Asher Converse's Arc

Chapter 21 of 30

The next night, Chalam came in from the alley with a stranger at his back. Asher looked up from the ledger. He had spent the day marking who owned every wall around Elixir. Now the wizard brought a new face into the room, and Asher's hand went still on the page. "This is JD Valentino," Chalam said. He set his staff against the bar. "He's looking for a stolen bracelet. His brother wears the match. I think he can help us find the man sending agents to your door." JD stopped a step inside. He was tall and blonde, his green shirt open at the chest. A gold bracelet caught the lamp on his wrist. He looked at the mirror, the bells, the locked door, and last at Asher. "You run this place," he said. Not a question. "I own it," Asher said. "Good." JD did not smile. "The man I'm hunting took my brother's bracelet. Same man opened a sealed pit in a grove. Same man wants something under your floor. One man, three jobs." He shrugged. "I don't know his name. I know his trail ends here." Tucker came around the bar with two mugs and a slow grin. He had heard enough to want a look. He set a drink in front of JD and let his chains swing. "On the house," Tucker said. His eyes moved over the blonde man and stayed there. "Where'd a man like you learn to track a thief?" "Doorsteps like this one," JD said. He drank. Tucker leaned on the bar close to him. "Then you're in the right doorstep." He looked at Asher. "He's useful, boss. And easy to look at. Keep him." Asher watched the two of them. Tucker's interest was plain, and JD did not shrink from it. Asher weighed the risk. A stranger inside the room meant one more mouth that knew the trapdoor mattered. But JD hunted the same man, and Asher had never turned away a hand that pointed at his enemy. "You want the man under my floor found," Asher said. "So do I. His agents came last night. Chalam wiped them, but he'll send more before the new moon." He closed the ledger. "Work here. Server's wage and a cut. You watch the door with Rowan. You tell me every face you know from the man's trail." JD set the mug down empty. "Done." "Then you drink for free and you sweep the floor," Asher said. "That's the deal." Tucker laughed. "I'll show him the room." "You'll show him the taps," Asher said. "Nothing below." JD unbuttoned one more button and took the rag Tucker handed him. He belonged now. Asher had bought a hunter who wanted the same prey, and drawn him into Elixir as staff. But he had also let a new man learn the shape of his secret, with Tucker already leaning too close to hold anything back.