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“I’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back,” my father said firmly. “She’ll return safely home. I promise you, Simon.”
Simon got up from his chair, pacing the room frantically.
“I’ll put a sword in them!” he yelled. “A bullet! I’ll send a whole firing squad!”
Lina and the captain attempted to calm him down, but it didn’t go as smoothly as planned. I decided to step out of the room, not finding myself particularly useful in the situation. The guests had already abandoned the party, proving themselves just as useless. They’d no doubt gossip and slander while they were at home, making it worse on the entire family as a whole.
It wasn’t my business. Even if struck too close to home.
“A priestess running about with the scum of the city! This taints the purity of the church!”
“But he’s so young, and he needs our help—”
“His whole family worships the devil himself! So let Satan deal with his own. If you want to help him, then you can leave this church and go to Satan yourself!”
“Young Master de Villiers?”
I turned around at Lina’s voice. She wrung her hands together, her aura twisted in worry.
My shoulders loosened. “Please call me Jacques. I’m no master.”
Her mouth ticked with a smile as she stepped forward to talk to me. “You must be hungry. You’ve stayed with us far past midnight barely knowing a soul in front of you. Come with me and I’ll get you some bread and tea.”
She didn’t even give me the chance to object, stalking off to the kitchen before I could open my mouth. I followed only to tell her that it wasn’t necessary, but she was deep in her own thoughts, muttering as she sliced some bread.
“My dear girl…she must be so frightened. Who would be so twisted as to take an innocent child?”
“Pirates,” I said as she placed the buttered bread and tea on the table. “Criminal scum that will do anything for some quick money.”
She poured the tea, and I felt there was nothing I could do but take it as she motioned for me to sit at the table.
She huffed. “Ahh, criminals like that…don’t they realize their salvation isn’t in their wallets?”
I chewed the bread slowly. “There are more opportunities for those with deep pockets.”
“What good is an opportunity when you have no character to sustain it?”
I tried not to smile as I swallowed. Lina was exactly like Samantha. If Samantha had had the chance to grow into a middle-aged woman, that is.
Lina sat in front of me, the gray strands of her hair seeming brighter as she fanned her round face in anxiety.
“That girl isn’t my blood, but I can’t help but feel like I’ve lost my own daughter.”
She dabbed the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. I couldn’t tell if the girl had charmed Lina—charmspeak could take up to a month to wear completely off, depending on the victim—but Lina’s blue aura was honest enough. The same blue aura Samantha had right after the church excommunicated her for helping me, right before the end of everything.
The words left my mouth before I had the chance to think them through.
“Don’t worry, Madame Lina. I’ll bring her back.”
***
“We got the information you wanted, Jac,” my contact said. “The guy’s name is Adrian. He’s a wanted criminal in a few places for arson and vandalism.”
It had been awhile since I had met one of my former subordinates in a back alley for information. So long, in fact, that I had completely overdressed. I had been so used to meeting businessmen that I forgot how to dress for scum who did honest business.
“Seems mild compared to kidnapping,” I replied.
“Maybe he’s trying to level up his criminal status? Either way, he seems like a lunatic.”
