“What?” The guard turned to stare at the board. “Did she win the game for me?”

“She did.” Rozea pushed a few coins in his direction. “I believe half of that is hers.”

“Oh, you owe me much more than that, Rozea,” Emerahl replied. “And it’s time you paid up. I’m leaving.”

The madam leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “We had an agreement.”

“I’m breaking it.”

“If you leave now, you go with nothing.”

Emerahl smiled. “So you’ve said. That’s hardly fair. I’ve earned you quite a sum. If you will not give me the wages I’ve earned, I will take them.”

Rozea uncrossed her arms and set her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do? Fling counters at me with magic? Your sorcery does not scare me. If you were able to force me into giving you money, you would have done so before now.”

“Your weakness, Rozea, is that you think others are as selfish and greedy as you. I only stayed to protect the girls. Now that you’ve caught up with the army you’ll be able to hire new guards. You don’t need me anymore.”

“Need you?” Rozea laughed. “You flatter yourself.”

Emerahl smiled. “Perhaps. It’s been a long time since I had to use magic to hurt anyone. I don’t like to. I prefer to find ways around it. So I’ll give you one last chance. Give me my wages. Now.”

“No.”

Emerahl turned and strode toward the tarn in which Brand and Tide were sleeping.

“Where are you going?” she heard Rozea demand.

Emerahl ignored her. She reached the tarn and opened the flap.

“Wake up, girls.”

The girls started awake and blinked at her in surprise as she climbed inside.

“Jade?”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m leaving,” Emerahl told them. She turned to the front seat. “Stand up.”

Tide and Star rose. Emerahl felt under the seat and found a tiny latch. She pulled and the compartment opened. Behind was a collection of boxes.

Rozea’s face appeared in the doorway. “What are you…stop that!”

Emerahl drew out one of the boxes. It was encouragingly heavy.

“Give that to me!” Rozea demanded.

Emerahl opened the box. The girls hummed with interest as they saw the coins inside. Rozea cursed and started to climb into the tarn.

With a gesture and a small shove of magic, Emerahl pushed the madam out of the tarn. Rozea toppled backward and was caught by the guards.

“Stop her!” the woman shouted. “She’s robbing us!”