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Part One

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Jaxon Blau

Jaxon Blau was not a nice man. He got quiet when unhappy, red when angry, and spiteful when given power. And someone had allowed him a lot of power.

  Blau was in the midst of a meal when he received me. He sat at a wide table illuminated by the large fireplace behind him. The lights were dim, the flames casting sharp shadows across the room.

  It was the middle of summer. In the south.

  His table was arranged beautifully — a number of appetisers, several main courses, homemade breads, and deserts all displayed in quality porcelain. The food was enough to feed an army.

  He didn’t offer me any. He didn’t even invite me to sit, letting me stand by the door and wait for him to receive me. His two hulking bodyguards flanked me — an earthborn and an intimidator. One could snap me like a twig, and the other could project a terror so intense it was paralysing. What a lovely pair.

  Blau’s inappropriate reception wasn’t due to the fact that I’d appeared without a warning. I’d given him enough notice to anticipate my arrival. And it wasn’t the hour, as he had set it himself. But I bit my teeth and straightened my spine, patiently waiting for him to be done with his display of authority because it was late and I wanted to get this job over with as few incidents as possible.

  “You’re not the usual contact,” Blau said, chewing. He paused, making a show of looking me over. “Where’s…” he pointed to his face. “Tattoo?” He proceeded to tear apart a small bread and toss the pieces into his stew.

  Zee had better things to do than deal with greasy crime bosses, even if they owned a third of Radegast’s farmland. Which didn’t make me feel any better about this assignment. I briefly eyed the fireplace, then turned back to Blau. “He is otherwise occupied,” I replied, keeping my voice monotone. “I—”

  “Shame,” he smacked his lips, interrupting me.

  “I bring a message, and a request,” I continued, keeping the irritation out of my voice.

  When I reached into my bag to get the letter, only the intimidator flinched, relaxing when he saw no threat. Though the earthborn looked mean, he was too slow to react. Blau must have gotten him cheaply.

  I moved for the table and the intimidator grabbed my arm. Every fibre in my body tensed, ready to spring, but I held myself back, resisting the urge to show him exactly where he could stuff his hands. This one was loyal, and he was alert. I tried to grasp for the reason of his dedication but his life was too dull and monotonous to spark a vision into relevant events.

  Blau nodded, but the guard held on a few seconds longer, squeezing in warning before finally letting go. I filed it all down under personal insults.

  I walked around the large table and came to stand beside Blau’s chair. He too was an intimidator, but his true strength lay in his ability to resist mental influence.

  “Your reputation has been declining in recent years,” I spoke.

  He huffed, gaze locked on his meal. But he was no longer eating.

  Declining put it softly. Blau had never concerned himself with proper working conditions or the state of his equipment, as long as things got done and he didn’t need to spend extra resources. A few decades ago he had started with a shiny new set-up and an eager workforce. He provided jobs for those who couldn’t get hired, guards for those who did not need them, and a rather profitable network to store and transport illicit goods across the province.

  Today, half of his machines were an accident waiting to happen and he was bleeding workers in torrents, but his network was stronger than ever. He had grown too big to be allowed to fail.

  “The work you do for your community is valued,” I recited the carefully crafted words, “and we’re concerned about the future success of your business.” I pinned him with a stare when he glanced up at me. “We’re willing to provide the support needed to straighten up your record and restore your reputation.”

  Silence. His beady eyes were trained on me, waiting with disinterest.

  “I specialise in information control,” I continued. “I can help quash some of the rumours regarding your workforce and I can get you in touch with the right people regarding new farming techniques.”

  A half smile played on his lips, and I resisted the urge to frown at the cocky confidence drifting to the surface of his mood. He didn’t think it was a problem. I disagreed. Having your employees drop dead of exhaustion or die in accidents on the field was not a good way to lead a business. Acquiring more land by sending earthborn thugs to ransack potential plots was even worse. If he was to keep his network going in the future, he needed a good front.

