Page 14 of Stealing Tink

CHAPTER 8

As I trail the Nomad, I expect to follow him all the way back to the ship. Instead, he stops at a nearby tavern, thankfully not the one I was so courteously kicked out of earlier tonight.

Although, now that I consider it, I imagine they want the Nomad there less than they want me. I might have been a nuisance, but I didn’t leave with anyone’s fingers.

I’ve considered turning back a dozen times. This is a bad idea. If I know anything from my nightmares, it’s that the Nomad doesn’t kill me until after I’ve gotten my voice back. I could walk away now, and theoretically, he’ll never kill me.

At least, I think that’s how it works.

I’ll just have to stay diligent about not trimming my nails, instead.

I slink in behind him, hopeful the crowd in this tavern won’t mimic the last one. But when I open the door, warm air greets my cold cheeks. No one looks up from their tables. Everyone in here is too busy chatting to pay me any mind.

I survey the room until I find the Nomad.

He’s seated with his back to the door. I recognize him immediately. I can’t count the number of times my pleasant dreams have been interrupted by the sturdy contour of his shoulders. But the seating arrangement still surprises me. I would think a man whose face has been recreated on as many wanted posters as his would know better than to sit with his back to the door.

But when I approach him from behind, I perhaps discover why he doesn’t bother to follow this particular safety protocol.

“Have you changed your mind, or are you simply hoping I’ll buy you a drink?” he asks without bothering to look over his shoulder.

I slip into the chair across from him, elbows on the table, matching his posture. I learned a long time ago that this trick goes a long way in getting men to respect you.

The Nomad surveys me up and down, his gaze skipping across my cloak from one mud clot to the next. “You know, we could have avoided this little trudge through the mud had you agreed to help back on the ship.”

I beckon to the pad sticking out of his inner coat pocket. He rolls his eyes and takes it out, handing it to me along with a quill and a small jar of ink. I give him a look that he quickly answers with, “One never knows when one might be in need of ink.”

I scribble on the paper, then push it across the table toward him.

“‘Stop gloating,’” he reads aloud, completely straight-faced. Then he flicks his gaze up to me. “I wasn’t gloating. My socks are wet. It’s a rather unsavory sensation, don’t you think? And I could do without the sloshing noise they make every time I take a step.”

It’s my turn to roll my eyes. I yank back the piece of parchment and write, I need assurances.

This time, I don’t bother pushing it across the table. The Nomad’s fae. He can see it just fine.

“Assurances?” he asks. “What sort of assurances? That we’ll succeed? Surely you know I can’t guarantee that.”

That you’ll pay me what I’m due, I write.

“I won’t double-cross you, if that’s what you mean,” he says. “Besides, what need do I have of your voice? I already have one of my own, and I’m rather fond of it. So are the females.”

I ignore him and write, What’s the plan, then?

The Nomad actually laughs. “You think I’m going to disclose it all to you? If you wanted that, you should’ve stayed back in my office. I could’ve laid my master plan out over the desk, shown you my blueprints of the Sister’s lair.”

I get the sense he’s mocking me, but I’m undeterred. Plans, or I walk.

“We’ll go over the plan once our team is assembled. I don’t like to repeat myself,” he says.

What team?

“You didn’t think we were going to break into the Sister’s lair, just the two of us, did you?”

The glimmer of confusion I let slip across my face has him grinning. It’s an annoyingly charming sort of grin.

“Ah, you thought because you were indispensable, you were all I needed. Not so. You were just part of the puzzle—the piece that was most difficult to find. You know, the one you dropped underneath the desk, in between the floorboards.”

If he’s referring to the tile that slipped between the floorboards in the tavern inn, I ignore it.