by A. D. Winter
But I had other ways.
I slammed the battle-ax between his stubby legs, and he nearly jumped out of his seat.
“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.
“Tell me the truth, Toadstool, or the next time I swing, it’ll land a couple inches higher.”
“Okay, okay.” He stubbed out the cigar in the ashtray and raised his hands in surrender. “The grand duke was frightened.”
I cocked my head at him in suspicion. “Nice try, but I don’t think so.”
“No, no, I’m serious.”
“Of what, then?” I asked.
“I don’t know. They knew something about his family, something he didn’t want anyone to know about.”
“A secret?”
“I think so, yes.”
I glanced out the window at the other three as they continued their search. Sophie was searching the floor with Crag’s silk shirt still draped over her shoulders. Her nose twitched involuntarily as she sniffed the air, and for one single moment, our gazes met.
I smiled.
So that was why they had cursed her, I realized. They wanted the grand duke’s factory, but he’d refused. So they had hurt him the best way they knew how. They had stolen his most prized possession and twisted it into an object of shame.
The monsters.
“He was being blackmailed,” I said.
“Exactly,” Toadstool replied. “Blackmailed out of those pointy little ears of his. And it was working too. At least for a while. Until the grand duke finally grew brave and decided to put his foot down. Oh yeah. When he found out what the charms were doing, he told them to get out. But by then …”
“It was too late.”
Snorkel took a puff of his cigar. “A shame really. After that these two warlocks showed up with a bunch of bloodsuckers. They grabbed the employees and started having their fun with them. It was quite sad, actually.”
“I can imagine,” I said. “So many lives lost.”
“Lives?” The goblin snorted. “I’m talking about production. We must’ve lost a week’s worth of profit!”
“You’re a monster,” I told him.
“What can I say, business is a tough racket.”
“And let me guess …” I rested my hands on the armrests of his chair and leaned into his face. “You just watched.”
“What did you expect me to do? You saw them. You know what they can do. I might be good with numbers, but I’m no fighter.”
You can say that again.
The door suddenly opened, and I saw Dryden leaning in the doorway. “I see you found something.” He motioned to the goblin.
“Unfortunately,” I muttered.
“Hey!” Snorkel was suddenly offended by Dryden’s appearance. “Who’s the pretty boy?”
“My date,” I said with a grin.
Dryden arched a brow at me. “So you’re finally admitting it?”
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug.
“Hey!” Snorkel waved a hand at me, trying to draw my attention. “You two forget about me or something?”
I whirled on the tiny creature. “Sadly, no. Now, where did the warlock take the potions?”
He licked his lips, and I saw a bead of sweat slipping down his temple. “I don’t know.”
“Lizard tongues.” I yanked the battle-ax from between his legs and raised it into the air.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “I overheard one of them mentioning something about the celebration.”
“What celebration?” My eyes drew to slits.
“Are you serious?” His gaze shifted between Dryden and me. “You don’t know about the celebration?”
Dryden and I exchanged a glance.
“It’s been all over the papers,” Snorkel continued. “The five-hundred-year anniversary of the Minstrel’s defeat?”
I froze in horror as I was reminded of my conversation with the witch in the Forgotten Quarter. How could I have been such an idiot? The entire city would be there, along with the most important faction of the government.
“I know what they’re going to do,” I said, turning to Dryden.
“What?” he asked.
I spun around, ignoring his question, and pressed my ax to the goblin’s throat. “If I find out you were lying to me, I’ll come back here and peel those warts off with pliers. Do you understand me?”
He nodded.
“Good.” I turned to Dryden. “Now tie him up. We can’t risk having him warn the bloodsuckers.”
Dryden waved his finger, and the curtain tore itself from the wall. He twirled his finger again, and it wrapped itself around the goblin, tying Snorkel to the chair. The tiny goblin struggled in his seat, but Dryden’s magic was too strong.
“This ain’t no way to treat a cooperating witness,” the goblin said. “I’m gonna make a complaint to the Order.”
“In that case—” I glanced back at Dryden “—do you have a spell to seal his mouth?”
“No, but I have one that’ll sever his tongue.”
“Good enough,” I said, turning to leave.
“No, no!” the goblin called out. “I promise. I won’t say a thing.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say.” I shoved his chair back with my boot, and he crashed into the wall behind him, groaning in pain.
Dryden followed me out the door as I left. “To think, he actually believed you were being serious.”
“I was.”
Crag and Sophie met us in the center of the factory.
“We searched the entire place,” Crag said with a shrug. “But I’m sorry, my dear, we couldn’t find a thing.”
“It’s all right.” I gestured over my shoulder at the office behind me. “I got what I needed.”
“You found someone?” Crag asked.
“A goblin.”
“Snorkel?”
“You know him?” I asked.
“Enough to know to keep my distance,” he replied.
“What did he tell you?” Sophie asked.
“Nothing important,” I said with a smile, brushing her hair back.
