The Rogue Guardian

Chapter 30: The High Circle

It was official. The High Circle meeting was underway in a stone building on the edge of the merchant district, one of the few I had seen in Maenar that wasn't the traditional gold-brown. It was flanked by fat, crumbling columns and sat atop a foundation that required several uneven steps to mount, but Kay said it had been chosen not for its grandeur but its location, because it was somewhat in the center of each of the High Circle leaders' domains. Lisbetha agreed that it had been chosen for its location, because it would piss off the governor to have it so close to his court.

"Not everyone thinks like you," Kay said, rolling his eyes. "Some people make decisions based on logic rather than shock value."

"Hey, I don't decide based on shock value. You're thinking of Wes."

"I disagree," Lucien cut in without taking his eyes off the blade he was polishing. "You're thinking of me."

"See?" Wes said, as if he'd made a compelling argument.

"I see you're all missing the point." Kay lay back against the roof and crossed his arms over his chest. Lisbetha snorted at him.

"Lighten up. What's got you so stressed?"

"This meeting," he muttered.

"It was your idea, Laerhart."

I flinched, but nobody seemed to notice my reaction. Kay and I had decided we couldn't say anything about being related. Everyone in the Phoenix knew what had happened to our family. If I revealed I was his sister, they'd know immediately I was the Thief. I was happy with no one but Ysmay and Evvie knowing the truth. If word somehow got back to the capital that I was in Maenar, Tobias would send a legion after me. And after Kay mentioning royal spies earlier that day, I was feeling a bit on edge already.

"Yeah," Kay replied. "So if this was a bad idea, I get blamed."

"So will I," Evvie pointed out. "Aunt didn't listen to you, she listened to me."

"Oh right, thanks. I love being reminded my word doesn't really count for anything."

"Why Kay, is that a note of sarcasm in your voice?" Wes reached over and tapped his forehead with the sheathed point of his dagger. Kay swatted him away with a grimace.

"Not appreciated."

"I'm wounded," Wes responded.

"Be wounded later," Evvie advised. "It's starting."

We all glanced toward the caved in section of ceiling to our right. The building, though sound enough for us to lounge on its roof and keep guard, was really falling apart. Besides the columns in disrepair and the damaged façade where carved blocks of stone facing had been chiseled off the front, the back wall was a mishmash of different stones that had repaired it over the years and the ceiling was a patchwork of sagging stone and sections of exposed rafters. Nobody bothered to repair it, Evvie had explained, because it suited the High Circle the way it was, for many reasons. To decrepit for anyone who question who owned it, unusual enough to be an easy base, and riddled with enough collapsed walls and dug out passages for each section of Maenar represented there to choose guards to stay within shouting distance of their leaders.

It wasn't technically legal, by the High Circle's own rules, but it was a court of thieves and murderers, Kay pointed out dryly. What did they care for rules?

The roof was the thieves' spot, so technically we weren't there as rebels. The twins allowed Kay and Lisbetha and Wes and Lucien and Evvie to be their lookout, though, because they were all thieves too. Therese had to be left back in the tunnels, to her dismay.