Thieves at Heart (15 page)

“I’m headed to the Two Headed to have a drink with Hock. Will you clean the map and meet me up there when you’re done?” Derk asked. Everyone else was gathering up their things, making plans. Lights got up and threw the game board into his pack, giving Tavera a look she couldn’t decipher just yet and she nodded at Derk. “You did alright, Kiff,” he smiled again, turning to leave with everyone else. He looked back at her one more time before he disappeared out the door, his big boots stomping heavily down the steps.

Tavera stood there for a moment, wondering what just happened. She shook her head free of the questions and looked down to the ground, finding a bucket of water and a cloth. Sweat dripped down her side as she dipped the cloth in, wringing it out over the wooden table. The water splattered and made dark circles on the wooden surface, making spots on her tunic and brushing against her skin when she moved. Tavera sighed as she wiped away at the chalk marks on the table, destroying the evidence scrawled there. The white chalk buried deep into the wood and so she had to drown it out with big scoops of water, spreading it out so it would dry quickly in the heat. A lock of hair fell into her eyes and she pushed it away, wetting it with her hands in the hopes it would stay back. She looked at the table and then back at the bucket. She would need more water.

The stable boy at the inn traded her empty bucket for a full one and she flashed him a smile that made him grin back, heading back up towards the staircase leading up to the little room. A familiar head of curls caught her eye and followed her but she didn’t bother to turn and acknowledge him, keeping her eyes forward.

“Hey,” Lights said when she was halfway up the stairs, his gaze set on her. She tossed her head at him and continued up to the room, careful not to spill the water. Tavera didn’t bother closing the door. She knew he would close it when he got to the room and he did, a quiet thud punctuating his arrival.

“I know you tricked me into not paying attention at the meeting,” he shot at her. Tavera rolled her eyes and dipped the cloth into the bucket, squeezing it onto the table again.

“I’m not the one who was so taken by hardly nothing at all,” she said, mocking him with her tone. “Besides, no one asked for your input, so no one found out you’ve got nothing in your head but eyes and a tongue. Though I’m sure your pa noticed Hock didn’t so much as look at you the whole time.” She looked over her shoulder, expecting him to look angry or even embarrassed. Instead the young man looked distressed, his eyes lost as his thoughts rattled in his brain.

“He’s not my pa,” he answered finally and she thought she heard him choke, a crack in his voice giving away his age. “And asides, you and the Lurk ain’t fooling anyone. Who do you think you are? You’re just another set of hands to tear out a share, you know! And not for who you think, neither! Hock’s just using everybody to get what he wants, and you included!”

“That ain’t true,” Tavera snapped and she wheeled around, forgetting her duties and focusing her anger on Lights. “You think you know better than me? I’ve known Hock longer than you, I’ve known Derk longer than you!” Tavera’s brain scrambled as she tried to think of something to shoot at him, to knock him down before he carried this too far. “Though I suspect you do know men better than me! Shot’s said as much to everyone.”

Light’s eyes went wide, as if he’d been kicked between the legs and his face went white and then red. His mouth disappeared on his face as he pressed his lips together. Lights swallowed and then he blew his breath out quietly, as if exhaling the words he wanted to say. “That…that is how I know this, Kiff. I’ve known men like Hock. He’s like a priestess with a knife for a twixt, you pull up her robes and you’re dead! He’ll use your pa too and he’s already using you.”

“Why’re you talking about The Cup like this!? You know The Cup ain’t bad! Not bad for people like us. We need it. My pa ain’t bad for people like us.”

“Your pa is fine, The Cup is fine, I’ve nothing against stealing and having fun! Just because we live by the take doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take pride as well as blueies! But Hock…I…Kiff…” He sat on the floor cross legged, and put his head into his hands, his blond curls spilling over his fingers. For a moment Tavera thought that he was laughing but after a few breaths she took a step back, realizing that he was crying. “I just…I don’t want to be used anymore, Kiff? Do you?”

Tavera frowned and set the cloth down on the table before she walked over to him as quietly as she could, sitting besides him. His face was covered with his hands but she put her hand on his chin and made him look at her.

