Preacher Man by Blaze Ward

Author:Blaze Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781644703779
Publisher: Knotted Road Press

Scene Thirteen

Brianna had gotten a bit dressed up, once Auntie and Laney had announced plans to have dinner and wine in town. It sounded like too good of an idea to let pass.

She had on an ankle-length dress in a pale blue too soft to match the sky of many worlds, but close. Her hair was up under a piece of cloth and she’d avoided all warpaint, settling for a simple look that made her look more like a local.

She knew she was the most beautiful woman in this restaurant, but much of that had been added artificially later, part of all the surgeries of mind and body that had produced her in her current incarnation. Her job was generally to fit in.

Assassins needed that.

Constanz had also gone quiet with his suit. One of the darker ones, with a matching vest all in a slate gray that seemed to absorb light without reflecting it. His hair was short and his wire-rimmed glasses gave off an impression of an accountant, those folk who dealt with money but didn’t advertise it generally.

Waverly City was a quiet place. A farming community’s center of gravity with all the shops and services needed in one place. Brianna hadn’t really intended to spend much time out and about, but last night had been almost magical.

Blakeslee Julian was a gifted speaker. That he was a dangerous revolutionary hiding as a dangerous preacher did not change any of that.

Constanz had asked Tessa and gotten the name of a restaurant off the central market square where the food was better than the prices might suggest. Brianna knew that eventually the money that they had accumulated would run out, but they lived frugal lives, and more than once Tessa had provided them a share of certain contracts for illegal goods.

Or a portion of funds from robbing banks and other things.

Plus all that money they’d acquired at Lacot.

Thus, they had funds to occasionally enjoy themselves. And perhaps they would join the crew of Last Stand permanently and formally at some point, becoming part of Tessa’s extended family.

Brianna could hardly remember what family was like, as they got seated off in a quiet corner booth, the manager assuming a young couple in love.

Far from the truth, but utterly accurate to their cover.

“You seem pensive,” Constanz noted as they were alone with water and menus.

“Family,” Brianna replied, falling into the sort of shorthand she had with her sister-pretending-to-be-her-husband. “I have lost so much. Once, I remember you telling me that I remembered everything, but it often feels like a damp cloth was wiped across the table, erasing it since.”

He nodded. Paused to pull off his glasses and clean them, then settle them on his nose again.

She could see Presley in there when the glasses were off. Just as Nataliya occasionally peeked back at her in the mirror in the morning.

“You did,” Constanz replied. “Remember everything. I was brilliant, and set all manner of academic records, at least until you came along and broke every single one of them.

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