now she sat in the sunlight in a pair of trousers, boots, and a loose shirt that dropped to her wrists despite the heat. All black, of course, but everything she made for herself was. There didn’t seem to be much option for color when you formed your clothes out of shadow.
Still, it all looked normal enough except for the long, ragged scarf she wore around her neck. The scrap of black cloth was all that remained of the coat Slorn had made for her so long ago. They’d come here hoping to get it patched, but even Slorn couldn’t work a miracle that large. Still, even torn to bits and changed by Miranda’s gift of will, the scrap of coat had never lost its loyalty to Slorn, Nico, and its duty, and Nico absolutely refused to give it up. It clung to her neck like a snake, twitching occasionally whenever Eli looked at it sideways.
“Maybe we should keep lying low,” Josef suggested, his voice warped by a wide yawn. “Give things a chance to shake out. I know I haven’t gotten used to doors yelling at me when I slam them yet.”
“That’s exactly why we shouldn’t wait,” Eli said, exasperated. “The unrest is what creates the sort of wide- open opportunities we’ll need for a job like this. It’s perfect. We’ll hit the opera first and then Whitefall’s private manor house, netting five priceless treasures in a little under two hours. This is the sort of heist people will be talking about for years. Think of my bounty!”
“What is your bounty now, anyway?” Josef said, yawning again.
“Two hundred and eighty-five thousand,” Eli recited. “Which is still seven hundred and fifteen thousand from where it needs to be.”
Josef shrugged and lay back in the sunshine, completely oblivious to the seriousness of the matter. Folding his arms over his chest, Eli decided to raise the stakes. “Josef,” he said calmly. “If you don’t get off that rock so we can get going, I’m going to write your ministers and tell them I found their king.”
Josef’s body went stiff, and Eli broke into a cruel smile. “I’m sure they’d be willing to fork over some of Den’s bounty to drag you home,” he continued. “One way or another, my number is going up. So which will it be, your majesty?”
Josef sat up with a long sigh. “When do we leave?”
“That’s more like it,” Eli said, starting off toward the edge of the clearing where Slorn and Pele were talking with the trees of the Awakened Wood. “And we leave as soon as I thank our hosts.”
“Wait a moment, Eli,” Josef said, standing up.
Eli stopped and looked over his shoulder to see his swordsman lift the Heart of War and look at it for a long moment before slinging it over his shoulder, well away from his injured chest. “I’ve been thinking,” he said at last. “Can we even pull the heists anymore?”
Eli frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean now that you’re not a wizard,” Josef said. “Is that going to change the way we do things?”
Eli stared at him a moment, and then stepped over to the side of Slorn’s house where a small tool chest had been fastened onto the wooden exterior. Its door was locked with a latch and fastened tight with three ornate hinges, all wrought from the same smooth, black iron. After a glance to make sure Josef was watching, Eli fixed his face in his best smile and leaned down, tapping the door with his long fingers.
“Excuse me,” he said. “I was just walking by when I happened to notice the extraordinary grain of your wood.”
The shed door rattled slightly. “My wood?”
“Who else’s?” Eli said.
The door waggled happily a moment, and then froze. “Wait,” it said. “You’re the thief, aren’t you? Slorn said I wasn’t supposed to listen to you, Eli Monpress.”
“Slorn’s a tinkerer,” Eli said, waving dismissively. “He doesn’t like anyone messing with his toys. But I’m not going to do anything. I just want a closer look.”
“Well, I guess that’s all right,” the door said, angling its wood so Eli could see the grain clearly.
“Absolutely stunning,” Eli said, stroking the door with his fingers as he pored over the completely normal wood grain like it was a list of lock combinations for the Council of Thrones’ tax vault. “Can I see the other side?”
“Of course,” the door said, its voice swelling with pride. “Let me have a word with the lock.”
The spirits chattered among themselves for a moment, and then the lock popped with a grudging click. The door sprang open, revealing Slorn’s neat and near-priceless collection of custom awakened saws. Eli nodded appreciatively and turned to Josef with a smug smile. “Any more questions?”
Josef shook his head.
Eli thanked the door and stepped away. As he started toward Slorn to make his farewells, he glanced again at Josef and Nico only to see them both waiting by the rocks, fully armed and ready to go. Grinning wide, he hurried toward the bear-headed Shaper while visions of his new bounty danced through his head with all the little zeros trailing behind.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Five books and seven years after he sauntered into my life and told me I was going to write a novel about him, Eli’s story is now finished. It’s been a far more enjoyable journey than I could ever have anticipated, and I could never have done it without Matt Bialer, my tireless agent, and Lindsay Ribar, whose wonderful suggestions created most of the really good parts of this series. I am also deeply grateful to Devi Pillai and the fantastic team at Orbit, whose love and enthusiasm for my books never ceases to amaze me into sputtering befuddledness. Also, thank you to my wonderful fans. Eli loves each and every one of you personally.
But most of all, these books could not have happened without the original Slorn, my husband, Travis. Thank you for always being there for me, love, and thank you for letting me put a bear on your head.