  “Were you aware that the military has launched an investigation into your holdings?” I said.

  He blinked, momentarily surprised, and then recovered with a smirk. “The military’s always—”

  “Mithra military.”

  His meaty face creased in a harsh frown. “What does the Capital want from me?”

  I replied with a tight smile. “That tidbit is for free. What you do with it depends on you. Anything further, standard rates apply.”

The military didn’t care about him. It cared about his network. And so did we.

  I placed the letter in front of him. “My benefactor has kindly provided a few words of advice,” I glanced at the letter and then back at him.

Saying nothing, Blau rose from his chair and snatched the white envelope. I stayed in my spot as he walked past me and across the room. He examined the label in the flickering firelight, turning the letter over and over. His air was pensive as he seemed to consider. Briefly. Without opening it, he threw the letter into the fire and I watched the paper shrivel up and turn black, unread ink bleeding into the flames.

  “Next time,” Blau said, “tell them to send an adult if they want to do business.”

  I kept a straight face as much as I wanted to frown.

  Longevity had its perks — youthful appearance, knowledge, experience. Being taken seriously by narrow-minded peasants was not one of them. I didn’t respond, I didn’t react. Blau did not believe in consequences and he did not fear the bite of the military, but he would learn soon enough. Arrogance flavoured with foolish certainty never led far.

  He waved at his guards and they reacted faster than their large frames seemed to allow, zipping around the table and toward me. The intimidator’s hands clamped around my shoulders as he shoved me for the door. I fought hard against the instinct to jab my elbow backward, turn and slam my knee into his gut.

  “I’m not finished,” I protested but Blau dismissed me with another flick of his hand.

  The intimidator squeezed, his energy lashing at me. It tickled my consciousness like a ripple in an ocean, instantly absorbed in its waves. Pitiful. Fear, concern, compliance, I couldn’t even tell what he was trying to project, only that he was annoyed.

  I dug my feet, grinding us to a halt. “I suggest you let go,” I said calmly.

  He just shoved me toward the door again.

  I’d had enough. Twisting, I slipped from his hold, circled around, and brought him to the ground with a well-placed kick behind the knees. At this height it was a child’s play to kick him in the head and knock him out cold.

Injury repaid.

  Blau and the earthborn gaped at me, but their shock didn’t last. The large guard barrelled toward me and I merely stepped out of the way. He was slow but relentless, correcting course and grabbing for me again.

  I eyed his wrists. No blocker. If he caught me, it was the end. The world slowed down as my senses sharpened and my body kicked into a familiar rhythm. I danced out of the way when he tackled me, helping him to the ground with a light shove. He fell hard enough to rattle the dishes on Blau’s table.

  But earthborn, with their strength and resilience, were not as easy to knock out as mentalists. I’d have to lure him into using his abilities stupidly, tire him out, and deliver the final blow when he was exhausted and not paying attention. We’d probably break furniture, knock down a few walls in the process, and make a mighty mess, hopefully without bringing the entire roof down.

  No, this house was Gayle’s legacy, and I wouldn’t be the one to ruin it. The earthborn was a guard dog, what I needed was for his master to call him off.

  I leapt over the table, snatching a set of cheese knives on my way to Blau. The earthborn was already back on his feet. I threw the knife, aiming at the big boss. The bodyguard’s footsteps shook the floor as he circled the table. The knife didn’t have the right shape for throwing so I helped it reach its mark with a light air current. Smooth as butter, it embedded itself in the wooden accent of the fireplace behind Blau. The earthborn froze when I raised the second knife, aiming at Blau again.

  “However fast he is,” I said to Blau, “I’m faster.” His lips parted to bark a command, but I spoke first, “And I never miss.”

My fingers itched on the handle. I’d known that talking to him was pointless. Blau would not change, he was a victim of his success and as long as he believed he would continue being successful he had no reason to step in line. He hardly ever listened to Zee. What chance would I, a complete stranger, have? But removing him wasn’t a solution either. I stilled my fingers. His disappearance would cause a vacuum I didn’t want to deal with. If the message didn’t work, I had to find other ways to convince him. But before that there was something else that I needed from him.

