To Make a Kinder Children's Tale

20: Rileus Firstborn

Rileus was punctual, arriving with the servant who carried the tea-laden tray. It took only the first sentence from him to figure out the dynamics between the two men. "Alright, Esme, you've cost me ten years worth of contacts. I want to know why."

The servant had barely left the room. Althalos had begun to fill their plates and cups. "Greetings, cousin. Be civil."

It was like a lit fire and deep water. Suddenly she was grateful that her bond wasn't to this new man. He'd eat her alive. "If you lost contacts, that's not my doing. They'd be gone after such an operation, anyway. We're talking about a massive group of vendors and those with publicly known connections. You know you were risking them."

A derisive snort, that's all this new Aelif gave her as a cue on his feelings. "How can you be so sure?"

"Hrm...The rumors surrounding this heist were of retirement wealth. That was a warning in itself--most heads did not trust it. The three that thought it would be worth the risk still needed a fourth-my master-for experienced hands. It was thoroughly checked over for months, until we thought we had a weakness figured out. My master almost cut me from that list to put in better talent. A massive screw-up on my part was what exposed you, and I had no way to call it off but to burn my only home and life."

"You do have those, here, you know." Rileus waved that jab away dismissively. Neither of the Aelifs had a clue that the wrong man spoke the objection. "I don't need the..."

"I do not wish to interrupt your thought's path, but you're insane. What I have is more sex than I want and an unbearable wait until I butterfly on out of here." Esme's hands shook in annoyance, so she placed her plate beside her to watch the lean ebony figure pace the room as if he would punch a wall. Fat lot of good that would do-stone wouldn't bend to mere physical force. "The Elder bondmaid called this exile. I'm more inclined to call this the waiting place of the dead. This isn't a life. It's more a prison where I've started bedding down with my jailor. I had more when I called a man my master. So, please don't pretend that I should be enamored-no, fooled-by a title, a pretty face, and a few baubles."

Rileus didn't flinch, but Althalos' response was a bit pained by her outburst. "We can see that you gain as much freedom as needed, if you will help us with capturing these 'heads' you mentioned, my dear."

The former thief laughed so hard, she nearly wept-a good excuse as any to pick up her plate and start picking at the food-not that they were giving her any time to eat. "You really can't help yourself, can you?"

Rileus finally sat down across from them, picking up his own plate. "Well, if we are going to make reasonable decisions, you're going to have to give us some sort of information, here."

"Again, there isn't really one guild with a master-we are called clans for a reason. We don't fight for territory, as that would have you down on us in a heartbeat. None of the groups are wholly alike. Mine was small with one leader who was both master and head. Some are bigger. The only control they have over each other is demanding someone like me be ousted. I know of a dozen such groups, in passing: no names, few faces, and most of them are people of the least power."

Althalos shook his head as the arrangement struck him as haphazard. "What stops more clans from forming?"

"You capture the new ones. If they survive they form a clan. But rarely, when they are good at our job but are not enough like us? We kill them. There's been three new clans settle in over the past decade: one large split, and two annihilations. It all could be lies told to those of us who couldn't prove anything, anyway, as we were deliberately isolated. Could, but I walked through the Shards in all that I owned, save my clan earrings. The last I wore that little in a much safer area of the city you were upset by it, Althalos. I've slept, drunk, in public, and was not harassed at any point-that speaks to the reach of the clans as nothing else would."