AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ivet reached into her coat-pocket. Verve tensed, mentally calculating the necessary moves to disable the older woman in case she struck, but then Ivet withdrew a leather coin purse and offered it to Verve.
Within was a single gold piece, probably worth more than this entire village. Danya had a chest of these coins back in Freehold, and Verve herself had received handfuls for successfully completed jobs. Hell, the purse Clo had provided before she’d left had three times this much. Verve fingered the coin and studied Ivet. “You’re serious.”
“Not usually,” Ivet said. “But this one time, yes. I am. Please stay and help defend us.”
Alem came back to the older woman’s side, but his eyes never left Verve. “She’s a killer, Ivet. She had more pointy bits on her than a porcupine. And you saw the hematite in her kit.”
“Those of us without magic must still protect ourselves from its dangers,” Verve replied.
Alem harrumphed. “She can’t be trusted.”
He was right, of course, but admitting that was hardly a good business practice. But Verve knew that indignation wouldn’t suit her face, so she merely flipped the gold coin toward Alem, biting back a chuckle when he scrambled to catch it.
“I’m sure your resident healer can give you all the help you need.” Verve made to get to her feet, although hope struggled to find footing within her heart. A job offer like this would be the perfect cover for her true mission. But if she acted like she wanted the job too much, Ivet might suspect Verve wasn’t as innocent as she pretended. Best to play indifferent. Best to not reveal her true nature.
They’d figure it out, eventually.
Ivet rose too, and grabbed Verve’s hand. Verve’s first impulse was to lock her wrist and flip the other woman back down before common sense kicked in. She wasn’t being attacked. Not yet, anyway. So she only looked at Ivet’s hand on hers, then into Ivet’s eyes in a silent warning that usually made folks at least take a few steps back.
But the Sufani woman cradled Verve’s hand and held her gaze without fear. “Please, vidahem. The One god has brought you here, to us, for a reason. I must believe this is it. Please.”
Ivet’s eyes pinned her in place. Vidahem. Before coming to Lotis, when was the last time Verve had heard that gentle word?
Everything she wanted, laid at her feet. So why did Verve’s legs itch to run the other direction and never look back?
Mind on the mission.
As carefully as she could, Verve extricated her hand from the Sufani woman’s grip. “Keep your gold, ser.”
Ivet’s shoulders sank and Alem scoffed. “See what I mean? Folks like her care only for themselves.”
No winning with him, it seemed. Verve took no small amount of pleasure in her next words. “I’ll do the job for three silvers.”
A fraction of the original offer. Ivet beamed. Alem glared. Verve tried to smile despite her innate sense of what was to come.
Everything until now had gone just as she wanted. Too bad in Verve’s experience, that meant the worst was yet to come.
