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Chapter 39: Bargain

Chapter 39: Bargain

"Interesting."

Mara did not like the way Voss said it. His attention shifted between her and Rook before settling upon the pale chain stretched between their wrists. The contract remained faint after the battle, little more than a line of white light passing through the smoke left by the Fourth Rank.

Rook noticed where he was looking. "Whatever you’re thinking, stop."

"That would require me to know what I’m thinking."

"You’re looking at the chain."

"I have eyes."

"Unfortunately."

Voss turned the crystalline sphere between his fingers. The darkness within it moved with the rotation, gathering briefly against the side facing Rook before scattering when Voss turned it away. When he rotated the sphere back, the darkness gathered again.

Mara stepped closer. "Why is it doing that?"

"No idea," Voss said.

Rook collected another weapon from the ground. "Then throw it away."

Voss looked from the sphere to him. "I think I’ll keep it."

"It’s full of corrupted memories."

"Exactly." Voss raised it toward the blue lantern light. Distorted shapes flickered beneath its surface, none remaining long enough to be understood. "Something inside those memories appears rather interested in you."

Rook shoved the weapon into its place within the coffin. "Cull it."

"You’ve said that several times."

"And you’ve ignored me several times. I’m beginning to think the problem is your hearing."

"The problem is that you want this destroyed." Voss closed his hand around the sphere. "Which makes me curious about what it contains."

"I don’t know what it contains."

"That makes two of us."

Mara watched Rook. The accusation from the Fourth Rank had unsettled him more than he wanted either of them to see. He kept gathering weapons, inspecting their edges and returning them to the coffin as though the work required his full attention, but his movements were harsher than before. The broken falchion hilt disappeared into one compartment, though Rook stared at it for a moment before pulling it back out and throwing it aside.

"Can you separate the memories?" Mara asked.

"Eventually."

"How long is eventually?"

Voss tilted his head. "Longer if you continue asking questions."

"Then you can do it."

"I said I might."

Rook closed the compartment hard enough to shake the coffin. "We’re leaving."

Voss ignored him. "The fragments are old, Mara. Older than the corruption surrounding them. Some may have belonged to the creature before it became an Abomination. Others were taken from the souls it consumed."

"And one of them remembers Rook."

"Several, judging by how loudly it screamed at him."

Rook turned toward her. "It doesn’t matter."

"It knew you while you were alive."

"It claimed it did."

"It recognized your face."

"I’ve been told it’s an unpleasant face. Maybe it mistook me for someone else."

Mara did not smile.

Rook stepped closer and lowered his voice. "Whatever is inside that thing has spent centuries being dragged through the memories of an Abomination. You heard the creature. Half the voices blamed me for killing them. The other half blamed me for surviving. None of them could agree on what happened."

"But something happened."

"Something always happened. That doesn’t mean we need to know what."

Voss listened to the exchange with growing amusement. By the time Rook finished, his attention had returned to the chain connecting him to Mara.

"You can have the fragments," he said.

Rook looked at him, while Mara’s suspicion surfaced immediately. "For what?"

Voss pointed toward the pale chain. "Your contract."

Rook took one step forward. "No."

Voss continued speaking to Mara as if Rook had said nothing. "Sever it, and once I have separated everything useful, the memories are yours."

"No," Rook repeated.

Mara did not answer immediately. She studied Voss beneath the shadow of his cowl, then glanced at the remaining members of the Last Watch. The Reapers had begun gathering their dead and recovering whatever equipment had survived the fight, but several were watching the negotiation.

The moment Voss offered his price, they quietly spread around the field. None stood directly between Mara and Rook because they did not need to. There were enough of them to turn any movement into a fight.

Mara looked back at Voss. "Why do you care about our contract?"

"I don’t."

"You want me to end it."

"I want to know whether Rook remains beside you because he chooses to or because his Brand forces him."

"That isn’t worth what you’re offering."

"Perhaps I am feeling generous."

Rook snorted. "He used to feed contracted souls to Abominations and collect the memories left behind. Generosity wasn’t one of the things he died with."

Mara’s eyes returned to the sphere, and Voss stopped turning it.

There it was.

He had concealed his intention beneath mockery and curiosity, but the stillness of his hand betrayed him. He did not merely want the contract gone. He wanted Rook unable to interfere with whatever came after.

Mara folded her arms. "You want my memories."

The surrounding Reapers grew quiet. Voss’s hood shifted slightly as he inclined his head.

"Part of me wondered how long it would take you to figure that out."

"Not long."

"And yet you’re still considering the offer." He snorted.

"Knowing you intend to cheat me doesn’t make what you have less valuable."

Rook stepped between them. "We’re done."

Mara touched his arm. "Wait."

His blackened fingers closed around her wrist, careful not to hurt her despite the force behind the movement. "No."

"You don’t know what’s in there."

"Neither do you."

"It might tell us who you were."

"That’s exactly why I don’t want it."

Mara stared at him. The answer had come without hesitation. Rook did not fear that the fragments would be useless or corrupted beyond understanding. He feared that they would work.

Voss noticed as well. The crystalline sphere rolled once across his knuckles.

"The decision isn’t yours, Rook. The contract belongs to both of you."

"The consequences won’t."

"That depends upon whether you remain after it ends."

Rook’s attention sharpened. "Careful."

Voss’s amusement returned. "The chain is still there. What are you going to do?"