Fate's Edge

insisted. “Probably over a hundred.”
    “I’m sure he did, Gaston.” Sure as the night is light. She couldn’t picture Kaldar with a sword. A crowbar, maybe. A gun. But not a sword. “And you are supposed to keep him from killing more?”
    “I wasn’t even supposed to come. I’m not officially an agent yet, but Cerise talked her husband, William—he’s my guardian—into it. I’m supposed to keep an eye on Kaldar, in case he snaps. So he knows all about things being taken away from him. He just won’t admit it.”
    “Gaston, if Kaldar doesn’t care if he lives or dies, how are you supposed to keep him safe?”
    He shook his head. His face gained a lost expression. Suddenly, he seemed so young, just a kid really, about Jack’s age. “I don’t know. But I have to try. Most of my family acts like I don’t exist anymore. My dad banished me because of what happened to my mom. Kaldar always talks to me. He comes to all of my annual trials. He’s my favorite uncle. I don’t have many left anymore.”
    “I will help you,” Audrey said. It came out as a complete surprise, but she didn’t regret it. “If he loses his head, I will help you hold him back.”
    Gaston raised his huge hand, stained with the Mirror’s clay. “Deal?”
    She grasped his fingers and shook. “Deal.”
     
    KARMASH pondered the woman. She had small brown eyes and hair of an odd shade, unnatural bright red. Given that she hung upside down, her feet caught by a rope at the ankles, her hair dripped down from her head like a mop. For mid-thirties, she wasn’t roughly used, he reflected.
    They’d grabbed her off the street, as she left Magdalene Moonflower’s building in the Broken, and brought her here, to the abandoned building in the Edge that Karmash had designated as their temporary base. Only he and Mura had managed to cross the boundary into the magicless world. Soma and Cotier had been too altered.
    Karmash winced at the memory. Entering the Broken was always painful for him. A few months ago, he wouldn’t have even contemplated it, but times changed.
    The woman made a tiny noise, like a frightened cat.
    Karmash pulled up a filthy chair and sat on it, so their faces were level. “You work for Magdalene Moonflower.”
    “Please let me down. I didn’t do anything. Please let me down . . .”
    “Shhh.” Karmash put his finger on her lips.
    She closed her mouth.
    “Let me explain a few things,” he said. “I’m a member of the Hand. I’m a spy for the Dukedom of Louisiana in the Weird. That tells you that I don’t care about your life. That also tells you that I’m magically enhanced enough to crush your skull with a squeeze of my fingers. Make a note of that; we’ll come back to that point later.”
    She stared at him in terrified silence.
    “I was very successful as a spy. I made a nice name for myself. Then, twenty months ago, my officer became a cripple. Some Edgers severed his spine, you see. The Hand chose to view my performance in that affair as less than satisfactory. I lost my assignment, my prestige, and my paycheck. I have expensive tastes, and I hate to compromise on luxury. Now I have a new assignment, a very prestigious assignment with a famous officer. But I’m very new in this crew. You understand how that is, right?”
    The woman nodded frantically. Nodding looked odd when performed upside down.
    “What I really need to be is her second-in-command. That’s the position I’m trained for, and I’m best at it. Unfortunately, this officer already has a second, and he doesn’t want to step down. Now my new officer gave me this assignment. This is my chance to prove myself. If I do well, my place in the crew will be assured. If I fail, my career is finished. I tell you all of this so you will understand how important it is for me to succeed. Do you understand?”
    The woman nodded again.
    “Good. Let’s go back to that point I asked you to remember. I don’t care about your life. It has no value to me. I don’t really want to torture you—it’s a bother—but I will. I can cut you, I can burn you, I can pull out your nails, I can slice open your stomach and pour salt on the wound. I can yank out your teeth, I can sodomize you with jagged glass . . .”
    The woman began to whimper.
    “Shh.” Karmash held up his hand. “Let me finish. My point is, I don’t really feel like doing any of it. If you tell me what I want to know, I’m perfectly fine with letting you go, provided you