Page 26 of Ashen Wings

I don’t doubt her threat so I stumble out of bed, leaving the comfort of body-warmed blankets, and slip to the door.

Roe has left me a pair of black trousers, matching tunic, and various toiletries. I make haste with braiding my hair into a plait and washing the dead-sleep from my skin before descending to the first floor.

Daylight flickers through the curtains, reflecting off dust particles floating in the air. My steps falter as I reach the landing, because seated there in the front hall, a coffee resting on crossed legs, is Jace.

“Good morning, starling. How was your tour of the grounds last night?”

The urge to run back up the stairs to the safety of my room strums through my chest.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” I reply, forcing a confused expression. He places his coffee on the oak side table and braces on his elbows.

“Yes, you do. Tenebris told me of your introduction.” Jace watches me like a viper. “He was quite smitten with you, I must admit. It’s not often the old grump presents himself to newcomers in his human form.”

That lying fucker. If he wasn’t a five hundred-year-old dragon with huge teeth and boulder-crushing jaws, I’d strangle him myself.

“Don’t be angry with him, though. I had to practically rip the truth from his throat. Your bedchambers were empty when I checked on you,” Jace says, and something nips at my chest knowing he checked on me in the late hours.

“Well, it wasn’t enough for me to carry out my escape plan, so…” I cross my arms over my chest, praying to Astora Jace can’t hear the frantic thud of my heart. “You win, Jace Ashborne.”

Jace drags a canine over his bottom lips and stands. His boots thrum on the tile with each careful step, until the distance between us barely exists.

“I have a new offer for you.” He gestures toward the dining room. Regardless of what I’ve learned about Shadow’s king, the lurkers, and Tenebris, I don’t trust even a hair on his perfect head. Perhaps it’s my nature, keeping everyone at arm’s length, but as curious as I am about his new offer, it still makes my shoulders tense. So, I follow with wary strides.

Jace pulls out one of the dining chairs, just as he did yesterday, and offers me a seat. I take it, stifling the wince of soreness biting up my thighs.

“Is your offer to let me go and leave me alone for the rest of my life?” I throw him a cruel smile and place my hands in my lap. My thoughts thunder from every direction, like I’m trapped in the eye of a blistering storm.

“Enticing, but no.” Jace fills my mug from the silver pot of coffee between us. I take in the room through swirling steam trails and bitter aromatics. Isra and Roe haven’t yet joined us and with the absence of any staff, Jace and I are entirely alone. The fucked up sliver of my mind finds it thrilling.

“Then what?” I ask, shoving those thoughts down with a sip of coffee.

Jace leans back in his chair, his eyes flitting over me mercilessly. “I’ve asked Roe to do some digging and your records are…delicious,” he says. His tongue dances behind his teeth like he’s tasting each word before releasing it. “Nova Lindwen. The best mercenary for hire in all of Smoke’s mercantile district. Your kill toll is near comparable to Isra’s, but what’s intriguing is the receipt of sale Roe’s contact in Smoke’s central archives provided.”

I swallow, the coffee now all too bitter on my tongue.

“Purchased for 350,000 stipen by a Finnick Derald.” Jace places a green grape between his lips.

“I was enslaved when I lost my parents. Just like most orphans in Smoke are,” I say. My hands curl into fists, and I return them to my lap before he can notice.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Nova.” He stretches his palm on the table beside me. “Truly, I am. It’s not easy losing a parent.”

“We aren’t discussing my parents,” I snip, the words biting a little too hard.

“Then I’ll cut to the point. Here’s my offer—you help me find the guardian rider and I’ll buy out your contract with Finnick Derald. That’s why you were looking for those dragonstones, right? To earn back your debt?”

“You…what? You want to purchase me from Finnick?” Rage flares through me, staining my vision red. Jace Ashborne is a cocky bastard, but I never expected he’d have the audacity to suggest purchasing me for himself. “I’m not some object to be sold, I’m a fucking person.”

“Oh, Nova, no. Absolutely not. I’m offering to hire you, and at the end of the job, you’re guaranteed safe passage to whichever faction you please. I’ll fly you there myself.”

I draw in a breath. The King of Shadow is so determined for my aid he’s willing to pay off my debt and endanger himself by crossing the border.

“Why me? I’ve told you, I’m not the guardian rider. Nor am I an expert in Sovereign’s histories. You’re better off saving your stipen and just letting me go,” I say, my brow wrinkling.

“Offer’s on the table. Take it or leave it.” He shrugs and returns to his coffee.

“And if I refuse? Are you going to kill me?”

“No, starling, you’re far too interesting to execute.” His smirk tells me everything I need to know. Jace has this strategy mastered, and he knows I won’t refuse him. There’s no other option, because there doesn’t need to be. He thinks he’s already won, but there’s something he hasn’t considered—I’m greedier and most certainly more selfish than he is.