CHAPTER EIGHT
The rest of The Wayward Prince’s crew showed up in the morning, determined to abuse the hotel’s room service.
“So we’ve got weapons detection at the front. Inside, it’s cameras, a handprint lock, and likely shatterproof glass over the case,” Sebastian said, lounging in a chair.
“Don’t forget a motion-triggered alarm underneath the necklace itself. I could sense it on all the cases,” Jaime added over a large mug of coffee. Sebastian appreciated that the hotel eschewed the local earth-tasting brew and went for an expensive off-world import.
“Sounds pretty standard,” Bo said. He was more concerned with the stack of pancakes in front of him; they were savory and made from some kind of root.
“Except that the display room is located inside solid rock, and the entire mansion is dangling on the side of a cliff above a river.”
“That is a bit different,” Bo agreed through a mouthful.
“But not impossible?” Ren asked anxiously. He was hovering around the edges of the large room, holding a cup of tea and looking a bit overwhelmed by the invasion of the suite.
“Nothing is impossible,” Sebastian said with a flashing smile. Mags gave him a long look, which managed to wryly note his desire to impress Ren and remind him of his tendency to overshoot, in all ways. ”That doesn’t mean it won’t be hard,” he said to her.
She only raised an eyebrow.
“How much can you take care of, Jaime?” the doctor asked, cutting a piece of fruit.
“The alarms shouldn’t be a problem, just give me a few minutes before we go in to talk to the computer,” Jaime said. “The handprint lock too; the system isn’t that sophisticated.” He glanced at Rylan, who was steadily working his way through a bowl of thick fish-and-noodle soup. “I am worried about the cameras — if someone is monitoring they’ll see when I switch them off.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes, picking up on some significant looks between the two that seemed to be about more than Rylan’s hogging of the soup. But Simi piped up from the table against the wall where she had spread out a bunch of tools among the breakfast plates.
“I’m on that.” She held up a small metallic disk. “Once I finish with this cutie, it’ll be able to loop all the camera feeds in the house. No one will be able to see you heading to the display room or when you’re in it.”
“Won’t people doing the same thing over and over be super obvious?” Kaz asked. The sides of her head were freshly shaved, with the longer, dark hair on top cut into a sharp slant over her eyes. “Even at that boring place.”
“Give me some credit, Kaz. This is sweet tech.” She looked guiltily at Ren. “I did sort of take apart that little holo projector you had and use most of the parts. It’s just that it’s impossible to get anything like that on short notice and—”
“It’s fine,” Ren assured her. “What we’re doing is more important than a toy.”
Sebastian wasn’t sure about that we. When it came down to it, he intended to keep Ren far away from any danger. But in the meantime—
“We have a workable plan,” he said. “Once we find out the exact date of the auction we’ll hit the mansion before it happens, at a time when it’s at its most empty. Kaz will bring us in by air with the ship. Mags and Bo will deal with any guards so Jaime has time to work his magic.” Sebastian sat up and rubbed his hands together, enjoying all the eyes on him, especially Ren’s. “Now, let’s talk weapons.”
“Can we get more pancakes first?” Bo asked. Immediately everyone else began calling out more breakfast requests. Sebastian sighed, but Ren was smiling, just a little, at him.
“They do say an army travels on its stomach,” Ren said.
“They mention the top speed of this waddling army?” Sebastian asked, but he did get up to go to the comm panel and order more food.
Some time and a considerable amount of spent credits later, Sebastian stepped into the hall outside the suite. He was looking to clear the empty dishes out of the room — something he was aware rich people wouldn’t be likely to do themselves — but they’d already stained the printed pages of the mansion layout with jam, and he wanted to be done with the mess. He walked down the winding hall a ways, not wanting to dump all the dishes in front of their door, and nearly dropped the plates when Jaime rounded a corner.
“Oh, sorry,” Jaime said immediately, helping Sebastian balance the plates.
He hadn’t even realized that Jaime had left; there’d been so many people crowding what was normally a spacious suite. “When did you escape?”
“I just stepped out to stretch my legs a bit.” He hesitated. “So I, uh, ran into Ebba downstairs in the lobby.”
