Chapter 20: Behind Me

Luka's POV

Fifteen rifles were pointed at my dining room, and all I could think was that Nika was still standing on the table.

She stood in the wreck of the cloth and the roast, with a pistol held low and one boot in the potatoes.

I stepped in front of her.

I did it without deciding to. My body had done it for twenty months.

"Move, Luka," she said softly.

"No."

"I can see better from here."

"I know. Stay there. I'm still going to stand here."

She made a small sound that might have been a laugh.

The harbor boss walked up the length of the ruined table with his hands empty and his napkin left behind on the table.

He stopped at the head, where my father's chair stood empty.

He looked at it for a while.

"Your father has run," he said in his dry voice. "The kitchen, I'm told."

"I had wondered which door he would choose."

"Take your men and go," I said.

"I am owed a debt, Luka. Eighteen months of patience. The docks, on the night the throne stood empty."

"The throne isn't empty."

"It will be. The old man agreed to give it to me with your name on the paper."

From under the table, in a voice thin with fury, the eldest elder said, "In this house?"

"My apologies, sir," said the harbor boss, without turning. "It is not a good time."

The red dot appeared on his forehead.

It was small and steady, and it sat just above his left eyebrow.

He saw it in the mirror over the sideboard. His eyes moved, very slightly, and found the window.

"Mara Kolar is on the roof across the street," I said.

"She never misses, and she likes me better than she likes you."

"I like very few people," said a voice from the table behind me.

It was Nika. She had her pistol aimed at his belt buckle.

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