s boot again.

“Why would he risk working with another after what happened last time? He could make money selling anything.” A note of tension had crept into Beck’s voice; Rose knew if he wasn’t able to control it, then he was feeling even more frantic and unsettled than he let on.

“I don’t know,” the man choked out. “Ask him yourself!”

Beck stared at him a moment, chest heaving. Then he said, “Kill him.”

Rose did, quick and clean, and blood spilled out onto the grass.

They left him where he lie, a gift for the crows, and melted away into the dark.

~*~

“What do you think is happening?” Rose asked, later, when they lay on their backs, staring up at the dark green bed canopy overhead and catching their breath.

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