Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Sebastian patted my shoulder. “You get started. I’m gonna grab that guy something to munch on. He looks a little shaken.”
Niamh swiped the scrambler off the table and switched it off before pocketing it. She apparently liked that little gadget and didn’t plan on giving it back.
I took the seat opposite Pierce as Austin continued to stand by his side like a mobster’s hitman. A moment later, Broken Sue reentered and stood in the middle of the entryway, an enormous bouncer.
“Aadath.” Niamh sat down beside me. “He’s the lad in charge of Gabauve, right? The production cairn ye pulled a runner from?”
“You know how he is,” Pierce said, his face a mask of scared rage. A little drool leaked down the side of his mouth. “He doesn’t have any vision. He knows it, his people know it, and I know it. Why do you think so many people agreed to go with me?”
“Because ye promised them a huge cut, I imagine,” Niamh said before taking a sip from her flask. She made a face. “Like fire, that stuff. Goes down rough. Anyway, what was the cut you promised, twenty percent? Thirty?”
“None of your business! I left that cairn fair and square. I followed the rules! I gave my notice in writing, I stuck to my job until it was time to leave, and then I left peacefully. You’ve got nothing on me!”
“But…” Nessa sat down beside him and leaned to the side away from him, her elbow propped on the table, her chin in her hand. “Are you sure, though?”
“Where are we?” Sebastian asked as he reentered with a plate of what looked like bacon-wrapped shrimp.
“We were just getting to Koru,” Nessa said, gazing pleasantly at Pierce.
All the blood drained from his face. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but nothing came out.
“Yes, exactly,” Nessa said, nodding. “You didn’t think anyone knew about Koru, did you? A married woman—”
“Mated,” Sebastian amended.
“Mated to the head weaver. Bored, though, poor thing. Tired of hearing about her husband’s—”
“Mate’s.”
“—mate’s day, and how he recalibrated his machines… But when a handsome, charming gargoyle half her age showed a little interest, suddenly she was eager to share all she knew. She even started asking her husband more about certain aspects of his job, like what his secret was for making a product no one else had ever been able to duplicate. Until you…”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Pierce shouted, his voice quavering. “It’s not my fault she shared information with me! I just listened, that’s all. She’s the one who talked.”
“Hard to listen with her thighs clamped around yer head,” Niamh drawled. “Then again, it’s a right easy way to get her to come back for more of yer tedious company. Ye must be at least decent at it.”
“So?” Pierce said. “Having sex with a garhette in a closed mating isn’t against cairn rules. That had nothing to do with my job. Her being unfaithful is between her and her mate.”
“Hmm.” I tapped my chin in mock thought. “I could’ve sworn bribery and blackmail were against cairn rules, though, no? Did I get that wrong?”
“I didn’t—” He swallowed hard and choked on his spit. “I didn’t bribe—I didn’t do those things!”
“You didn’t bribe her with fancy jewelry and then sex acts to get her to ask her mate for detailed information?” I quirked an eyebrow. “You didn’t blackmail her into stealing his private documents out of the safe by telling her you’d reveal the affair?”
“You can’t prove that,” Pierce said. “Those were gifts.”
“How about blackmailing the head weaver?” I asked. “Didn’t you threaten him with termination if he reported the incident?”
“I just said I’d tell on his mate, that’s all! I didn’t say he couldn’t report me. It’s not blackmail. He’s got nothing on me!”
I sighed, leaning back. “That’s true. This is all hearsay. There was no actual money exchanging hands for it to be considered a bribe—if we count the jewelry as a gift—and there is no evidence of direct blackmail.”
“That’s why they couldn’t file a grievance.” He crossed his arms, looking smug. “I didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t my fault.”
Nessa put up her hands, her mouth open in a pantomime of incredulity. She swiveled to Sebastian and then Niamh. “We literally just went through a whole list of why he’s a scumbag, but because he didn’t get caught, he thinks that means he did nothing wrong? That’s wild.”
“Ye know what I think?” Niamh took another sip from her flask. “I think cider tastes better than this, that’s what I think. I also think his old cairn didn’t file a grievance because they couldn’t be bothered. He might have the know-how to make the stuff, but he is absolute shite at everything else. Who would take him on? He can’t even set up a display, like. Pure useless, this lad.”