Kingdom of Scourge and Shadow (The Sightstone Series #1)

Chapter Thirty-Six: Max

"The one thing thieves and gamblers have in common is their use of the strategy of diversion. Then again, there are some who would say that all thieves are gamblers and all gamblers are thieves."

-Unknown Author, Crime and History: Thefts, Assassinations and Espionage

***

"What the hell do you mean, the necklace is a fake?" Jan demanded, his voice dangerously level and cold.

It was one of the things about Jan that scared Max the most, the way he went cold and still and dangerous when he was angry. Other people yelled or gesticulated violently or made heated threats, but Jan... Jan seemed to go very, very still, like he'd turned to stone.

When he got angry, he turned into the man who had created a reputation for himself in the worst parts of Allerstad, the man people called a monster, the Savage of the Old Stad, Steenhart–the stone-hearted. Jan rarely showed that side of himself, at least not to Max, and, when he did, it was enough to make Max's blood run cold.

To Aleksei Markov's credit, though, he just raised an eyebrow at Jan's tone and took a steady sip of his ale. Max glanced sideways at Zoya in disbelief. No one could be so unaffected by Jan's icy anger–could they?

"Exactly what I said," Aleksei said calmly. Next to him, Natalie had gone rigid, and, to the man's credit, he reached out and took her hand, keeping his other massive palm closed around his pint of ale. "The necklace isn't real. Oh, don't get me wrong; it's still worth a pretty penny–you know how rare black diamonds are–but it isn't Sankta Evgenia's necklace."

"Then, what is it?" Jan asked, still with that lethal calm. "And where's the real necklace?"

"Hell if I know, if it ever existed at all," Aleksei said simply. "The necklace the Saroviyans have, the one they're peacocking before all their guests, it's just a decoy."

"How would you know?" Zoya challenged, and, with her dark eyes flat and emotionless, she looked nearly as dangerous as Jan. "And why should we take your word for it?"

"Because I'm the one who commissioned it and delivered it," Aleksei said calmly. "I'm the one who brought it back from Rajan."

"Why?" Max asked, genuinely curious. "Why go to all that trouble?"

"As a cover for the package I delivered to the Caedish embassy the same day," Aleksei said with a wolfish grin. "It was a diversion. I needed something big that would disguise my real purpose for going to Rajan."

"Which was?" Jan pressed.

"I think I'll keep that to myself, for now," Aleksei said, meeting Jan's gaze, a challenge in his eyes. Max was impressed. Few people could stand up to Steenhart like that and live to tell the tale.

Jan was silent for a long moment. "Fine. As long as it doesn't impact our job."

"It shouldn't," Aleksei said. "Don't worry. Especially since only about a half-dozen people know what it is to care about it. Most of my crew don't even know why we were really in Rajan. They know about the necklace, but that's all."

"Interesting," Jan said, and Max was inclined to agree with him. Something told him that, come tonight, Zoya would be doing some investigating of the Caedish embassy. "So, the necklace. You said it's still worth a great deal?"

"We had it made up to match the descriptions of Sankta Evgenia's necklace as exactly as we could, down to the materials we used. Broken up and sold on the black market, the black diamonds alone are probably worth a total of ten million krone," Aleksei said slyly. "With the fire opals, the Araiyan rubies and the black pearls, plus the silver setting, we're talking maybe twenty million."