Chapters (46)
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
The two of them worked without talking, shaping the pieces as quickly as they could. She was almost done when she noticed that Flick had already finished. He had always been good with keys. A few minutes later, Kyra handed hers to Flick for inspection. He held it up against the original, turning it in all directions. One edge caught his attention and he stroked it with his finger, frowning in concentration as he reached a hand to Kyra. She handed him a file, and he made a few finishing touches before handing it back to her.
“This should work,” he said. “I can put the real ones back on Bacchus.”
Kyra nodded. “Take his coin.” According to Ilona, Bacchus would have no memory of the moments leading to the attack. Hopefully, he would blame it on common thieves.
“You’ll try to get in tonight?” Flick asked, though he knew the plan as well as she did.
“Best to do it tonight, if I can. We don’t know what Bacchus will think when he wakes up. Don’t want him getting suspicious and warning James.”
Flick squeezed her shoulder, eyes dark with worry. “Be careful.”
Twenty-eight
T W E N T Y - E I G H T
There was a leather merchant across the road from the Guildhouse, owned by a man who hadn’t invested in good locks. He slept upstairs at night, and it was trivial for Kyra to slip inside and use his store as a lookout post. She settled herself by the window and kept a mental tag on the snoring from upstairs. The rhythmic sound and the smell of leather were calming, and she latched on to them to still her nerves. Kyra had feigned confidence to reassure Flick, but now she had nothing to distract her from the task that lay before her.
The Guildhouse’s layout was deceptively simple. It masqueraded as a large storehouse for trade caravans and was set back from the road to make room for horses and wagons. All that open space also made it easy for those inside to see anyone approaching. And once Kyra got in, the building’s close quarters and thin walls would make it hard to stay hidden.
There were dim lights in the windows despite the late hour, and Kyra settled herself for a long wait. Just as her feet started to fall asleep, a handful of men left the building. Kyra weighed her options. She doubted the Guildhouse would ever empty completely, so this was as good a chance as any.