Page 106 of Terror at the Gates

I rapped on the door and rang the doorbell in quick succession before taking a drag from my cigarette.

I waited until Lisk answered to let the smoke roll off my tongue into his face.

“Alarich,” I said.

“Mr. Zareth,” his voice thick, his frown deep. “What can I do for you?”

“I brought something that I think…belongs to you,” I said.

I watched him stiffen, and his expressionbecame almost hopeful, eyes shining with an inner light.

Feet shuffled behind me, and I stepped aside as Cassius and three soldiers lugged two bodies down Lisk’s pristine stone walkway before depositing the corpses on his steps.

Lisk’s face turned bright red.

“I believe you know them? Jonathan Koval and Joseph Burke,” I said, using my foot to roll them onto their backs so Lisk could get a good look.

“This is obscene!” Lisk seethed, the words slipping between his teeth.

I moved my tongue over the inside of my cheek and laughed.

“Come on, Lisk. You’ve seen worse. You’ve done worse…haven’t you?”

The archbishop looked up at me, scowling. I took a deep draw from my cigarette.

“If you’ve come here to threaten me, Zareth, I’ll—”

I released a plume of smoke directly into his face again and leaned closer.

“You’ll what?” I asked.

Cassius and the three soldiers returned with two more bodies.

They were Christian Masters and Judas Fischer III.

I dropped my cigarette to his marble steps, crushing it beneath my foot.

“How dare—”

“How dare I what? Threaten you?” I smiled. “I’m not making a threat. I’m laying your sins at your feet.”

Cassius and the boys brought the final two bodies. Jadon Chavara and Kane Hoyt.

“You recognize them? They all have one thing in common with you. They hurt someone under my protection.”

Someone very important to me, I thought.

Lisk remained silent, almost stoic.

I shifted closer, placing a hand on his shoulder, leaning close.

“I know your secret,” I said, my fingers tightening, digging into his skin. “If you harm one hair on her head, I’ll end you.”

I took a step back, holding his gaze. It was as though his crimes had suddenlycaught up with him. They pulled at his face, aging him.

“And just so we’re clear, that’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

Chapter Thirteen

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