Page 40 of Hell's Secret Omega

Claudius looks around the floor. The forge room is far from empty. “I’ll send someone with the latest batch of repairs to the storeroom later today,” he says loudly.

He turns to the forge and tosses the papers into the flame. Cyrus has made duplicates and triplicates by the light of Mezor’s garden, paranoid about discovery. He suppresses the twinge as these copies are rendered into ash.

“I’ll be waiting.” Cyrus turns on his heel.

“You’re playing with fire,” says Claudius. “Best be sure you know what you want.”

Oh, I do.

Cyrus tamps down on his triumph until he’s back in the storeroom, then he allows himself a brief smirk and a flourish as he takes out the ledger book. When the ambassador of the Grey Company arrives, he’s ready.

Sabinus is a soldier, and not what he expected. The late General Talos’s insignia is emblazoned proudly on his chest, a dangerous symbol of sedition these days. He’s tall and narrow, not captain material but confident nonetheless. He strides into Cyrus’s domain with a swagger and shuts the door behind himself. Cyrus’s hackles rise immediately.

“Lieutenant Cyrianus?” He looks Cyrus up and down. “Ought to be aFlavius, if you ask me. Claudius told me to figure out what you want.”

“I want to contribute to the cause.” Cyrus sets his ledger down to keep from clutching it to his chest. “I’ve heard the Grey Company have plans to leave. I’m sick of working for the Quartermaster. I want out.”

“What does someone like you have to offer us?” Sabinus looks down his long nose. “We don’t need cannon fodder.”

“You’ve been stealing supplies. I have evidence. A simple re-tally would make it obvious to General Leuther.”

Sabinus sneers, but there’s a flicker of uncertainty is in his eyes. “Or I could cut you from ear to ear and let your ichor drown you. No re-tally. No problems for us.”

Cyrus shrugs. “If I die, Magnus will just have someone else do the next count. The difference between my numbers and his would be eye-opening, I’m sure.”

Sabinus’s expression turns sour. “No wonder they call you a rat.”

“So?” Cyrus presses, ignoring the insult.

“What’s in it for us?”

“I keep fudging the numbers. The Grey Company funnels more supplies away, except now I’ll tell you when no one’s going to be around—and I’ll cover for your asses.”

“What’s in it foryou?” Sabinus demands.

“I want out of the Court. Aren’t you crossing the bridge? I hate the it here. General Leuther might be expanding into Hell, but that’s the last place I want to be. I’m sick of living under the Quartermaster’s claw.”

A sliver of something that could, perhaps, be called sympathy crosses Sabinus’s face. It’s quickly smoothed away.

“Humans are weak. Better to spread across the human realm and steal their cities than stay here and build castles in the dark.” Sabinus scowls. “The King could’ve conquered all the human lands if he hadn’t cared so much about the one city guarded by angels. But we don’t need to throw ourselves at the Seraphim Wall anymore. The rest of the world could be ours.”

“Exactly,” Cyrus says, feigning eagerness. “That’s what I want.”

Sabinus’s gaze flicks over him dismissively. “Well,youwon’t be conquering anything. But you could make yourself useful to someone who will.”

Cyrus bites back a retort. “Am I in or not?” he demands.

Sabinus pauses as if he has to think about it—as if he has a choice. Cyrus has them in a corner. General Leuther lets them wear Talos’s insignia because he needs Talos’s skilled patrol tohelp with the hunt. At the first whiff of their theft, he wouldn’t hesitate to sniff out all the traitors and slaughter them.

“Very well,” Sabinus says. “Give me the real tallies within a week’s time. I want to see how much we can draw off.”

One gamepiece in place, Cyrus tells himself when he closes the door behind the other demon.

He doesn’t let himself feel relief until he’s climbing down to Ekko’s cage, a peace offering of dried meat tucked into his coat.

“Soon,” he whispers as Ekko looks him over with his golden eye. He takes the meat from Cyrus and swallows it with a flick of his head. His cry rings loud against the walls of the hole.Crah!

Soon.

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