Crushing the folded parchment into his fist, Sebastian shouldered his way past Teague, and took off running for the front door.
The cage was a small box of a building set apart from the main villa. Sebastian sprinted for it while his lungs burned and his scars sent prickles of pain through him.
His father was here.
His father had Ari.
His father only had Ari because Teague had ordered her taken to the cage. Teague had turned against her, and when Teague turned against someone, they never survived.
Somehow Sebastian had to handle the situation without getting the princess killed.
Without getting them both killed.
He had no idea how he was going to do it.
The door to the cage was unlocked and opened soundlessly when he pushed it. He entered the room and rolled to the balls of his feet, fists ready, as he took in the scene.
The princess lay on a sorry excuse for a mattress at the back of the room. Her ankle was chained to a hook in the wall, and she absently rubbed the chain with her fingers while she stared at the ceiling.
His father sat on a chair close to the entrance, his head tipped back against the wall as he slept.
Behind Sebastian, Teague entered the cage and closed the door behind him.
Sebastian was surrounded by threats, and he didn’t know how to defeat them.
“Jacob!” Teague snapped.
The man’s eyes jerked open, and he lumbered to his feet before catching sight of Sebastian. A flash of anger lit his face, and he placed his hand on the whip he kept hooked to his belt. “What are you doing in here? This is Teague’s private villa. You don’t belong here—”
“He works for me now,” Teague said, stepping out from behind Sebastian so that Jacob could see him.
The air felt too thick to breathe, and the rage that Sebastian kept firmly locked away surged against its restraints. The princess still lay on the mattress staring at the ceiling. If she’d heard them, she gave no sign.
Jacob grunted. “I see you have him taking over the babysitting detail. You let me know if he isn’t up to the task. I’ll set him straight in a hurry.”
“Like you set his brother straight?” Teague tsked. “I think not. Sebastian has great potential. Besides, all you have to do to bring Sebastian in line is hurt the princess. Isn’t that right?” He smiled at Sebastian, and the rage clawed for freedom.
Keeping his voice as steady as he could, Sebastian said, “Why is she here?”
The hint of friendliness that had been on Teague’s face vanished. “Because we learned her friend Cleo visited a bookshop and retrieved a very special book for the princess.”
Sebastian’s heart sank.
“I warned her.” Anger warmed Teague’s voice. “I told her to stop looking into my business and my past, but she defied me, and her friend paid the price.”
“Cleo is dead?” Sebastian asked softly, as if by keeping his words from reaching Ari’s ears he could somehow keep the truth from hurting her.
“She is. And she suffered horribly before she died, courtesy of your father.” Teague beamed. “The two of you are quite a set. The blunt instrument”—he nodded toward Jacob—“and the precisely balanced sword.” He looked at Sebastian and tapped a finger on the parchment still clutched in Sebastian’s hands. “New debts came due today. Consider this your loyalty test. Collect them all by nightfall, and I’ll keep you on as my collector here.”
“You offered that job to me!” Jacob turned toward Teague, his fist wrapped around the handle of his whip.
“And yet young Sebastian proved himself so spectacularly suited to the position that I am loath to give him up.” Teague’s voice was hard.
“I don’t understand how this is a test,” Sebastian said to buy himself time. Time to figure out Teague’s angle. Time to come up with a way to shield Ari from his father. “I collect for you all the time. How is this any different?”
Teague smiled. “Today is different because today there’s a soul on the list.”
It was difficult to swallow past the sudden dryness in his throat. He couldn’t take someone’s soul. Only a monster would do that, and he wasn’t a monster.
“You never let anyone collect souls but you,” Jacob scoffed.
“Times change,” Teague said, his gaze locked on Sebastian. “Soul collecting isn’t something a blunt instrument can do. And given the rash of interest in me—ordering poisons, looking up ancient fae texts—I don’t think I’ll risk collecting the soul debt myself.”
He was afraid. Behind the marble voice there was a thread of fear.
That’s why he’d killed Cleo. That’s why Ari was chained to a wall.
But why was she still alive?
Sebastian held Teague’s stare. Teague had already made connections at the trade summit. He now had high-ranking nobility in his debt across the kingdoms. He could easily use one of them to draw in other, desirable debtors. And his campaign of violence and terror across the streets of Kosim Thalas made it certain no one would oppose him if he chose to ascend the throne.
He didn’t really need Thad anymore.
Which meant he didn’t need Ari anymore.
So why was she still alive?
And why add a soul to Sebastian’s collection list and call it a test of his loyalties?
He stared at Teague, keeping his father in his peripheral vision, and when the answer hit him, it came with a tiny spark of hope.
“This isn’t a test of my loyalties,” he said, bracing for a blow as his father cursed and stepped toward him. Teague lifted a hand in the air, and Jacob stopped.
“Isn’t it?” Teague asked.
Sebastian pocketed the parchment, working hard to keep both the panic and the hope off his face. “No. It’s a test to see if I’ll break my contract with you.”
He knew he was right even before Teague’s eyes narrowed into furious slits.
Sebastian took a step back, keeping both his father and Teague in his line of sight. “According to our contract, bound by your magic and my blood, if I don’t collect a debt you give to me, you can hurt the princess. The reverse then means that as long as I collect every debt, you can’t harm her.”
Teague’s smile could cut a man to pieces, but Sebastian had grown up on a steady diet of cruelty and abuse. He was held together by scars and a stubborn refusal to quit, and he was impossible to break.
“I’m going to speak to the princess for a moment, and then I’ll go collect every last debt.” He met Teague’s eyes. “I won’t fail.”
He moved to Ari’s side and half turned so he could see any sudden moves the others made. Crouched beside her, his heart clenched at the misery on her face. “Princess Arianna?”
She turned her head slowly. “Sebastian?” Her lips trembled.
He brushed his fingertips across her cheek, catching a tear as it fell. Leaning down so his mouth was beside her ear, he whispered, “Don’t lose heart. He can’t hurt you as long as I keep my contract.”
And, stars, he hoped that same principle extended to Teague ordering Sebastian’s father to hurt the princess in his place.