When she looked away, I pulled Crag to the side, leading him away from the others.
“They were blackmailing the grand duke,” I whispered.
“With what?” he asked.
“What else?”
He glanced over his shoulder at Sophie and nodded quietly to himself. “I should’ve known that’s what they were doing. If there was anything that the grand duke feared, it was the soiling of his good name. Damn it, François, your pride will be the death of us all.
“What about the charm?” he asked. “Did you find out what the warlock is going to do with it?”
“They’re taking it to the anniversary celebration.”
His eyes grew wide with fear. “By Thor’s beard. But the entire city will be there … the fae!”
“I need to stop them,” I said.
It was then, just as I was about to continue, that I felt it.
A powerful force drawing nearer.
I turned to Dryden.
“I feel it too.” He glanced back at the entrance.
“What’s going on?” Crag asked.
“It’s the Order,” I said. “They’re coming—and fast.”
“But how were they notified?” Crag asked.
I looked around, thinking. “I don’t know.”
“What does it matter?” Dryden asked. “You’ve found the information you needed. Surely there’s someone in the Order you can trust.”
I licked my lips as I felt their gazes. They still didn’t know. They still thought I was an inquisitor. And now I was faced with the difficult task of telling them the truth.
Rats!
“Yeah,” I said, scratching the back of my head. “About that …”
31
Ivy
I didn’t have time.
I raced back into the goblin’s office, snatched a quill and a piece of paper from his desk, and brushed past the group as I rac
ed for the door. “We have to go!”
“To where?” Dryden called out.
I didn’t stop to answer. I had to get out of there as fast as I could. If the Order caught me, I’d be arrested and returned to the cells, where I’d waste away for the rest of my life. I had to leave—now!
The gang hurried to catch up with me, but I was running so fast that they would’ve needed wings to reach me. I burst out of the entrance and raced across the courtyard into the street.
It was turning dark now, and the moon was low in the sky.
Rats.
The carriage was still sitting along the road. Inside, the three workers I’d paid to watch it were waiting with their arms crossed against their chests, braving the cold. They turned as they saw me.
“Get out!” I ordered.
“What about our coin?” the orc asked.
I tossed them the last of what Igama had given me, along with the note that I’d written.
The orc took it with a confused frown. “What’s this?” he asked.
“Read it when you get a chance.” I yanked them out of the carriage, then slapped the horses on their rears, urging them to take off.
Dryden caught up to me. “Ivy, what is this? Why are we running?”
My breath stilled as I saw the black horses racing up the street. Men and women clad in black jackets with weapons on their backs were approaching our position.
“Not now, we have to go!” I yanked him by the arm and pushed him in front of me. “I’ll tell you in a bit.”
I picked up Sophie, who was breathing hard, and raced up the street. People jumped out of my way, and I nearly knocked over a troll with a lunch box.
“Sorry!”
I turned into an alley, then raced up one of the switchback stairways outside the building. It led me to the roof, where I quickly set Sophie down.
I crouched behind one of the parapets and peeked into the street. A cavalcade of inquisitors was rushing into the factory.
It wouldn’t be long before they realized that I’d been there.
“Why are we running?” Dryden’s voice rose behind me.
“I can’t let them find me,” I whispered.
“What do you mean, you can’t let them find you?” he asked.
“I mean …” I turned around to face him with a lowered head. “I’m not exactly what you think I am.”
“What are you saying?” Dryden asked.
“I mean … I’m not an inquisitor, at least, not technically.”
Dryden and Crag exchanged a glance, the two of them turning to look at it. Their astonishment was clearly written across their faces, and I could see that only Sophie had it in her to speak. “I don’t understand,” she said. “If you’re not an inquisitor, then what are you?”
“A liar,” Dryden said.
I looked up to meet his gaze. “It’s not what you think.”
“It’s not?” He shook his head as he wrestled with the revelation. “I should’ve known.” He tried to light another ciggy but tossed it away in anger. “All this time, after everything we’ve been through … you were just using me?”
“What choice did I have?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said sarcastically. “How about telling me the truth?”
“If I’d told you the truth, you never would’ve helped me.”
“Well, I guess we’ll never know now,” he said. “Will we?”
“No,” I agreed. “I guess we won’t. But I do know the world. And that’s enough for me.”
“That’s the orphanage talking,” he said. “Not you.”
“How would you know?” I asked. “You don’t even remember what it was like living in a place like that. You were whisked away by some sweet couple who wanted to give you a good life, while the rest of us chosen were left to suffer, raised like wolves and barely fed.”
“And now I’m supposed to feel guilty about that for the rest of my life?” he asked.
“Isn’t that the case?” I asked. “Patrolling the streets of the Forgotten Quarter. Making sure everyone is safe. Keeping them under your wing. Why? Because you’ve got nothing better to do? I might’ve grown up in hell, but you’re still living it.”
“Will someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Crag demanded.
