THE SABLE SPY | TWENTY-FIVE

  "SO WE'RE NOW purposely sabotaging a mission."

Benjamin sounded amused. "My skills are being wasted." He exchanged a grin with Sterling. Marcus rolled his eyes. The two of them were thick as thieves these days, bound by the hips, completely inseparable. "No one's going to believe that I couldn't pick that lock, you realise that?"

"I believe we're meant to remain anonymous," Sterling replied dryly. These two were going to deal with the outside lock. If there were guards inside, they'd hear the door being tampered with and come running out to check. They'd have to make sure they were gone before that. That was their job. Easy enough.

Cass had handed them a small bottle of perfume earlier that day. "Ciri brought this for me a few years ago in Kon Ria." That would be the mission she had done with Laurence. "She'd recognise the smell, if she's close enough to the surface. It's a message for them to remain alert in the next few days." And, Cass said, if they sent out the Panther to investigate afterwards, he'd recognise the smell. He'd know whose handiwork this was.

He and Tyler were to scout the area, being obvious about it. Tyler would most likely not be recognised, but he would, and they doubted Hua Jueying was brave enough to grab another Arecian agent and lord under broad daylight. Cass herself would be traipsing around town, under the public eye, as a half-assed alibi.

"Remind me why we can't just go in and grab Ciri and Laurence again?" Benjamin asked, yawning. "We could, I think."

"It would bring too much attention to ourselves, and people would ask questions. Besides, we'd have to actually hurt people."

Benjamin frowned. "I vividly remember stabbing the thugs Hua Jueying set upon us in the alleyway. I'd say we've already done a damn lot of damage. Quite certain I killed one, really." He didn't flinch, didn't shake, but his eyes showed that he was troubled by it. It would never go away, that feeling. He still remembered every single one of his kills vividly.

"Innocent people, Sinclair. We're going there when there will be customers around."

Sometimes, Marcus thought the Arecian Secret Service was less a network of skilled spies and more a babysitting service for apprentices. He seemed to have to play nanny a lot these days. Being only twenty-four, it just felt tragic. He looked at these kids and felt ancient. This game of spies made people age much quicker than they ought to. Couldn't be healthy for someone's system, really. Maybe he deserved a vacation as well.

Tyler came into the room, already in disguise. He looked like any of the gang members who went around Sial Corner on the regular with his fake scar, ugly clothes and dirty hair. Georgie's work, not Cass's. Cass only seemed able to work properly with females. She used to complain about it a lot. "Dalton, Sinclair, Sterling. Fitzwilliam already has the coach prepared. We're being dropped off at the docks." Georgie followed in a moment later, giving her husband a peck on the cheek, her hand on her midriff. Their child was going to be formidable.

Marcus had to clamp down the sudden twinge of jealousy. Tyler got the girl. Why couldn't he?

Because he knew Cass was planning on leaving again, that whatever promise she had made to stay until the wedding was bullshit. She'd be here for the wedding, but between then and now?

He has a few days left to convince her, it seemed. If their plan to grab Ciri and Laurence worked. It didn't last time, and Marcus didn't dare get his hopes too high up. But if they failed this time...

There might not be a next time. Hua Jueying could bring those two out of the bloody country if he was desperate enough. They wouldn't be able to catch up. It was this or nothing. And the loss of a few properties would make up for the gift of his life. The man might just count his losses and flee.

He'll get them out. If he was about to lose Cass again, he damned sure wasn't about to lose Dumont with her. He needs at least one of them still in his life. He didn't think he'd be able to survive otherwise. For years, those two had been his closest confidants. They could practically read each other's mind, and see what each other were thinking perfectly without a single word passing between them, nothing but a look. Sometimes, even less than that.. Six years apart hadn't changed that, and six more wouldn't either. They had spent their formative years together as a team, and nothing was going to sever that bond. Not even if Cass ran and never came back.

Last time, he had been a coward. He watched her run into the night with her flimsy luggage and did nothing about it. In fact, he had been the cause of her fleeing. Even when he knew where she was, he didn't seek her out. Even when they were in the same ballroom and she was waltzing in the arms of another man, he simply watched and let his fury and jealousy simmer underneath the surface, too afraid to make the first step, to approach her the way he had ten years ago at that dirty street on Sial Corner.. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

If she ran this time, he was following her to the end of the damned world if he had to.

✴

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO let her go again, are you?" Tyler was saying as the two of them made their way up the street outside the White Mole, being very conspicuous about it. "I don't know if any of us can handle you sulking around for another few months, especially with a wedding on the way."

