Asher Converse's Arc

Chapter 22 of 30

The last patrons left near closing. Asher barred the door and set the bells still. JD had worked the floor all night beside Rowan, watching faces and saying little. Now the room was empty, and Asher wanted the truth about his new hire before he trusted him with more. "You watched every man who came near the back wall," Asher said. "You knew which ones lied about why they were here. How?" JD wiped the bar and did not look up. "I hear what they don't say." He set the rag down. "Their thoughts. I hear them." Asher stopped. "Say that plain." "I read minds," JD said. "Not all. Loud ones. A man planning to lie, I catch it before his mouth moves." He met Asher's eyes. "That's how I track. I heard three men tonight thinking about a trapdoor. I know their faces now." Asher weighed it. A man who heard the enemy's plans was worth ten blades. The risk of a stranger inside his secret shrank against that. "Then you're not just staff," Asher said. "You're on the team. You sit at the table when we plan. You hunt this man with us." "Done," JD said. Tucker had been stacking mugs. He came around slow, eyes already on JD. "Mind reader," he said. "That's a useful trick." He stopped close. "Bet you can hear what I'm thinking." "Loud and clear," JD said. Tucker laughed. He reached out and pressed a hand to JD's arm. JD flexed. The muscle rose under Tucker's palm, and Tucker felt it, slow and open. His fingers moved to the chest showing through the half-buttoned shirt. "Solid," Tucker said. He looked at Asher, checking. Asher watched. This was the risk he had feared—Tucker leaning too close, running his mouth. But JD did not flinch and did not talk. He let Tucker touch and gave nothing away. Asher saw a man who kept his secrets even with a hand on his chest. That told him more than the mind-reading had. "Let him," Asher said. Tucker grinned and traced the hair on JD's chest one more time, then stepped back. "Welcome to Elixir," he said. JD buttoned his shirt. "The three men. They'll come back before the new moon. They think the door's here. They don't know where." "Then we wait for them," Asher said. "And you tell me the moment you hear one at my wall." He looked at the empty room, at the mirror and the bells and the floor over the hidden stairs. He had come to build a rowdy house for wandering men and magic users. Now he had a man who could hear the enemy think. Elixir had grown teeth. But three faces were already hunting the trapdoor, and the new moon was close. Asher unbarred the door for Chalam and began to plan the ambush.