Fate’s Edge (The Edge #3)(66)
Author: Ilona Andrews

Forging the stones for the Eyes had been easy; George had recognized them as the Weird’s pillow cut, which was just another name for the antique cushion cut, halfway between an oval and a square with sixty-four facets. Both she and Kaldar had handled enough gems in their lifetimes to reproduce the stones of the correct cut and size. Two thousand dollars at a specialized glass shop got them two chunks of glass that looked close enough to pass a cursory inspection. The disks were harder. For one, they had glyphs, and while Gaston was a wizard with clay and brush, the glyphs proved tricky.

The disks resembled what Jack described; he was very thorough, but that didn’t change the fact that all they had to go on was a description and a picture in a book. In the picture, the disks were squares and the stones were green.

"So?" Gaston asked.

"They have to look like gold," Audrey told him. Next to her, Ling watched them with her small black eyes. She and Jack’s cat had made friends finally. The cat was off hunting in the woods, but instead of going with him, Ling stuck to Audrey like glue, almost as if the little beast sensed her anxiety.

"They will, once I magic them up."

The bushes parted, and Kaldar made his way into the clearing. "Got it." He handed her a thick gold chain. Audrey held it up to the picture.

"Close enough," Gaston said. "Once I put this together, it will look like the real thing."

"I’ve been breaking my head about how we’ll make this switch." Audrey pointed to the diagram on the piece of paper, which she’d drawn after listening to Jack’s recording. "I’m guessing he goes into the room, puts the device on, does the service, goes back, and takes the device off. The guards likely watch him the whole time."

"So we hit him before or after the service," Kaldar said.

"After won’t work," Audrey said. "You saw him, he goes off to the back. It has to be before, when he is doing his hug and handshake bit."

Kaldar nodded. "Not only that, but if we let him mind-rape the congregation, and he realizes we’re up to something, they will tear us to pieces. Also, I don’t know about you, but I’m not eager to sit there and let him magic me into thinking he’s the new messiah."

Hitting Ed before the service was risky, they both knew it. The device was his most prized possession. He knew its weight and feel like the back of his hand. If he realized that something had gone wrong, there would be hell to pay.

But they were in too deep to back out now. They needed Ed Yonker’s gadget to get the invitation from Magdalene, and they needed the invitation to get into de Braose’s impregnable castle and steal back the bracelet diffusers. It felt like tumbling down the stairs – once started, they couldn’t stop, and each step sent them deeper and deeper into danger.

"I can distract Yonker," Audrey said. "But stealing the device isn’t my thing."

"I’ve got it covered," Kaldar said.

Really. "So what, you’re a pickpocket, too?"

Kaldar paused, as if considering something. "Check your left pocket."

Oh no. No, he didn’t. She thrust her fingers into the pocket of her jeans. They found empty space and fabric. Her grandmother’s cross was gone. The cross was everything. It was a reminder of the only stable time in her life; it was a symbol of her finally saying, "Enough." She could lose everything, but as long as she kept that cross, she would be okay.

Audrey held out her hand. "Give it back."

"Don’t be mad."

"Give it back right now, Kaldar."

Ling let out an angry raccoon noise, halfway between hiss and growl.

Kaldar swiped his fingers over her palm. The cross lay on her hand.

"When did you steal it?"

"This time?"

That bastard. "Did you take it more than once?"

"He steals it about twice a day," Gaston said. "Then he puts it back. It’s not personal. He does the same to everybody in the family – " He saw her face and clamped his mouth shut.

She faced Kaldar. "Never take it again, or we’re through."

Kaldar raised his hands. "I promise."

"I’m dead serious. You take it again, and I walk."

"I understand."

She turned away and went around the wyvern, away from the two of them.

"Audrey . . ." Kaldar called.

She kept walking, away, into the woods, until she was far enough not to see the blue bulk of the dragon. A tree stub jutted out of the soil. She sat on it. She felt so angry, she couldn’t even put it into words.

Ling ran out of the bushes, sat before her on hind paws, and dropped a dead cicada on her lap.

"Thank you," Audrey told her, brushing the insect off her jeans. "But you better eat it."

Ling scratched at her knee. Audrey opened her arms, and the raccoon jumped into her lap. She petted Ling’s soft fur.

The light sound of a twig snapping underfoot came from behind her. Ling hissed and jumped down. Kaldar circled the stump and knelt in front of her. "I’m sorry."

"Why did you take it?" she asked.

"I don’t know. I wanted something of yours."

"There must be trust between partners. You broke it. When I worked with my brother and my father, I always had to guard my things. Any slip-up, and they would take what was mine and laugh in my face when called on it because I wasn’t good enough to catch them in the act."

"That’s not why I did it." Kaldar took her hand. "I’m sorry, Audrey. Please smile at me."

She shook her head. "No. Let me alone."

"Audrey, seriously, what do you want me to do? You ran away like a child."

She squeezed the words out through clenched teeth. "I walked away so I wouldn’t have to deal with you."

Kaldar stood up, his hands held out. "Well, I’m here anyway. Why don’t you just be a big girl and deal with me. What are you afraid of – "

She punched him. She did it right, turning with the punch, hitting him in the precise corner of his jaw. Kaldar’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he went down like a log.

Audrey studied his prone body for a long moment. Her hand hurt. She should just leave him here in the woods. But she wasn’t mad anymore – all her ire had gone out with that punch. She nudged him with the tip of her shoe.

"Get up."

Slowly, Kaldar’s eyes opened. He sat up and rubbed his jaw. "Good hit."

"You deserved it."

A gray ball of fur dashed from the undergrowth, all but flying. Ling charged Kaldar. Her sharp teeth closed on his arm. Kaldar cursed in surprise, and the raccoon darted into the safety of the bushes. Ling the Raccoon Vigilante.