With my hand wrapped around my empty mug, I thumped it against the desk, only so I could hear the sound echo through the room. As if in answer, a pair of knuckles rapped against the doorframe, and I paused, my mug inches away from another beating.
“Why are you making so much noise?” Gavin muttered. “Some people are trying to sleep.” He rubbed his bleary eyes and then slung his arms across his chest, his mouth firmly planted in a scowl.
“Have I disturbed your beauty sleep?” I mocked, matching his stance with a scowl of my own.
“Ah, I can see you’re brooding more than usual. To what do we owe this displeasure?” Gavin ran a hand over the thick stubble covering his jawline. “Wait—don’t answer. Let me guess. It’s more fun that way.”
“Get out, Gavin.”
“Hmm…let’s see. You’re irritable—which doesn’t reveal much considering it’s a common occurrence.” He cocked his head as if in deep thought. “You’re scowling—also common—and you’re taking your aggression out on inanimate objects.” He lounged against the wall. “You know, now that I think about it, you’re not acting differently. It must be a Tuesday.”
“It’s Thursday.”
Gavin scratched his head, and messy brown strands fell into his eyes. “Is it? I could have sworn it was Tuesday.”
“You drink too much,” I grumbled, tossing my mug back onto the desk.
Gavin rarely woke before lunchtime. If he hadn’t cemented his friendship with me when we were younger, I would have already sent him packing. But after a rough year, he needed a place to stay—not to mention a few odd jobs to keep him occupied and flush with coin.
It helped we were kindred spirits. Gavin had demons of his own, ones he battled with liquor and too much sleep. I’d chosen seclusion. Nothing but silence and solitude. And look where that had gotten me.
Chuckling, Gavin entered the room and lowered himself into a chair. “How else am I supposed to make the days blur? I prefer numbness to mimicking your raging hostility. There’s only room for one beast in this castle, and you were here first.”
“Lucky me.”
“I’d say you’re pretty lucky. I paid a visit to your new employee.” He made a face, scrunching his features. “She made me move a rack of iron spears. It was heavy. I may have twisted something in my neck.” A slow grin replaced his annoyance as he massaged the tendons. “But you never mentioned she was so beautiful.”
I braced my knuckles on the desk and leaned forward, trying to smother the burst of irritation at Gavin’s accurate but unsolicited observation. “Whether or not she’s beautiful has no bearing on her talent. I would have brought her here even if her face were as ugly as yours.”
Gavin scoffed. “Impossible. I’ve been told repeatedly in the past that I’m a handsome man. Look at this chiseled jawline.” He turned his head, showing me his profile. “And my nose. It may have been broken a few times, but that only showcases my rugged strength.”
“Yeah, well, be careful around my new employee, or you may find your nose broken again.”
“By you or her?”
Good question.My knuckles pressed so hard against the desktop they began to ache. “What are you doing up here this early?” I asked.
Gavin stretched his neck, cringing from the pain as he tilted his head. “It’s been a couple of days since she arrived. I figured I should check to see if Liana made good on her threat and murdered you in your sleep. I’d hate to be out of a job.”
My scowl deepened. “Because any normal position would require you to get up with the sun.”
“Don’t joke about things like that.” Gavin shuddered and clutched the side of his head.
“Why are you really here, darkening my office doorstep looking like death warmed-over?”
He smirked at my description, taking a small amount of pride in it. “Because I thought you should know the word is out that the Grimm’s blade never made it to its final destination. Argus Ward knows it’s missing. It’s only a matter of time until he tracks it here. He’s working with an oracle.”
I went still.
Argus Ward.
Hearing his name made my scars itch.
He needed the blade I’d secured from the merchants, and I planned to draw him here to exact my revenge. Would seeing his face when he realized I’d taken from him what he desired most be enough to ease my misery? It would have to be. Argus had taken everything from me, and while he wasn’t the one to deliver my scars, his actions had led to them.
He’d never suffered for those actions.
His fortune had thrived, his business prospered, while my opportunities had withered, my reputation as scarred as my body. Making him pay was the only thing that mattered.
