'I won’t, though we need to find out who they are first.'
He nods. ‘We will and I want that cunt, Voss, as well.'
Jak raises a brow. 'Do you think you'll get away with taking out an enforcer?'
'I'll get away with it,' I snarl. 'I'll find a way to get that fuck if it's the last thing I do and if I can get Calder while I'm at it, I kill him as well.'
‘Voss, Calder, Bryn’s attackers. Anyone else?' Jak asks in amusement.
'Anyone else who crosses our female,’ I answer adamantly.
Jak looks over at Bryn. 'I’m with you, but Bryn isn’t the same as she was before. She's no longer a slave, you know. She's intelligent and strong, has some fighting skill now. She can use those knives you gave her. I don't think she needs us to kill for her, Morgan.'
'Why should she have more blood on her hands?' I ask. 'Unless she wants it. No. I already have so much on mine. A few more for the right reasons makes no difference to me, and I would see her avenged.'
We stay where we are, having a drink for a while longer. Locke is at another table, pretending to be alone. He's scanning the area with his magick to feel if the Breach opens close by, so we'll at least know when they get here. Every once in a while, I catch his eye, and he shakes his head.
'Surely they would have arrived by now,' I say, as the hour grows late and Bryn is beginning to flag. She goes and sits at the table with Locke and gets a drink. 'Surely, if this was the right festival, at the right time, they’d already be in the city.'
'We'll give it a bit longer. They could be waiting for the humans to imbibe too much before they try to take them,' Jak says, eyeing some of the Library guards who are standing in the shadows nearby looking bored and annoyed that they can’t partake in the festivities.
I drink some more of my heavily watered ale and keep my eyes sharp, but other than a few drunken, half-hearted brawls, there's nothing that would suggest that anyone is being stolen tonight.
‘They must have got the city wrong,' I state, as the square begins to clear in the early hours of the morning. ‘Or the festival.’
Bryn is half asleep at a table alone now, and we're keeping an eye on her to make sure she isn't approached by any drunken merry makers. I idly watch a human male who I don't think is as drunk as he's pretending, sidle up to her table. Sure enough, he sits next to her and leans into her, murmuring something that sounds like a sordid invitation.
She startles, and then her eyes narrow, and I see her dress moving up slowly as she goes for the knives that I put on her thigh this morning. She takes one out and has it pressed against the cunt's right kidney before he realizes what's happening. She hisses something at him.
His eyes widen, and he staggers back, mumbling an apology. Her eyes return to her drink, and the knife disappears.
I let out a loud guffaw that makes her jerk in surprise. She gives me a smile, and then a wink.
We wait a while longer and still nothing happens.
'There's naught occurring tonight,' I growl as I get to my feet. 'Let's get back to the Library, and get some sleep. Perhaps that’s why reinforcements never arrived. Perhaps the reason they didn't come was because they knew it wasn’t happening today, and couldn’t tell us because we’d already left.’
Jak looks dubious, but says nothing. He stands as well.
Locke joins us a moment later. 'It doesn't make sense,' he mutters. 'Kitore is the city. It had to have been. No other has—' He shakes his head. 'Something doesn't feel right.'
‘How is that any different than the past weeks?’ I mutter.
Locke snorts. ‘Aye, that’s true enough.’
‘What are we going to do?’ Jak asks.
Locke lets out a long breath. ‘Go back to Halsford on the morrow, I suppose. We need to find out what’s happening. Why they never came.’
‘What if it’s not safe?’ I ask.
‘Then, we return to Kitore directly, and have Vie hide us,’ Jak answers readily.
I raise my brows at him. ‘You’re sure she can?’
‘If anyone has the knowledge, it is she,’ he says, beginning to walk away. ‘I’m done with the Underhill. No more deals, no more putting our human in harm’s way.’
Bryn’s eyes dart between us. ‘You think Vie knows a place where they wouldn’t be able to find us?’