“Ebba?”
“You know. Graven’s… assistant person.”
“I’m aware, but why would Ebba be at our hotel?”
“She was dropping off a message for us — you and Ren. Like I said, I just saw her in the lobby.”
“Like you said,” Sebastian repeated, and Jaime flushed under the scrutiny. “So what was it?”
“What?”
“The message Ebba was bringing.”
“Oh. There’s a dinner tonight at Graven’s. He wants to discuss the details of the auction.”
Sebastian heaved a sigh, feeling very put out. “Why can’t it be in town at lunch instead of dragging us all the way upriver again?”
“She didn’t say.”
“No, I don’t expect she did.” He set the plates down on the floor and pushed them against the wall with his foot. “Let’s go tell the others about our unexpected dinner plans.”
Jaime started down the hall, Sebastian followed, frowning to himself. It was odd that Ebba had come in person. Graven was certainly rich enough to use one of the many tiny drones that flew about Fortuna’s canyons, making deliveries and bringing messages. Jaime was acting strangely guilty about it too. Was Ebba making a play for Jaime? They would have had plenty of chances to talk at the party last night and now she was showing up here at the hotel. He was pretty sure that Jaime and Rylan didn’t have an open relationship — the rest of the crew would certainly have been gossiping about it if they did. Jaime didn’t strike him as the type to cheat, but traveling to lots of different ports led to all sorts of temptations. Sebastian might tease Rylan, but he knew the big man had a tender heart beneath all the muscles.
He gave himself a shake before going back into the suite. This was ridiculous — he was worrying about his crew’s love lives when he should be focused on the job.
“This is a perfect opportunity to plant Simi’s device,” Sebastian said to everyone in the suite once he’d told them the latest news. “Then we won’t have to worry about erasing any data recordings of our break-in.”
“It can be hooked up to any comm panel in the house,” Simi said. “Jaime can activate it when you’re ready for the actual breaking in part.”
“Another airship ride?” Ren wasn’t looking happy.
Sebastian grinned. “Get out the party clothes again, Your Majesty. We’ll have one last dance with Graven before we rob him blind.”
Ren was indeed laying out several outfits on his bed when Sebastian knocked a few hours later. They all looked to be variations on a theme of dark colors, and Sebastian bit back an impulse to offer fashion advice. He actually did like Ren’s quiet style, but if it were up to him he’d add a splash of color to bring out more of the warm rich tones that lingered in the curves of Ren’s cheekbones. Maybe even undo his shirt a little more so that the broad chest Sebastian had glimpsed last night was displayed more prominently…
“Was there something you needed, Sebastian?”
Sebastian snapped out of his fantasy of dressing Ren and focused on the actual man in front of him. “Just making sure everything was clear about the plan for the heist. You were pretty quiet earlier.” Ren made a slight face and Sebastian added, “I know they can be a bit much all together like that.”
Ren shook his head. “Your crew are good people — well, I know you’re all technically criminals, but I feel at comfortable among them. More than I would’ve imagined.”
“That’s nice to hear. Criminality aside.”
“All of it was fascinating and well out of my area of expertise so it seemed better to step back. I do trust your judgment in this.”
“Thank you.” He tilted his head. “What is your area of expertise? Besides being a prince. What do you do that isn’t duty?”
Ren’s mouth twisted ruefully. “Nothing in my life isn’t about duty. But, when left to my own devices, I like to get out of the palace, go into the hills or even farther. And, I suppose I also like math.”
“Math?”
“Numbers are precise. I know where I stand with them. It’s relaxing.”
“They make my head spin. Maybe when this is done you can take a holiday with my account books. For fun.”
“When this is over, yes.” He hesitated for a long moment and then seemed to change course, turning brisk. “One thing I wasn’t clear on was my role.”
“We’re going to the dinner tonight.”
“I know, and one of us will plant the device. But for the actual robbery. Where will I be?”
Sebastian frowned. “Here. Where it’s safe.”
Ren drew himself up. “I’m not incapable, Sebastian.”
