Page 96 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“Butyouseemed to have landed yourself a nice little protection job. Once Nel got word that you were still around, he sent me to track you down. That’s why I followed you to that pub. I assumed you were meeting with your buyer. Little did I expect to find you making friends with my old history professor.”
“What did you overhear?”
“Nothing.”
Mavery glared at her, and Ellice held up her hands.
“I swear it! I was keeping my distance, just in case my shrouding spell didn’t work. I doubt anyone in there would’ve recognized me, but you know how it is—you can’t be too careful.”
“So, Nel told you to follow me so that we could, what, talk business?”
Ellice shrugged. “More or less.Hewanted to do the talking, mind. He only wanted me to keep an eye on you tonight.”
“Tailing people isn’t exactly your strong suit. Why not send Itri? Better yet, why didn’t he come find me himself?”
“Itri left just before we arrived here. He saw the ads Wincoff and Sons have been plastering in all the papers. Decided he’d rather break his back for the railroad barons than continue running with us.”
Mavery could have sighed with relief. That kind of work wasn’t luxurious, but at least the boy had managed to escape Neldren’s clutches.
“Besides, Nel didn’t know how receptive you’d be to a reunion.”
Mavery scowled. “You can tell him to take hisreunionand shove it up his ass. After what happened in Burnslee, I have nothing to say to him, and I want nothingto do with him.”
“If you say so, but he’s been whinging about ‘clearing up some important details about the last time you saw each other,’ ” she said, curling her fingers for emphasis.
“He shot me.There’s nothing to clear up.”
Ellice’s eyes widened, and Mavery swore she heard the faintest gasp escape the younger woman’s lips. But then Ellice’s expression hardened once more.
“So,” she said, “you won’t even pass along the name of your buyer?”
Mavery replied with another glare.
“Have it your way, then. If you change your mind, we’ll be in the neighborhood. We’re renting a room at the Salty Surling.” She threw Mavery a wicked smile. “It’s not much, but it’s better than a dingy old boarding house.”
Mavery’s stomach plummeted.
“Be seeing you, Mave.”
Ellice sauntered away and, with a flick of mud-streaked hair, vanished around the corner. Mavery remained in the alley, equal parts seething and on the verge of vomiting as dread morphed into panic. The man who had left her for dead was not only in Leyport, he had sent his underling after her. He wanted totalk.She doubted business and burying the proverbial hatchet were the only things on his mind. Worst of all, he knew where she lived—and he wasstaying at a tavern only two blocks away.
A clap of thunder sounded in the distance. Mavery had been so preoccupied with Ellice, she hadn’t noticed the new batch of storm clouds that had rolled in, obscuring the moons. A raindrop wetted her hand. She looked up and another drop hit her cheek. Seconds later, the rain fell in sheets.
She raised her hand and conjured a blue veil above her head. Her protective ward deflected the raindrops as she returned to the main road and flagged down a carriage. On the way back to the boarding house, she chewed her nails ragged as her confrontation with Ellice replayed in her mind’s eye. She worried that Ellice—or, gods forbid, Neldren—would be waiting for her on the stoop.
When she returned to the boarding house, there was not a soul outside, and only a handful of boarders on the inside. But it would be foolish to expect that to remain the case for long. Until Neldren burned through the final dregs of the payout, or Ellice finally convinced him to leave Leyport, Mavery would do everything she could to ensure their paths never crossed again.
Inside her bedroom, she wasted no time getting to work. At the bottom of her pack, tucked beneath her Compendium and lockpicking tools, she hid her savings. She now had over four hundred potins—almost as much as Neldren had stolen from her—alongside the antique coin Alain had given her.
Atop that, she filled her pack with her tiny collection of books and as many of her clothes as she could fit. She layered the rest over her current outfit, followed by her coat and assistant’s robe. She sweat beneath the many layers, and she couldn’t move her arms as freely as she wished, but this was no time to worry about comfort. After giving the room a final sweep, she slipped out into the night.
For three blocks, she walked with one hand aloft to protect herself from the downpour, until finally coming across a carriage that took her the rest of the way to Steelforge Towers. The horses trudged through the flooding streets, and the journey took nearlyhalf an hour—barely faster than going by foot. If Neldren had spotted her leaving the boarding house, following her would take little effort.
Mavery was such an anxious mess, she forgot to conjure another protective ward as she exited the carriage, and she was dripping wet by the time she entered the lobby. She had never entered Alain’s building at this time of night. Finding the front doors unlocked and no one at the front desk—not even the kutauss—did little to ease her concerns.
But once she reached the sixth floor and spotted Alain’s wards, she sighed with relief. She hurried down the dimly lit corridor. The magic rippled as she reached forward and knocked on his door. Seconds passed with no answer. Mavery’s heart raced. If he’d picked tonight of all nights to turn in early—
The door opened, revealing Alain dressed in his tartan dressing gown and pinstriped nightshirt, with his hair more mussed than usual. She was reminded of the day they’d first met. Only now, Alain’s lips were stained purple, his gaze was slightly cross-eyed, and he reeked of wine.
