Page 7 of Songs of Vice

He played on my emotions with bringing up her abusive mother. It made me want to capitulate because I’d suffered a similar fate, but this girl was a distraction, and we were so close to completing the current job. “We. Cannot. Be. Distracted. Have you forgotten how delicate this plan is?”

He slipped a jeweled pocket watch out and glanced at the sparkling surface of it. “The plan has changed, actually.”

“What?”

“I received a message from a thrush earlier.”

“Before or after you bedded the siren?”

He clicked his tongue. “I didn’t bed her.”

I looked over my shoulder where the girl stood. Her dewy skin glistened in the lamplight. “She’s beautiful.”

He sighed as his eyes darted to her and lingered for a moment. There was something in his expression I’d never seen before. Sai didn’t get romantically tangled up with anyone and yet after half an hour in this girl’s presence he seemed bewitched. “She is,” he said. “I won’t argue. But nothing happened between us aside from her convincing me of this foolish side quest.”

“What’s changed in the plans?”

“The blood moon.”

I nodded. “Is in a fortnight.”

“King Carrington plans to display the Memoria Globe during their gala at the palace.”

I rolled a rock under the ball of my foot. I’d heard stories about the magic the globe possessed but thought it was lost. It made sense the Seelie had gotten their greedy hands on it. They stole from other fairies shamelessly. Perhaps a hypocritical thought since I was a thief as well, but we only took things that belonged to the Prasanna fairy court. Once, I’d survived through true thieving though. I’d have starved to death if my mother’s ability to care for me was all I’d had to rely on. Yet, I didn’t understand why Sai brought up the Memoria Globe. Our focus was on the Prasanna Prince’s stolen zevar. It was the most important mission we’d ever accepted, and one that took precedence over all other jobs. I’d never imagined us chasing after a zevar. It was against fairy code to steal them. They held a fae’s true name and bound their magic. Sai brushed his finger over his emerald zevar that rested against his neck as if he could hear my thoughts. I gave my head a shake. “I’m not following.”

“We’ll take the globe along with the zevar.”

I darted my face up so fast my hair bobbed forward and grazed my chin. “Do you mean we steal them during the blood moon gala?”

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible.”

He looked up at the rough eaves in the roof before pausing on a section that sagged. “Difficult but not impossible.”

“Every Seelie fae of note will be at the palace that day.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re talking about stealing a small, highly secured, deeply magical item from under their noses.”

“Right.”

“As well as the zevar that Prince Lennox is probably guarding like it holds his soul.”

Sai’s expression darkened. “I’ll gladly take the zevar and his soul with it. Lennox can rot.”

“Do not get distracted by personal vendettas right now. This isn’t viable. We’d walk right into the heart of some of the most powerful fae in existence.”

A group passed on the street ahead. One person sang loudly, and his words slurred together. Sai shrugged. “The Seelie court vow to not use magic.”

“Vows they don’t keep.”

“Privately, perhaps, but this is a public event. King Carrington and Prince Lennox won’t reveal their magic in front of their court. They can’t without undoing their public stance against magic.”

“Sai.”

“Neia.”

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