“You’re also not a thief, or a soldier, or a wizard.” Sebastian saw a flicker, like a wince hastily suppressed, pass over Ren’s face. “You hired us,” Sebastian said gently. “Let us do the job. I’ve already pushed you into doing more than you wanted.”
“You didn’t push.” The corner of Ren’s mouth twitched with humor. “I am, after all, a prince. You can’t make me do what I don’t want to do.”
Sebastian moved closer, leaning in. “More of a nudge, perhaps? A bit of light goading?”
“You made a well-reasoned argument, which I considered.” His lips curved, maybe on their way to a smile. “And perhaps you nudged.”
Sebastian opened his mouth to say something that was undoubtedly going to be wonderfully charming — but he never got the chance because Rylan and Jaime walked into the room.
He quickly stepped back from Ren. “Does no one knock?”
“The door was open,” Jaime said.
“Slightly ajar,” Sebastian corrected and then sighed. “What is it?”
Jaime looked away, biting his lip. Rylan folded his arms, watching Jaime.
“You need to tell them,” Rylan said to him firmly.
Sebastian wasn’t liking this at all. Not the interruption when things were getting flirty and definitely not the implication that information was being withheld from him by two of his crew.
“Tell me what?” Sebastian stalked over to eye both Jaime and Rylan. “I thought we weren’t doing secrets anymore. Remember? That was part of the deal when I let you both stay on board my ship.”
“Rylan’s proven himself plenty, Sebastian,” Jaime said with heat. “And if you don’t know by now what you and the crew mean to me — the ship is my home, the only place—” Rylan put a hand on his shoulder, and Jaime stopped and took a breath, leaning into the touch. “It’s just there are other loyalties to think about. You see Ebba is… she’s like me.”
“Ebba’s what?”
“A wizard. I knew as soon as she touched me at the party. Then today we talked again — Graven bought her, Sebastian! When she was just a kid. Like she was one of the machines in his collection, like she’s a thing.”
“Fuck.” He rubbed his eyes. “Does she know about us? The job?”
“I would never tell her that. But we can’t just leave her there.”
Fuck. “It’s like I told Rylan last night — as soon as the job is done we call his brother and the Commonwealth swoops in with all their righteous bureaucratic fury.”
“That could be too late. Who knows what Graven would do to her once he finds out we’ve stolen the Heart? She’s supposed to monitor the mansion’s security.”
“Will she be able to detect you disabling the alarms?”
Jaime tugged at his already messy hair. “No. She has no formal training, and I know how to cover my tracks. But that’s not the point. We have to help her.”
Sebastian looked at Ren and saw the struggle on his face. That ugly jewel meant everything to his world. What’s more, Sebastian needed to do the job, not just for the money but because of Ren. It wouldn’t make up for what he had done, but maybe it would make him a little better in Ren’s eyes.
“Jaime,” he said slowly, feeling like a selfish asshole, but he was used to that feeling, and Ren shouldn’t have to bear it. “When we agreed to this job—”
Ren held up a hand. “Wait, as important as the Heart is, I cannot in good conscience risk a person’s life for it.”
Sebastian raised an eyebrow at him. “You know, we’re risking our lives.”
“That’s different. You seem to be enjoying yourselves. And I am paying you.”
“You were paying us.” He ran a hand through his hair, trying to think.
Rylan uncrossed his arms and straightened into a military posture. “So do we abort the mission, Captain? Do you want me to contact Jonathan now?”
“If the authorities get the Heart, I’m worried they would never return it,” Ren said. “As much as we all follow our own forms of government within the Commonwealth, certain kinds of technology are strictly forbidden. The Heart and everything it contains would likely be confiscated or destroyed.”
“We can do both,” Sebastian said with more confidence than he felt. “Grab the jewel and the girl.” He looked at Jaime. “Tonight, talk to her again. Don’t reveal anything, but find out if she’s looking to get away from Graven. If she’s willing, we’ll have her meet at the extraction point when we do the job. She’ll ride out of here with the rest of us.”
Jaime’s face filled with such hope and gratitude that Sebastian had to shake his head. “Just remember, not everyone’s looking to be saved.” Ren, too, was looking at Sebastian like he was something he was not — a good person. “And not everyone can be.”