Page 99 of Kept to Kill
‘Where they were murdered,’ Quin finished.
Mal nodded.
‘All those corpses hanging on the northern wall weren’t members of the city,’ he said. ‘They were fae refugees.’
‘Can’t tell a fae corpse from human,’ Mal said quietly.
‘The Underhill has always been under Kitore’s rule. Why kill the ones who came looking for sanctuary?’
‘Lily said that the men we sent her to kill were fae as well,’ Quin said.
Mal looked at him sharply. ‘We did someone’s dirty work.’
‘Aye,’ said Quin. ‘We’ve been played false. The fae and the Army have never been at odds before, and they wouldn’t be plotting against us now. Someone has made the Army do their work for them, hoping for us to be caught. Two birds …’ He frowned. ‘We’ve a betrayer in the camp.’
‘Maeve,’ Mal muttered. At Quin’s expression, he drew himself up. ‘She was gone for a long time. Never retook the trials.’
Quin let out a slow breath. Could it be Maeve? He had lent her power when they left for the north. She could have used that to her advantage. ‘She has her problems with the way the Army and the camp works, but I can’t see her betraying Callan, Jax, and Seth.’
Mal shrugged. ‘Lily say anything more?’
‘No, and nothing about her time in the Library. She will not speak of it. It’s as if … She was unharmed when Drake brought her to you?’
Mal’s gaze became unfocused. ‘That I could see.’
‘And yet it feels as if she suffered some great horror. We need to get it out of her. And we don’t have time to wait if what she’s keeping back is important information that we’ll need.’
‘Can get it out of her.’ Mal didn’t look happy with the prospect, though.
They both heard Lily make a small noise and turned to look at her.
‘Dreaming,’ Mal said.
‘Not a good dream,’ Quin added, watching how her eyes moved quickly beneath her lids, how her hands clenched and unclenched and her legs jerked. ‘Wake her.’
Mal went over to her and bent down, shaking her gently to wake her. Her eyes opened on a gasp as she looked around the room with frightened eyes.
‘You’re safe,’ Quin said as Mal stroked her face. ‘But it’s time you told us what happened to you in the Great Library.’
Her lips tightened into a thin line. ‘Nothing,’ she said.
Mal pulled her gently to her feet and Quin saw that Bastian was awake now as well.
Lily looked away. ‘I don’t want to speak of it,’ she declared.
‘It might be pertinent.’
‘It’s not,’ she said, her expression mulish.
Mal made a noise of anger and she flinched.
‘You can hurt me if you want,’ she said, ‘but it won’t make me tell you.’
Mal spun back to her, a look of surprise on his face. ‘Would never harmyou, not like that,’ he ground out, looking hurt. Her face softened and she touched his stubbled jaw.
‘I know,’ she said quietly, taking a shuddering breath. ‘Something did happen in the Library, but …’ She put her head in her hands with a self-deprecating laugh. ‘Gods, I don’t think you’ll even believe me.’
Quin went to her. ‘We will,’ he said firmly. ‘There should be no secrets between us. We are a unit, after all.’
