Page 220 of Mud

Those three words she said first.

Those three words she said, after her maid or whoever had picked up the phone told her that I was calling about Rosabel.

That’s how I knew that what Radock said before in his office was true. He hadn’t lied to us, and his spy hadn’t lied to him, and now I wondered if those times when sweetness had cried in my arms all night had something to do withher.

“Madeline Rogan,” I said, the magic in the cabin thick to alter the sound of my voice.

“How dare you call at this hour,” the woman on the other end said, and if I’d had it in me to be surprised still, I would be.

“I have information about the whereabouts of Rosabel La Rouge,” I continued. “Your granddaughter.”

Silence.

The guilt tried to squash me under. After all, I was betraying my own here, even if I refused to acknowledge the fact. I was betraying my people, my brothers, no matter how hard I was ignoring the thoughts and just forcing myself to focus on the phone. The woman. My changed voice.

Easy enough to do altering magic—both for the eyesand the ears of my subjects. Easy and painless, and that’s what I focused on.

“My granddaughter is better off wherever she is,” the woman whispered.

Again, I’d have been surprised under different circumstances.

“Your granddaughter is being tortured.” I said this simply. Calmly. To hear me you’d think I didn’t care.

“You seem to know an awful lot about my granddaughter. Who are you? Speak your name, coward.”

My eyes closed and my fists tightened.

“I am willing to give you an address.” I couldn’t keep all that I felt from my voice this time. That’s why I sounded so…robotic, even though my voice was coated with magic still.

“And what do I need an address for, coward?” the woman spit, and I understood. No doubt in my mind that she would kill her own granddaughter. “Did she make you call me, is that it? Is she there with you?”

Goddess help me if I ever came face to face with this woman.

“No, I’m afraid she’s being tortured at the moment. She couldn’t be here to hear your voice.”

Another second of silence.

“You know so much about her. Do you know what she’s become, coward?”

That word—coward. That fucking word.

“Mud.”

“Yes,that,”she said, her voice lighter by the minute as she became more alert. “So, what do I need her for? If she’s being tortured—good. She’s better off there, anyway.”

Goddess help me if I am ever within eyesight of this woman.

“She’s your granddaughter.”

“And she’s Mud. That’s humiliating enough. I’d rather she stayed dead. That way the people never have to know. I can get out of this with my name unstained, at least. Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me? All those years, all that work…”

Easy. Calm.Those words I kept in the center of my mind as I continued, even though my ear was sweaty and my hand was shaking from how tightly I was holding that phone.

“Well, then it would be awfully inconvenient for you if my next call would be to the IDD. I’d offerthemthe address, and thenthey’dhave to come saveyourgranddaughter, because…you’re too weak to do it yourself? Too powerless, maybe?” I gave it a second. “Yes, I’ll use that word—powerless.I like it better.” Just because she seemed like the type.

“What do you want, coward?”

Her voice changed yet again.

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