“No,” she said, her dark eyes looking into his. Tavera felt like crying too but couldn’t. She sat next to Lights and let her hands fall into her lap, feeling his eyes still on her, the hot day made even warmer by how close they sat to one another. Tavera stared down at her hands, long, brown fingers made soft by rubbing them with oil every night. Was that all she was? A pair of hands? No. Did Hock think that? Let him think that. If at first he accepted her hands, he might accept the rest of her, wouldn’t he? Everything in small steps. Hock was learning she could take and also deal, everyone at the table had seen it. Derk knew it. He knew that and more.

“Lights, Hock…just…be yourself and do a good job. Hock’ll come around. Shot’s not a bad guy, though he’s a bit…gruff.” Tavera smiled at Lights and he smiled back at her, his long-lashed eyes looking pretty despite the tears. She found herself biting the inside of her lip as he leaned in closer, his warm breath brushing against her mouth before he kissed her. Tavera closed her eyes and let him, returning the kiss once she thought he wouldn’t push her away and he didn’t. Instead he put an arm behind her and leaned into her more, kissing her, his tongue slipping into her mouth. It made her pull away at first but when he kissed her again she didn’t stop him this time and she opened her mouth, trying the same and deciding that she liked it.

His hand went under her tunic and slid up her belly to her chest, his hand proving that there was something there after all. Tavera’s body tingled as he touched her, and she tried to figure out what to do with her hands. This was usually the part where Derk would walk by and grab her by the arm, yanking her away from the boy she had been kissing. She wasn’t a stranger to boys but having a boy all to herself, and a boy that knew her, knew her really…it made things different. It made Tavera put her hands under his tunic and pull it over his head and she bit his lip without knowing why she did it.

His hand went up her skirt, his fingers kneading at her skin and then pulling off her shirt and she trembled despite the heat, letting him lay her back on the floor. It was still wet in spots from when she had been washing the table clean and for a second she wondered if she had cleaned it enough. But the thought was quickly chased away by Lights bending over her, his melancholy face now warm and happy as he kissed her again, his belt coming away from his britches in her hands and more of his skin pressing against hers, the hard floor under her.

In the end Tavera found herself washing blood from her legs and looking over at Lights, his back to her as he buttoned his pants and put on his tunic again. Tavera thought as she washed up, wiping her face with clean water, feeling a touch of an ache in her lower belly, wondering if that was what it was supposed to be like. What part of it had been desire, and what had she really desired? Lights? He was handsome, she supposed. His hands and his other parts on her skin and inside of her?

It made her head swim a bit to think about it, and her stomach fluttered, tugging on the corners of her mouth so that she was smiling at her reflection in the bucket. It wasn’t the most fun thing she had done but many things weren’t the first time and Derk seemed to enjoy himself anytime they crossed paths with Old Gam. In the end, after Lights had kissed her more awkwardly than she had ever been kissed before and left her, she thought she wouldn’t have paid money for it but she’d be willing to give it another go.

“What happened to you?” Derk asked when she slid into her seat at the bar. “You fall into the bucket?” He was sitting alone at the Two Headed, the ale almost gone in the pitcher. He poured her a mug. It sloshed over the side and onto the table, fizzing there. Tavera just shook her head and took the mug, looking into it before she took a big gulp. It was sweet and spicy.

“You did good today, girl,” Derk said, smiling drunkenly. He patted her on the head and drained his mug, pouring himself the rest of the pitcher as he looked to her. “Real good.”

“So they’re using my plan?” She wondered if she and Derk would get in on the take. If they used her plan, would she get any of the rewards? Tavera knew a few places that spices could be unloaded quietly, a few kitchens and a few individuals who would trade for a finger’s worth of redtree bark or a blacknut or three.

Derk shook his head. “Not exactly, but something like it. We’re hanging about for a few days to read the guards, get information but Drink’s got something invested in this and Hock….” Derk shrugged. “But he said your idea was a good one.” He drank the rest of his pitcher and looked to her, woozily. Blond lashes blinked slowly and he made a face at her. “Are you feeling well, Kiff? You look all…” All he could do was gesture towards her with his hands and make pained, drunken faces. Tavera felt her face get hot and she lowered her head, hunching her shoulders to make herself smaller, so there’d be less of her to read.

