“I need access to the Captain’s fortress.” Gaspar kept his voice low, and he sighed as he said it, looking all around him.
“You know I can’t get that for you.”
“You can’t, but you know someone who can.”
Her eyes widened. “Gaspar—”
“Another child has been abducted, and we believe the Captain has him held there.”
Another?
There was more to what Gaspar knew than he let on.
“Are you sure?”
“This was left behind,” Gaspar said, reaching into his pocket and flashing the marker Erica had found. “Everything we’ve been able to uncover suggests this is the Captain’s.”
Desarra took the coin, held it in her hand, then flipped it one way and then the other as if she’d practiced the motion. Gavin looked to Gaspar but he made a point of looking away from him. Desarra frowned as she studied it. “This is the Captain’s marker. It’s unusual, though.”
“Why unusual?”
“It signifies someone from his household.” She looked up at Gaspar. “Are you sure about what you’re saying? The Captain is not known to abduct anyone. He works in…” She looked to Gavin a moment then back to Gaspar, who nodded. “Different matters. It’s how he was able to move up in his position in the city.”
What sort of different matters?
There was more going on here than Gavin knew.
“I’m not really sure at all. All I know is that this was left behind, and the person who found it is missing her son.”
“How old is he?”
“Ten.”
“So young,” she whispered.
“So young,” Gaspar said. There was a hint of sadness in his voice.
Gavin watched him and tried to understand just what it was, but he didn’t dare say anything. Though he knew little about Gaspar, Gavin had a sense that his hearing this much of their conversation was more than what Gaspar wanted.
“I’ll see what I can come up with,” she whispered. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to figure it out, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s all I can ask,” Gaspar said.
Desarra took a step toward him, holding her hand out. Gaspar didn’t move toward her. She hesitated. It was only a moment, but it was a moment Gavin saw.
Letting out a pent-up breath, she nodded. “I can send word to the Dragon, I assume?”
“You can.”
She smiled sadly at Gaspar before nodding at Gavin. “Nice to meet you. Be careful you don’t follow too closely in his footsteps.”
Gavin could only nod back.
When she stepped inside the house, Gaspar took a quick breath, turned, and motioned for Gavin to follow. “Let’s get moving.”
“Just like that?”
“What else do you think we need to be doing?”
“I guess I’m curious, that’s all.”
They reached the low wall and stepped through the gate, and Gavin paused to look back at the house. It might be his imagination, but he thought he saw someone looking out through the window.
“Don’t push,” Gaspar said. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“I doubt that.”
“I can see it in your eyes, boy. You’re thinking I’m going to tell you some grand tale about my ex-wife, but you’d be wrong.”
“It seems to me that neither of you wants it to be ex anything,” Gavin said.
“Is that right? What makes you such an expert on things like this? I thought you were an assassin.”
Gavin looked around. The crowd of people that was out on the street was far enough away that they wouldn’t have heard, but it was a measure of Gaspar’s irritation that he’d even said that much as loud as he did.
“You might think otherwise, but I was trained to observe,” Gavin said.
“You could have fooled me. In fact, you did fool me. From what I can tell, the only things you’ve been able to observe are jack and shit.”
Gavin nearly smiled, but the irritation within Gaspar was enough to keep that at bay. He followed Gaspar. “What happened?”
“I told you that I’m not going to talk about it.”
“Fine. Is she yours?”
Gaspar stopped and spun toward him with a knife out. Gavin’s training kicked in, and he chopped down on Gaspar’s arm, knocking the knife to the ground.
He stepped back, holding his hands up. “I’m sorry,” Gavin said.
“No. At least you’re competent in something.” Gaspar quickly grabbed the knife off the ground and slipped it back into his sheath. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Is she yours?”
“Does it matter?”
“If it’s going to complicate any of our jobs, it does.”
Gaspar glared at him. “No, she’s not mine. Is that what you need to hear?”
“How long ago were you and Desarra together?” Gavin asked.
“That’s not the kind of crew we are.”
“Then what kind are we?”
“I’m helping you so that you can get this boy,” Gaspar said. “That’s the only reason I’m doing this.”
“It seems to me that you have more reason than that.”
“And I’m telling you that you need to stop pushing.”
Gavin needed to be careful. Gaspar had limits. He could be crotchety, but he was also useful, and Gavin needed to have him be a part of what they were doing. If he angered Gaspar too much, he ran the risk of him being unwilling to work with them when they made a run at the Captain’s fortress.
“I’m sorry,” Gavin said. “It’s just that I was taught to push and ask questions in my training.”
“Pushing only drives people away,” Gaspar said.
“Maybe that’s my problem,” Gavin muttered. He’d certainly done enough of that when he was training with Tristan. It was part of the reason he had so few friends from that time. None, now that Cyran had betrayed him.
Gaspar looked over at him, and he shook his head. “Have you got it out of your system yet?”
“What?”
“All of your questions. Because that’s all you’ll get from me. You’ve seen what you seen, and you know more about me than damn near anyone. I’m not willing to bring you any closer unless you’re apprenticed to me. Even then…”
“How many apprentices have you had?”
“There you go again, asking questions. Didn’t I warn you about that?”
“You might’ve warned me, but I’m