Marcus released a sigh. It seemed when a person got engaged or married, all they wanted to do was interfere with someone else's love life when they should really be focusing on their own. Tyler. Georgie. Cadieux. Luke too, apparently, since he had cryptically mentioned that he was planning on proposing to his lady. They were going to drive him mad. He wondered if Cass was getting the same treatment. She better be. He wasn't the one running every damned time she got too close.

"Don't you have something else to be concerned about?" He decided to reply with after a few moments of thinking. "I don't know, trying to rescue our friends? Your wife being pregnant? Cadieux's wedding? Anything but my personal life?"

Tyler shrugged. "I worry enough about those every day. Allow me a chance to think about something more light-hearted."

"I would, except the target of your teasing seems to be me, which I'm not happy with."

"I can hardly mock Dumont, since he's trapped in a cell a mere few feet away."

Neither of them glanced in the White Mole's direction. Both of them were too well-trained and disciplined for that. But their minds went there. Sterling and Benjamin should be around there by now, but even a stray glance could give them away before they wanted to be.

"A tragedy for people everywhere," he drawled, stretching his arms.

Their next few steps were taken in silence. People passed by without as much a glance at them. Marcus felt himself relaxing, which he didn't think was a good thing. He was, after all, extremely close to an enemy stronghold. He had to be alert. But his muscles eased anyway.

"I don't think Cass is going to leave." Well, there went his short-earned peace. Marcus's eyes flickered to meet Tyler's grey ones.

"She's Cassalyn. You can think she's going to do something, but it doesn't matter shit in the end. Complicated as all hell. Layers upon layers, like an onion."

Tyler snorted. "I'm married to Georgiana. I've met plenty of complicated women. Compared to some of them, Cass runs tame. Hell, you've seen those Lady Kuroki girls. I'm terrified for us if Arecia and Sai go against each other in the future. A single one of those girls could drive us all mad, and in various ways." A dark chuckle.

"Lady Asteria is asking her to go to Sai with them. She says she can procure some early pardon for Cass. They're going to take Hua Jueying, since he's their issue at the end of the day. We need Sai's help against Melique. We see that, the people up there don't. If they know what we know, they'll rip the empire into pieces. Arecia's scared of Sai, Tyler."

"We should be. But it won't be our war to fight, I think. Arecia and Sai will turn against each other someday, but probably not in our lifetime. Or the next. The Crown Prince here has been pushing an alliance, haven't you heard? They don't say much about the Saian Crown Prince— quiet guy, from what I've heard, but we know he trusts his cousin, Princess Longyu. Princess Irina. Princess Huancheng. Whatever her name is. The princess, from the people we have in Sai, seems to be the main reason war against Melique hasn't broken out yet. She seems to see some logic in waiting."

"She's waiting for Arecia to be ready, and for Melique to piss some other kingdoms off."

"Clever, waiting for allies to join in," Tyler shrugged, "but let's return to the point. Hua Jueying captured an Arecian lord and agent. An agent here would be sent to ensure justice is served. You're going to volunteer, and Cadieux would agree." Everything he already knew. She'd find it difficult to hide this time. "Past that, she'll come back for the wedding either way. You have time."

"She can't be convinced to do something unless she wants to be. She's much like Georgie in that way. Stubborn as all hell."

Tyler looked unperturbed. "Can I offer you some advice?"

"Pretty sure you've been doing that for the past five minutes, but sure."

He rolled his eyes. "She's fighting a bloody civil war inside herself. Brain says to let you go. Heart says to let you in, and her heart's starting to win. I can see it in her body language. When she first comes back, she always turns away from you. She's not doing that anymore. In fact, when she wants comfort or someone to depend on, she turns to you. She realises it sometimes and quickly goes back to normal. You're not fighting a losing battle, Dalton. Don't give up, if only to save us all from dealing with you two with a broken heart."

"It'll just be me."

"One too many to deal with. The boys are already betting on it. The odds are in your favour."

"Fate's a perverse bitch. You've all jinxed me. I just know it."

Tyler grinned. "We both are too jaded and cynical to believe in that shit. Get her flowers. Buy her jewellery. Or since it's Diao, hand her a list of all the advantages of marrying you and convince her that it outweighs all the negatives. Bloody hell, you're an earl." The last sentence was uttered softly. You never knew who was listening. "Do earl things."

"I do believe," he started testily, "that that is the best advice I've ever received. Do earl things. You realise it's just a courtesy title? So I don't actually have things to do?"

Tyler grunted. "Fucking aristos."

Marcus wasn't offended. Many Service agents were aristocrats, but none of them were sitting around doing nothing but wasting money. When those like Tyler grunted about the useless nobles, they knew it wasn't aimed at them. Often, the aristocratic agents joined in. Laurence always got a good laugh out of it, living both lives.

