Book 3 Chapter 9: She's a Legend
Dantes looked at the crystal sitting in Argenta’s palm, pulsing with energy as it recorded everything he did. It was a clever initiation. The guard could be bribed, manipulated, or avoided relatively easily once you reached a certain level of criminal success within Rendhold. There were only a few things that could bring them knocking on your doors once you reached that level. Fucking with the guard itself, pissing off the wrong members of the nobility, and verifiable murder. That last one was difficult, as verifying anything in Rendhold was no easy thing, much less a knifing in a dark alley. A recording of the murder though, meant that Argenta and the other Fingers could sick the guard on him at any time.
"By doing this you agree not to harm any of the rest of us directly or indirectly, and you will work with us and our operations in good faith."
He walked over to the bound man, who was still unconscious, which was a relief. It was much easier to slit a throat cleanly when the person wasn’t struggling. Dantes pulled a long thin dagger from his sleeves, jammed it into the side of the hanged man’s throat, and quickly jerked it to the side. Warm blood spilled across the floor, but Dantes managed to avoid spilling a single drop on himself. He pulled the gag from the man’s mouth and used it to clean his knife as he walked back to stand in front of his new peers. He could feel some kind of energy hit him, reminding him a bit of what he'd felt when he'd freed Syn from Mariska's pact, and he looked again at the crystal. It was a ruse, at least partially, that crystal could seal a pact somehow. Unfortunately, such magics didn't work on him thanks to his status as a two-name no-name, and even then the pact wording would be easy enough to get around. He didn't change his expression, they didn't need to know he knew, and he wasn't sure if all of them knew either. Argenta was the one actually holding the crystal after all.
“Satisfied?” he asked with a smile as he slid the knife back into his sleeve.
Argenta gave him a rare smile. “Very.”
Drake nodded. “A clean kill. A bit boring, but well done.”
“Can we wrap this up?” slurred Fritz.
Argenta sat back down, placing the crystal she’d held into her pocket. “The rest of you may go. I’d like to have a chat with our newest member about what is expected of him.”
The other Fingers made their way out, ignoring the corpse that now hung from the center of the room. Diamond winked at Dantes as she passed, Fritz ignored him, and Drake gave him a nod hinting at the barest amount of respect.