I let out a sigh. What use was there in lying anymore? The truth had been unveiled, and I had no choice but to come clean.
“I was set up,” I finally answered.
Crag’s brows drew together in confusion. “Set up?”
“By the vampires,” I explained. “The Thorns, to be exact. They tricked me into chasing them into the human world, where they had been abducting women. But it was just a trap. The whole time, they were just waiting for me to show up.”
“For what?” he asked.
“To frame me.”
“To frame you?”
“For murder.”
Crag’s arm instinctively wrapped around Sophie’s shoulders, and I noticed his hand sliding to his hammer. Whatever trust we’d built over the day had suddenly been shattered by a few words.
“I didn’t do it,” I quickly said.
“Who was the victim?” Crag asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said.
“It does to me,” Crag said in a commanding voice. “Now, who was it?”
Dryden drew closer, wanting to hear the answer.
“A fae,” I finally replied.
Crag’s jaw slipped open as the revelation stung his mind, and Dryden snorted in astonishment. It was just another folly to add to my résumé.
“There was nothing I could do,” I said. “One second she was hovering in the air, the next he was killing her.”
“Who was killing her?” Crag asked.
I dug out the vial from my pocket and held it out for him to see. “The one who made this.”
“The Monarch?” he asked.
I gave him a shrug. “The Monarch. The warlock. Who knows at this point? All I do know is that if I don’t find them soon, my life will be forfeit.”
“So this was all to save your hide, then,” Dryden said, taking a step forward. “To keep poor little Ivy out of the Onyx Tower while the rest of us were put in danger.”
“That’s not what I intended.”
“Yet it still happened,” Dryden said. “And what about our little deal? The job you promised to do if I helped you?”
“Free a serial killer?” I replied.
“He’s innocent. I told you.”
“And how would you know?”
“Because I just do.”
“Elias Winslow is a murderer,” I said. “He single-handedly destroyed an entire village. What did you think I could’ve done? Jump through a portal back in time to clear up the dead bodies?”
His eyes filled with rage. “You’re a liar.”
“Oh, I’m the liar?” I asked. “What about your hidden spirits? Those spoils of war you keep under that shirt. You don’t want people to know how powerful you are. Why?”
“I have my reasons,” he said.
“And what would those be?” I asked.
“To protect myself.”
“From whom?” I asked. “The kids playing in the street?”
“From the same people who framed my mentor.”
I stared at him in silence, blinking. “You were Elias Winslow’s apprentice?”
He raked his fingers through his hair and gave a subtle nod. “He taught me everything I know.”
It was all beginning to make sense now. The conversation at the restaurant. His explication on wizardry. “He was the third type, wasn’t he?”
Dryden looked away, ashamed.
“The third type of wizard you told me about,” I continued, “the one who becomes obsessed with magic. That’s what happened to him, isn’t it?”
“He discovered something,” Dryden said.
“What?” I asked.
“Something he wasn’t supposed to see. They framed him for it.”
“Who are ‘they’?” I asked.
“The same people who are in charge,” he said.
“So that’s why you left the Isles,” I said, nodding in realization. “Why you don’t have any furniture and live in a grimy apartment in the worst part of town—so you can pack up and leave whenever you have to.”
“The world isn’t safe for me anymore.”
“Well, I’ve got news for you, mate. It’s not going to be safe for anyone if you don’t help me.”
He snorted in derision.
“I’m serious,” I said. “Once I fix this, I can protect you.”
“Just like you promised to help me before?” he asked. “Not a chance.”
“Fine,” I said. “I deserve that. But what about Salvation? What about those who are attending the celebration tonight? Don’t you want to help them?”
“Help?” He nearly laughed. “Help is what got me here in the first place.” He gestured at the roof. “Stuck on a roof with a criminal and hiding from the Order for a murder I was forced to commit. I won’t make the same mistake again. Not anymore.”
He moved to leave, but I stepped out in front of him. Bad move. His eyes filled with blue magic, and I felt the sting of heat flickering from his fingers.
“Do you really want to tempt fate again?” He gestured at the street below, now filled with an army of inquisitors.
I stepped aside.
He was just about to leave when he did one last thing. He knelt before Sophie and bowed. “Ce fut un honneur, Votre Altesse Royale.” It’s been an honor, Your Royal Highness.
The young princess kissed him on the cheek, rewarding him for his faithful duty. “L’honneur était tout à moi,” she replied. The honor was all mine.
When he was done, he straightened and offered Crag his hand.
The dwarf took it firmly.
“It’s been quite the adventure, old boy,” Dryden said.
“That it has,” Crag replied.
“Take care of the little one for me, and stay safe.”
“You as well,” Crag replied. “And remember, if you’re ever looking for a new coat, you know where to find me.”
Dryden glanced at the tear on his sleeve and grinned. “Will do, old boy. Will do.”
He was just about to walk away when I hit him with one last plea.
“Blood will be on your hands if you leave,” I said.