I clasped Finn on the shoulder as I stepped up behind him. “Alright, enough loitering, Finn. We’ve got work to do.” He was exactly where I thought he’d be, a few paces away from the flower shop. He just stood there, leaning against a post. Watching, as if he was waiting for someone to come out. “People are going to start calling the authorities.”

  Finn snorted and shrugged. “What, is it against the law for a Royal Guard soldier to stand watch in the market? What’re they gonna do, tell their boss? I AM the authorities.” He tapped the crest pinned on his uniform to prove his point. I chuckled and shook my head at him.

  “Abuse of power much? Come on, I want to scope out the darker areas around here and wouldn’t mind someone I trust at my back. We have a couple hours before we have to be at the tavern, assuming you want to eat beforehand.” Finn seemingly realized then that Sahara was not with me.

  “Aren’t we missing somebody?”

  I smirked and shoved my hands in my coat pockets as I started walking casually toward the less active part of town. “I may have ruffled some feathers.”

  His gaze was a mixture of curiosity and mischief as he raised his eyebrows at me and followed, matching my stride quickly. “Is that so? Here I thought it looked like you two were getting along quite nicely.” The insinuating tone in his voice told me he had been watching us shop from his post here at the end of the street. I shot him a look as if to say get over yourself and retorted,

  “Maybe so, until I pestered her about the fiancee who’s allegedly coming back to sweep her off her feet.”

  Finn gasped dramatically and put his hand to his chest to feign shock. “The drama! Where’d you get that juicy bit?” I recalled the events in the alchemist’s shop, and by the end of the story Finn was almost pouting. “Man, I miss all the good stuff.”

  I laughed at this and retorted, “Well if you hadn’t run off so quickly, maybe you would’ve got more out of the old lady than I did. But alas,” I sighed the words to match Finn’s dramatics, “I guess we’ll never know.”

  “Hey, that’s not–” Finn’s mouth snapped closed mid-sentence as he yanked me away from the entrance to an alley. We pressed our backs against the wall as he pointed to the shadows and breathed, “Transaction.”

  I wasn’t sure how he was going to react here, as Finn is normally one to barge in and face the consequences later. However, he was surprisingly calm as he tossed his head and motioned me to follow. He sat me down at an outdoor table meant for four people, and went through the entrance of a restaurant that was… a little worse for wear. That’s an understatement, August chuffed, this place looks like its main customer base is rodents and roaches. I pressed my fist to my mouth to hide my smirk right as Finn returned with two glasses of water and set them on the table in front of us. He dropped into his own chair and stretched his long legs out into one of the empty chairs.

  Finn reached into his inner pocket and pulled out two cigars. My eyebrows shot up as I stared at him with burning questions as he held one out to me. Finn doesn’t strike me as a cigar man. I pondered. He is an unpredictable human, August replied. Finnegan’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Would you mind?” I passed on the one he offered to me, but still pinched the end of his own cigar and lit it with magic.

  As he pulled from it, I stretched out in the chair, trying my best to look lazy while I narrowed my higher senses on the alley. “How’d you pick up on that so fast?” I asked. I didn’t doubt him in the slightest, but the way he moved with such calculated precision was almost unlike him. He shrugged and exhaled a long trail of smoke. “When I was in the Guard the first time, I was assigned to the slums of the Capital. I’ve broken open quite a few drug operations. We always assumed there was a bigger ring at play, but we could never connect them in the Capital. I heard them when we walked past.”

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  “Huh.” I responded lamely, words escaping me. I stared at the beaded condensation that was building on the outside of my untouched glass. I should’ve heard them. I chalked it up to not knowing what to look for. There were no serious dealings in Sailor’s Rest, not anything that could kill a man. I’d been hired a time or two to handle the aftermath of a deal gone bad, someone getting cheaped out or given false herbs, but never actually been caught in the middle of them. He really did know exactly what he was doing, sending us here. Finn’s background, my magic, and Sahara’s inside information are truly a deadly combination. I finally picked up the glass and took a slow drink while staring at the wrought iron table. “What substance are they even selling around here? Why is V so interested?”

  “He wants control.” Finn answered simply with a wave of his cigar. “Agony was rampant in the Capital, although that’s pretty common and easy to supply. The luhix market started here, and it’s the most valuable thing out there because of its rarity. You remember that canyon at the beginning of our trip that you asked about? The plants allegedly only grow at the bottom of it, in the Abyss.”

  I blinked a couple times, trying with little success to recall any research I had on luhix. Does luhix have another name? I pressed August, to which he only responded with, It does. He sounded distracted, or annoyed. I growled slightly at the intentional avoidance. Fine then, two can play that game. August seemed to snap to attention at that. Don’t be immature, boy, I have- The shield in my mind went up, and August fell silent.

  The sounds of rocks crunching under boots caught my ear right at that moment. “Three men,” I muttered to my partner, but quickly corrected myself. One of the footstep patterns was smaller, lighter. “No, wait. Two men and a woman, on their way out.” Finn leaned into his chair and rested one ankle over his knee. A scrawny man peered out from the shadows, scanning the area. His gaze brushed over us like we were just another part of the scenery. Finn barely paid him any mind as he tilted his head to blow smoke into the air.

  I, however, was tuned into him, even if I was avoiding looking directly at him. “Five feet and change, built like a feather. Guy’s all bones. Why’s he shaking so damn bad?” It wasn’t an exaggeration, the frail man was shaking almost uncontrollably as he finally stepped into the road and began his brisk walk farther away from the town’s center.

  “Side effects of withdrawl.” Finnegan studied his cigar, mostly spent now, and rolled it between his thumb and fingers. “He probably hasn’t eaten in days.” Before I could ask more, the other two figures stepped out of the shadows. They were going for a ‘couple-just-shagged-in-public’ play, apparently. The girl stumbled into the man as they walked, giggling, but I could tell it was an act. He threw his arm around her shoulder and held her against his side.

  “Heavier man this time, almost six feet and a lady with him as well. Straight blonde hair, small and petite…” The realization slowly dawned on me. The way she walked, sounded, acted… “Finnegan, that’s Sahara.”

  Finn’s gaze followed the couple as they walked in the opposite direction of the first man, back towards the market. His brow knitted tightly as he processed information. “That can’t be right. You were just with her, like, an hour ago. Right?”

  I opened my palms in surrender. “I don’t know, man, I wasn’t keeping track.”

  “Hells.” Finn dropped his spent cigar on the ground and stomped it out as he stood. “I knew she was working Underneath, but I didn’t think she was an active participant.” I pinched the bridge of my nose as I rose from my chair. I was just as confused as him, if not a bit offended. She couldn’t have disclosed any of this during any of their time together? There were plenty of opportunities.

  I shook my head and brushed a stray lock of hair from my face. “Nevermind it, we can talk about it later. We need to get to the tavern and eat before Sahara’s meeting.” The pit in my stomach tightened, and I gulped the rest of my water to drown the feeling of dread that was building.

  My partner agreed with me. “You’re right, you’re right. We need to go. Hopefully we don’t run into her or her arm candy in the meantime.” I made a face, thinking about just how well that interaction would go down.

  Finn swallowed half of his own water in one swig and carefully placed it back onto the table. Without a word, he turned on his heel and made his way down the street. Sahara and her ‘arm candy’ had since long turned the corner and disappeared to Goddess only knows where. I gave a long, slow exhale through my nose as I let August back out. What a mess. I muttered, and he offered nothing but a grunt of acknowledgement.

  …And that was just fine with me.