Absent-mindedly, he adjusted his jacket. The two of them were walking around the area, again and again. Eventually, one of the more perceptive Ivory Rats would notice and grow suspicious. Even better if they got one of the guards inside to come out. Hua Jueying had to have described him to them, if the guards hadn't been at the ambush in the first place. "Where are you going to raise the baby? Borewood Street hardly seems like a place for a kid to grow up in." Even after they were married, Georgie and Tyler had chosen to stay in the house. Cadieux gave them one of the largest rooms, where they've set up their own personal little space. It was tiny, but it was enough for them. Neither of them were used to exuberant luxuries, so they did just fine.

"We've been looking into properties nearby," he admitted. "Georgie might head to Borewood a bit less. There's a house near where Seylace lives we've been looking into."

Seylace's house... "Ten minutes walk. Convenient enough. Have Cadieux and his future wife talked about where they're moving?"

"If they have, we don't know. The wedding's in four months, they have time. If they have to, they could just camp at Janae's Charity House until they get a proper house. It's close enough to Borewood, and no one's expecting the old man to immediately jump back to work afterwards. Let him enjoy a honeymoon before returning to plotting the rise and demise of kingdoms and empires. It's extremely headache-inducing."

"Tell me about it."

They completed their third circle. Still no commotion.

"They're less observant than I thought," Tyler echoed his own thoughts.

"This is what you get for hiring untrained criminals. Less observant." Marcus rubbed his jaw, feeling the rough stubble. He had forgotten to shave that morning. "We continue walking, I suppose, like two fools."

"The kids would be picking the lock by now, I think."

"Let's hope they get caught."

"Never thought there'd be a day I heard those words uttered. Let's switch that a bit. Let's hope they get caught messing with the lock but not actually downright caught, which would be an awful situation that complicates matters greatly."

"You're starting to speak like a bloody scholar. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that you're speaking fancier than those of us who actually grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth and expensive tutors."

Tyler shrugged. "I'm a good actor and a fast learner." He hadn't had a rich and powerful father's backing, or a well-known family name. Before he joined the Service, he had nothing. What he had, he all got himself. Tyler was one of those men he admired greatly.

"The boy at our three o'clock is staring at us."

Marcus used the reflection of a window to see who he was talking about. "He's been there since we've started. He'll be puzzled. Let's hope he's a Rat and go running inside for the guards."

"If we were that lucky, the Service wouldn't be needed in the first place." Tyler stuffed his hand in his large jacket, as if he was fixing or hiding something. He wasn't. His hand was empty, but they had just passed a group of people and it would make him seem like a pickpocket. They needed to raise suspicion here, the opposite of their usual work, so Tyler made it obvious. It almost hurt his head watching it.

They both knew the exact moment Sterling and Benjamin began picking the lock and spraying the perfume, because whoever had the scent had done it so heavy handedly the perfume could be smelt from where they walked by the front of the tavern.

They exchanged a look. The two boys had chosen a moment when the two of them walked by, shielding them from anyone's eyes. They both glanced inside the alley, where the two dark figures were. Anyone who looked by now would know they were involved, which was, really, the entire point.

It still made him extremely uncomfortable, though.

The two boys jerked at the lock. Hard. Anyone would be able to hear the sound, and while most people would ignore it, if there was someone with them in that damned basement, they wouldn't.

They heard steps.

Marcus smirked. Tyler grinned. Benjamin and Sterling started making a run for it. The two of them continued walking, as if nothing had happened, knowing full well that the two teenage boys across the street staring knew exactly what was going on. Or at least they thought they did.

The door of the tavern flung open in front of their face. Marcus pretended to freeze in surprise, allowing the man a perfect glance at his face. There was confusion, as they stared at each other, before Tyler pretended to yank at his arm. The man glanced between the two of them, before his eyes settled on Marcus's face again. They widened and recognition flared in his pupils. Marcus swore, loudly, as Tyler took flight. Without hesitation, he pushed past the man, who opened his mouth to yell for his friends, before running towards the alley to check the trapdoor.

The two agents were long gone by the time anyone would have gone out to start chasing. They ditched their jackets in an alley, tossing them into a bin. A moment later, Sterling and Benjamin appeared, looking tired and sweating, but still grinning. "Made sure they caught us running, as you wanted. While Sterling was hooded. That was damned flawless." Sterling was almost the same height as Cass. Looking from the back, while in motion, with the perfume, anyone would be forgiven for thinking it had been Cass running in the first place.

"Good," Marcus nodded in approval, sucking in a final, deep breath. "Now we wait."