“I’m fine, Derk. You’re just drunk.” Tavera frowned at him, wondering if he could tell. He had slept with women. Maybe he could tell, just like he could tell what kind of thief someone was just by the way he walked. She didn’t feel different. Just sore.

“I’m not…you’re right, I am drunk.” Derk laughed and shook his head, lacing his fingers together and putting them behind his head. He smiled dimly, which made her roll her eyes. “I was thinking we could head to the west side after this.”

“Not north?” Tavera asked, raising her eyebrows. Ravinewild was north, and Moorland. Derk’s face became muddled and he looked as if he might be sick, burping quietly.

“No. In two days. I mean, we’ll head north first and then west. With Shot and Lights. At first light. Heh.” Derk put his hand on the table and pushed himself up, chuckling over his rather bad joke. “They’re staying at the inn across from the north well.” He managed to lean forward without toppling over and kissed her on the top of her head, leaving a few coins to pay for the drinks and a bit extra for her. Then he left, stumbling out of the bar without knocking into anyone. Tavera watched him go.

She ordered a bowl of stew and ate it, thinking over the events of the day. So, Hock had liked her plan? And Derk knew he did. But what about Drink and Shot? Drink had criticized her, saying her plan wasn’t glamorous enough. Well, Tavera wasn’t there to please Drink. She was there to come up with a plan that they could pull off and keep them out of the clacks. The beer they served in the Spicehill dregs was the same as the beer anywhere else, she reasoned, drinking from her mug. Her thoughts strayed to Lights, wondering what he thought of her plan. They were in the same spot after all. One day they could be sitting across the table from one another, making plans, criticizing one another, relying on the other’s skills. She scraped up the last bit of her stew with her spoon and stood up, deciding that maybe she should find out what Lights thought of her plan.

The inn by the north well was called the North Well Inn, and she found their room after asking the boy turning the spits where the boy with the blond hair was staying. The spit turner told her and then asked if she would rather know where he was staying and she laughed, swishing her skirts flirtatiously as she made her way towards the room. Maybe, she told herself. They’d be there a few more days.

A quick knock on the door brought the sound of footsteps and the door cracked open, dark brown eyes looking at her. He opened the door and she slipped in, Lights closing the door behind her.

“Everything alright?” he asked. Tavera had gone there meaning to ask him about her plan and what he had thought about it. But then she remembered how he felt about Hock and what his skin felt like and tried hard not to grin, her hands behind her back.

“Where’s Shot?” she asked, looking around the room. Shot and Lights were messier than she and Derk, clothes hanging off of things, their packs undone and laying slopping on the floor. Lights scratched his head and shrugged, looking confused.

“He’s out with Drink, why?” he asked.

“I want to try again,” she said, her words more forceful than she had intended them to be. For a breath Lights looked confused and they stared at each other for a moment, his eyes growing bigger as he realized what she was asking. He fumbled to secure the door, looking around the room as if someone else was there watching before his mouth met hers, Tavera pulling him with her towards the unmade bed.

It always took a few times to get something right, Tavera told herself. The first time she stole a tart she burned her fingers and it had broke in her hands as she ran away. The first time she had thrown a punch, she scraped her knuckles so badly they had bled. Tavera won a small victory, gaining a bit of Hock’s acceptance, even if Drink didn’t approve of her plan so a bit of celebration was in order, right? A memory from her days with Prisca came to mind and she pushed Lights onto the bed before he could push her, sitting on top of him. This time would be better, she thought.

Tavera pushed through the crowd, smiling at the bearded man who brushed up against her, his hand squeezing her backside in the press of people. Her hand squeezed too but her fingers wrapped around the coins he had in his pocket, the only thing about him she found interesting and he laughed, thinking something else. It was hot in the bar, people singing and drinking and carrying on. It was High Summer Moon and out of doors people were splashing each other with buckets of water in celebration, drinking barley water and beer indoors, playing music on every street corner.

Derk let her run about town to partake in the festivities and Tavera had loosed herself on the town of Redbriar as if it were her last day on earth. The heat and the holiday gave everyone free reign and people ate, drank and caroused to their hearts desire, the gluttony of heat calling for a gluttony of the body. She had already been drenched by two buckets of water and personally seen to the dousing of three guards, laughing hysterically as the water dripped through their light armor and pooled beneath them.