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I held his gaze and waited for his next move. He considered briefly before signalling the earthborn to stay put.

  “What do you want?” he asked, his anger controlled but prickly.

  “There’s a boy working for you—”

  “I have many boys working for me.”

  “His name is Reuben.” The one to whom he owed this house.

  Blau considered, eyes drifting to a shadowy corner as he flipped through his memories.

  This house wasn’t rightfully his. It had been Gayle’s once, and now her son worked for the man who’d stolen it from her. Did he even remember? Or was Gayle’s name lost among the many he’d robbed or destroyed.

  The estate wasn’t the largest, but it was the sturdiest and perhaps the prettiest. Built on an elevated hill, the house was unlikely to flood in a land that suffered from spontaneous marshes. The hard stone foundation alone would make it last decades longer than its neighbours. Blau used it as a summer retreat and occasionally as a meeting spot for his deals.

  He stroked his chin as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. I threw the second knife, grazing the spot he was touching and his fingers. He staggered and, before he or his guard dog could react, I crossed the rest of the distance, pulled the knife out of the woodwork, and pressed it against his thick neck.

  “You will pay out his wages, add a good bonus for hard work, and send him on his way,” I said slowly so he could understand. “No strings attached, no more meddling into his life.”

  I waited for him to nod before retracting the blade enough to let him breathe.

  “As for the rest, you can either clean up your game or you can fall. Personally, I don’t care, I’m just here to deliver a message.”

I did care though. If he had listened it would mean less work for me, and I was already on a tight schedule. He tried to say something, reconsidering when my blade bit into his skin.

  “Don’t think of playing dirty,” I added. “You’ll find me quite difficult to get rid of if you anger me.”

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Blau kept most of his roofless workers in barns scattered across his vast properties. That way he could claim they were squatters if a surprise military raid hit. Or he could report them himself and give the army a chance to prove its efficiency in controlling illegals at some strategic time, in exchange for them looking away from his dealings for a while.

  “Why the boy?” Blau asked as we approached the moonlit barn.

  “It’s a job,” I lied. “One that pays.” I added.

  If there was one thing Blau believed in, it was money. His brows knitted in thought and I continued forward, letting him chase shadows and motivations.

  The truth was that I had promised a dead woman she would see her children again. She wouldn’t. The least I could do was check in on them and make sure they were on the right path. Gayle had done me a service and I never forgot paybacks.

  “I’d watch out if I were you,” Blau said as he unlocked the side door.

  I smiled as sweetly as I could. “Excellent advice.”

  I snatched the satchel of money from him before making my way into the dark.

  The smell of human and cattle was so intermixed inside that I couldn’t tell one from the other. But I had watched the boy long enough to recognise his energy easily, so I weaved through the murky darkness, avoiding sleeping animals and humans alike, in search of my targets.

The two children huddled in a small space between bales of hay. I shook the boy awake. He cracked an eye open to look at me, then at the moonlight streaming through the worn boards.

  “It’s too dark to shape the land,” he muttered, turning around and drifting back to sleep.

  I shook him again. “Wake up, Reuben.”

  He started upon hearing his name, sitting up and glancing around.

  “Who are you?” he asked, voice alert.

  “A friend.”

  He shrank back, but he wasn’t trying to get away. He was shielding his sister. Tabea had woken before him, I’d heard it in her breathing, and was now staring at me through the dark.

  “You’re too quiet,” she said in a small voice as the touch of her awareness tried to grasp onto me. The probing was delicate, unintrusive, but all the same nosy. And that mental touch was unmistakable — an empath. Not an easy ability to grow up with if no training was provided.

  “You’re just not listening carefully enough,” I replied, and relaxed the hold on my energy a fraction. Not enough to reveal my presence, but sufficiently to let her sense my intentions.

