“Listen.” Eris set down Safire’s knife. “That wasn’t an empty threat back there. I’ve seen Jemsin cut up men with my own eyes, piece by piece.”
Safire didn’t care. All she cared about was that Jemsin never find out where Asha was.
And yet, if she didn’t give themsomething, she would be used as bait to lure her cousin into a trap.
“What will he do to her?” she asked.
Eris’s eyes brightened, excited that Safire was beginningto play her game. She leaned back, gripping the table behind her, and pushed herself up onto it, letting her legs swing free. “Jemsin doesn’t kidnap people for no reason. So either she did something to provoke him, or she’s valuable to someone.”
As far as Safire knew, Asha had never had a run-in with a pirate. But if it was the latter, who would she be valuable to? She was no longer a fugitive. After the law against regicide was struck down, Asha was pardoned for killing her father, the former dragon king. There was no longer a bounty on her head.
“If she’s valuable to someone, he’ll keep her alive,” Eris went on. Pulling her feet up onto the table, she rested her arms on her knees and leaned forward. “You, however, are in far greater danger. If you don’t talk, he won’t hesitate to cut you up. And I very much doubt your cousin wants you dead. More important, you’ll be no use to her dead.”
Why do you care?Safire thought back to the conversation she overheard from the crawl space. Jemsin had offered Eris freedom in exchange for the Namsara. Which didn’t make sense to Safire. Eris was the legendary Death Dancer. What kept her—a girl who could walk through walls and disappear at will—tied to the pirate captain?
Safire discarded the question. It didn’t matter right now.
“Assuming I do know where she is, what’s to stop you from killing me as soon as I tell you?” asked Safire, having no intention of ever doing such a thing.
Eris rolled her eyes. As if she couldn’t believe what a novice Safire was. “The only person who’ll kill you is Jemsin. And that’s if you give him bad information.” She gave Safire a hardlook of warning. “I don’t kill people.”
“No,” said Safire darkly, remembering the barrels of water. “You only torture them.”
Eris raised her hands innocently. “I saved you a bundle of pain today. Jemsin’s crew is far less kind in their methods.”
Was she suggesting her methods were kind? Unbelievable.
“I answered two of your questions,” said Eris, voice hardening. “It’s time you answered one of mine. Where’s the Namsara?”
Safire looked away, thinking of that barrel of water. Of the building panic and the moment before she was certain her lungs would burst. She couldn’t go through that again. She needed to give Eris something. So she said, very softly, “Asha’s on her way to Firefall.”
Eris went very still, her eyes fixing on Safire’s. “I’m not sure I heard you.”
There was an edge in her voice. A warning not to lie.
So Safire turned her face and held that green-eyed gaze, ignoring the sweat collecting at the back of her neck. “My cousin is flying to Firefall. It’s a city west of Darmoor, ruled by—”
“I know what it is,” said Eris. “Are you telling the truth?”
The truth was that Asha returned from Firefall a few weeks ago.
“She’s building a school,” Safire went on, burying her lie beneath fact. “A school she hopes will preserve the old stories and restore the severed link between draksors and dragons. Firefall’s library has one of the oldest and biggest collections ofold stories in existence. Asha’s gone there to collect them and bring them back.”
Except for the fact that this had already happened, it was all true.
Finally, Eris stopped scrutinizing her. Tucking Safire’s knife into her belt, the girl rose to her feet.
She moved toward Safire, who immediately tensed and flicked the blade out from the toe of her boot. Eris glanced down, visibly wincing at the memory of its sharpened tip driving into her shin.
“Try it again,” said Eris, “and I’ll take those boots right off your feet.”
Safire went still. Her picklocks were hidden in her left boot. She’d need them if she had any hope of escaping these manacles. So, obediently, she flicked the blade back in and let the girl approach.
Eris studied her. Safire studied her back.
She was startlingly pretty, this girl. Pretty and graceful.
Eris reached for her chin. Safire’s skin scorched at her touch and she jerked her face away.
