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“It’s fine.” Neia bit the words and gave a stiff nod to Sai before returning to packing up the tents.
I scrunched the material of my ruined dress. God, I’d just offended these people—fairies?—without meaning to. I hadn’t known. Every book that discussed the fae called them Seelie and Unseelie. But the latter was apparently an insult. And the court this group belonged to. A shiver slipped down my spine.
Everyone knew the Unseelie for their wickedness and danger. All fae tricked and manipulated humans, but the Unseelie—or Prasanna, rather, I suppose—were known for their dark magic and wily ways. Then again, Elisa said sirens were considered fae as well. Maybe if human tales had the Prasanna fairies’ name wrong, their reputation was incorrect as well.
The group all seemed like normal people with their own flaws and positive attributes—like me. Or maybe better than me, in some ways. They weren’t the coward who got Elisa and Neia in a sticky situation the night before, the brazen fool who’d cornered Sai without realizing he was more than a petty human thief, or the spineless creature that found no solution to deal with her mother besides running. Misery quelled in me like a stomachache.
I should hear them out, at least. I’d judged them instantly without giving them a chance. So far, they’d been kind to me and, if what Sai told me was true, they weren’t robbing the humans the night before.
“What’s the job?”
Sai rolled his other sleeve to match the first. “Prince Lennox of the Seelie court has stolen Prince Shaan of the Prasanna court’s zevar. We intend to get it back.”
“I thought you said you weren’t involved with thievery.”
Neia slung a pack off her shoulder and dropped it with a thud as she rejoined the group. “No, we said we didn’t rob the humans. This is ajustifiedburglary as I explained earlier.”
“What’s justified?”
“Well,”—Neia’s voice had grown hard again, and she seemed on the edge of tearing into me—“an example that comes immediately to mind would be Elisa and I stealing your money bag yesterday from the bastard night watchman who took it from you.”
Sai stepped in closer, his eyes darting between us. “Neia, could you and Elisa check and make sure we left nothing where we stored our bags yesterday?”
Neia’s lips parted with a pop, but she released an exasperated breath and stomped across the clearing. Elisa patted my arm as she passed by. And that left Luz and Sai.
Sai twisted his boot into the dirt and left an indentation. “We’re stealing back something that was taken in the first place—and through the meanest form of deceit at that. Like we did last night. You, as a siren,”—I winced—“have a skill set that could help us.”
“I… I don’t know. You’re talking about robbing fae which are reputed to be vengeful and malicious. I’m running away from magic, not to it.”
“There’s pay for everyone involved in the job,” Luz offered with a mischievous twinkle in their eyes.
My breath caught, and I paused for a beat. I’d spent hours the previous night worrying over money. Perhaps this was my solution. If I could do a simple job, use my magic to help them take back something that already belonged to their people, and accept a salary that would cushion my new life, that could make the difference between starvation and success for me. “How much?”
Luz took the emerald from Sai and twisted it in their hands. “In human wages? Enough gold to live in luxury for four to five years at least. This job is very important to the Prasanna court, and they pay well.”
My mouth gaped.
Five years of luxurious living could provide several decades of moderate living. It would give me the boost I needed. Or maybe even passage across the sea to… No. I couldn’t dream that far. Not until I had something more substantial. But I’d chosen the man who led me down this path. Perhaps this was destiny or some angel looking out for me. “What would I need to do?”
Sai frowned, and I avoided meeting his gaze. Something about looking directly at him made me feel things I couldn’t explain. “How strong is your magic?”
A breeze rippled over my skirt and dragged it back where it crackled over long grass. If I were honest, I didn’t know. My magic was powerful and growing by the month. Mother had once pressed me to learn more, but I’d avoided it. As soon as I realized the cruel manner with which sirens employed their magic, I wanted no part of it. Now I wished I knew. None of the other sirens in our group could produce frost that crawled over the curved edges of furniture, light that blinded an aggressive audience member, water that pooled into a rented room and ruined it, wind that knocked frames from walls. I had done all those things by accident. Compelling others was as natural as a note rolling off my tongue. Despite that, I didn’t know. Especially speaking to fae who probably knew more about magic than I could imagine. “I’m not sure.”
Sai looked at Luz who stared at me for another moment before shifting to him and nodding. They clapped Sai on the shoulder and marched over towards Elisa and Neia. “Are we ready to go?”
Sai clasped his necklace and fiddled the jewel on it between his fingers. It was an emerald but rough-edged, as if it had broken and rather than smoothing the edges, the jeweler had set it as it was. “If I offered you the job, what would you say?”
This was so much at once. I needed time to think that I didn’t have. They were moving on and didn’t seem eager to dally. My brain ached as it pieced through all the moving parts but then I remembered Neia. He’d said she wasn’t his boss and they were friends but he hadn’t explained the structure of their group. “I’d ask you if it was your place to offer it or Neia’s.”
His head snapped up, the jewel falling against his neck and slipping beneath his shirt. He laughed and his eyes shone a brown that overshadowed the gold of the sun that rose behind him. “I didn’t expect that. Would you want this position?”
I looked down at my tattered gown that hid my coin bag which would scarcely buy more than a few items. If the work truly paid as much as Luz had implied, it was worth it. “Yes. But I’m not sure… I mean I don’t use my magic much… and…”
“You compelled me.” He gave me a wry look. “I think you can manage if need be. Let’s see if Elisa has something else you can wear.”
I knotted my fingers into the silk. Even if our adventures last night of trouncing through the woods in the dark and sleeping in it had ruined the delicate fabric, it was the last connection I had to my life. “You have a problem with my clothes?”
Sai’s eyes scraped down me, slowly, as if he drank me in, tasted me. “No.” His voice came husky. “It’s that you stand out like a star against darkness in that gown.” His gaze jumped back up to mine. “You couldn’t walk into a room without turning heads.”
