Page 57 of Kept to Kill
‘You talk to her,’ Quin said to Bastian. ‘After what I saw at the stream, I doubt she wants to be anywhere near me.’
‘I tried earlier. She’ll have none of it. Wouldn’t say a word to me.’
‘Mal?’
Mal frowned. He pushed himself off the wall, looking like a deer caught in the forest unawares. ‘No,’ he finally said, pacing to the other side of the room.
‘You were the one who did it,’ Bastian said to Quin. ‘You must make amends.’
Quin threw up his hands in frustration. ‘How?’ he hissed. ‘The reason we’re here is to put her in a room with our enemies so that they die with no one being able to prove it wasn’t an accident. Perhaps it’s better if she’s like this. We can distance ourselves.’
Mal made a noise from where he still paced and left the room, his feet not making a sound. Bastian was sitting back in the chair and looking thoughtful.
‘No,’ he said finally.
‘No? No what?’
‘No, we aren’t putting our Fourth in danger like that. We need to find another way.’
Before Quin could reply, the door opened and a young lad brought a tray of refreshments. He put them on the table while Quin quietly seethed at Bastian, and as soon as the door closed again, he leapt up.
‘You don’t give the orders here,’ he said sharply. ‘She’s not even a true Fourth. We only bound her for safety, and as soon as we’re back with the Army, I will break it.’
‘She wasFourthenough last night for your belt.’ Bastian sneered. ‘Do you truly believe I will let you unbind her? Do you think Mal will?’ His tone was colder and more ominous than Quin had heard before from his usually jovial Brother.
But Quin barked a short laugh. ‘I don’t know what you believe Mal feels for you, but he would as soon slit your throat if he could. Don’t think to turn him against me. He and I have been Brothers much longer than you have been part of the Army … wherever the fuck you came from,’ he ground out.
Bastian stood, his presence making the room feel much smaller. ‘I don’t need to turn him against you, Brother. You do that on your own.’
And with that, he too was gone, leaving Quin alone to flounder, his unit fracturing at a time when it needed more than ever to be strong.
Chapter 10
Lily
The woman, Del, led her up a narrow flight of stairs, yammering on about this and that, the walls of the city crumbling on the north side because of winter storms, the taxation on seal pelts and blubber coming from the far north ice sheets. But Lily was only half listening, most of her energy going into staying upright after their morning of riding. She was in pain, she was tired, and, most of all, she was afraid.
As soon as Kitore had come into view, those great white spires shooting up from the ground like jagged blades that would pierce her soul, all she’d felt was panic. She was afraid she would retch. In fact, as soon as the woman left her alone, she feared she would lose what little was in her stomach.
All she could see in her mind’s eye was that last day she’d spent in the city, when her sad little world on the streets had come to an even more tragic end. She’d tried to forget, spent years not thinking about them. But now she couldn’t help but remember. Everything here reminded her of those days before she had changed.
The Brothers had asked her if she could remember touching anyone before and not killing them. The truth was, she could. The day everything altered was seared into her mind with the clarity of a child whose life was destroyed in a moment, when the city was wreathed in bright decorations for some festival or another to some arsehole deity who didn’t give a shit about any of them. And she remembered with that same clearness the first of many men she had killed. Except that he had been her friend, one of her little family. And he hadn’t been a man at all.
‘Did you hear me?’
Del was speaking to her, her brow creased.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, trying for a rueful grin even as she wanted to burst into tears. ‘It’s been a long journey. What did you say?’
‘I asked if you’re their Fourth, child,’ Del said quietly as she opened the door to a small, bright bedchamber with a comfortable-looking bed with an ivory bedspread embroidered with pink flowers.
‘Yes. I think so,’ she answered, entering the room fully and feeling a little more at ease.
‘Youthinkso?’
‘I— well, it’s a long story,’ she stammered.
Del didn’t look convinced. ‘Well, I’ll leave you to get settled. The lad, Jona, will bring you some water up to wash the road off you and some clothes to make you look like you belong in the city.’