  She peered at me for a little longer, before squeezing her brother’s shoulder and making him relax. How naive. I was good enough to fake it, and it wasn’t hard for others to do so too. I’d have a talk with her later, but now the most important part was getting out.

  I squinted when we walked back out into moonlight, expecting ambush even if I sensed no one near. But Blau and his men were nowhere in sight. Good riddance, though I knew that this wasn’t the last I would see of him. Still, he was not stupid enough to chance a confrontation so soon. For now he would retreat, learn more, maybe even get higher class thugs, and then he would be back. Blau was not the kind of man to forgive an injury.

  The children hesitated at the door, round eyes peering at me, sizing me up. In the moonlight they looked small and scared, and for once I was happy my outward appearance wasn’t immediately intimidating. Still, I forced my expression to soften. No point frowning at them.

  Reuben eyed me, the barn, and then the fields, dark gaze dancing in every direction. Hesitation, concern, fear, it all swirled around him.

  “You don’t have to stay here anymore,” I said, guessing at his thoughts.

  He turned to me. “If I don’t work I won’t get paid.”

  “You weren’t getting paid now.” The food scraps and housing generously provided by Blau could hardly be called payment. But I didn’t rush him, letting the two of them weigh their options in silence.

  Both were so thin that I wondered where they found the energy to stand, let alone work. They were only two of the endless stream of workers Blau churned through. I should have slit his throat when I had the chance, but my personal involvement only went so far and there was a greater picture. Tabea and Reuben had lucked out because I happened to owe their mother. Most of the others would continue to suffer so countless more could live. Far too many things depended on this network to chance disrupting it over pointless ideals.

  The boy continued staring at me. His dark gaze and thick brow were so unlike Gayle’s that he must have taken after his father. But Tabea was a mirror image of her mother — the same light brown hair that curled at the ends, the same hazel eyes. She had been five when Gayle was arrested, that would put her at fourteen now. And though the siblings appeared similar in age, Reuben was… a degree older than Tabea.

  “Who sent you?” he asked, straight to the point. I was starting to like this kid. The answer to that question, however, was problematic. If I told him it had been Gayle, he’d have questions that shouldn’t be answered at the moment.

  “Your aunt,” I said instead.

  His brows knitted in confusion. “I don’t have an aunt.”

  “You do now.” Temporarily anyway. I’d been at this job for a while now, which meant a lot of people owed me favours. It wasn’t hard to find a good family to look after the children until they got back on their feet. A good family with an understanding of Reuben’s particular talents and the ability to help him develop in the right direction.

  I tossed the satchel with his wages at him. He lurched to catch it, nearly dropped it, then fumbled with the straps to open it. The children inspected it, eyes rounding as they looked to me, then to the bag again.

  “Your wages.” A few years’ worth of legitimate government bills. Blau hadn’t bothered paying them very well. Even with the bonus, if all they bought were necessities, it wouldn’t last long.

  Reuben nodded, eyes drifting to the ground for a moment, then held it back out for me.

  “We don’t need an aunt. We need our parents.”

  I let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t do reunions.”

  “What do you do then?”

  “I trade information.”

  He continued hovering the bag. “Information then.”

  I rubbed my temple. Get in, get them out, set them on their way. That was the plan. So why was it getting complicated?

  I waved off his money. “One thing at a time,” I said because it was the only thing that I could say to make him move. “First, let’s go meet your aunt.”

  A frown tugged at his lips, and though he nodded an agreement the spark in his eyes didn’t change. I wasn’t getting out of this easily. I sighed again. Give someone a finger, they would take the arm.

  Hand in hand, the children followed me away from the barn. Reuben’s gaze was locked forward, but I could feel his attention on me. Not a total fool. His sister, too, now peered at me suspiciously. Probably because I had concealed my energy again, or maybe because she had woken up enough to realise that trusting strangers was dangerous.

  “Who are you?” Tabea asked.

  “You can call me Nia.”