The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

of the raid, to make it
impossible for us to enforce it.”
    “But that would ruin everything!”
    “Precisely. Therefore,
now that our interests so closely coincide, perhaps we could ask Mr. Barber to
contribute to the success of this enterprise in a material way.”
    “Excuse me?” He'd
lost her after precisely.
    “As an act of good faith,
I am asking that you and your partner bring the perpetrator back here, alive,
along with whatever he took from here.”
    Great. She knew who would get that
assignment. “How…how is Barber supposed to find this person,”
Leesha said, irritably, “when we don't even know for sure if
he took anything?”
    D'Orsay smiled. “We can
help you there. We now know who it was, and we have some idea about what's
missing.”
    “Why should we go out
hunting your burglar?”
    D'Orsay waved the papers under
Leesha's nose. “As soon as I sign this, Barber has as much interest in
seeing the Covenant consecrated as I do. But I'm rather pinned down here. If I
leave Raven's Ghyll, the Roses will be on me before I'm out of Cumbria. And in
my absence, they might seize control of the ghyll. Which, again, would be
inconvenient if we wish to access the Weirstone. Barber, on the other hand, can
follow this Jason Haley to America, and…”
    “Who's Jason Haley?”
Leesha interrupted. “I never heard of him.”
    D'Orsay stood and crossed to
the desk, choosing a folder from a pile. He pulled out a color print, returned,
and handed it to Leesha. “Dev didn't have any trouble identifying him from
our database of rebels and troublemakers.”
    To Leesha's surprise, Jason
Haley looked to be a boy about her age, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, with
brilliant blue eyes and a sardonic grin.
    “He shouldn't present any
difficulty for someone like Barber. From what we gather, he's a minor operative
and sneak thief. …”
    “Who managed to sneak in
here and steal something out from under your nose.”
    D'Orsay nodded. “True.
And he's also the boy who teamed up with McCauley in the attack at Second
Sister. He's aligned with the riffraff in Trinity.”
    “Riffraff   like…Leander…Hastings…and  
Nicodemus Snowbeard? Them, I've heard of. I'd rather not cross paths with
them again.” Oh, God, no. Her former partners were still buried
under the Trinity High School parking lot.
    “That's the field we're
playing on, my dear.”
    Leesha sighed. “Do you
think he's gone to Trinity?”
    “I suspect so.”
    Too many people knew her in
Trinity. “What did Haley take?”
    Devereaux opened his mouth as
if to speak, but D'Orsay cut in. “We believe it's a sefa stone of
some kind, small enough to hold in your hands, with a flaming center. Useless
on its own, we believe, but, somehow, here in the ghyll…” D'Orsay
shrugged.
    That wouldn't be easy to find,
even in Trinity, Leesha thought glumly.
    “So,” D'Orsay said
cheerfully. “Send Barber after Jason Haley. Perhaps they'll kill each
other and you can collect the stone. Meanwhile, do keep in touch about Barber's
whereabouts and we'll look for an opportunity to eliminate him. Do we have a
bargain?” D'Orsay asked.
    “That depends. Are you
going to sign this or not?” Leesha said crossly. “I have to take
something back to Barber.” She was tired of being everyone's servant.
    D'Orsay crossed to his desk,
found a pen in the drawer, and signed the paperwork with a flourish, scribbling
an addendum in the margins. He handed it to Leesha. “I'll have your driver
bring the car round for you, then. I look forward to a long and prosperous
relationship. Assuming you or Barber bring back Jason Haley and the Covenant,
we'll be seeing more of each other.”
     After the girl had gone, Dev crossed to the shelf next
to the fireplace and lifted down the book Haley had dropped in the snow,
struggling a little with the weight of it. Dev sat down on the hearth and began
leafing through. They'd both read it two or three times, debating its meaning.
    Dev began to