Page 127 of A Steeping of Blood
“The Ram,” he replied, which was answer enough.
“You.”
Matteo stormed past Jin and flung Laith against the wall. The boy was already bleeding, his hair a dull matted mess on his brow. “You killed him.”
“And if you don’t let me go, the Ram’s going to kill Arthie,” Laith said.
Matteo dropped him immediately. “What?”
“We were trying to escape and found a cage full of people,” Laith said. “They’re—”
Flick cut him off. “We know about them. What happened to Arthie?”
“The Ram was in the room too. Preparing something, I don’t know.”
“Preparing to turn them,” Flick answered. “I spoke to two of the girls on the day I escaped.”
“And now she can use Arthie to do it,” Jin whispered.
Laith looked like he hadn’t considered that. “How do you know?”
“I know,” Jin said. The Ram was full of twisted ideas, and it was as Arthie said: She wanted to break them. He looked to the time. The tribute didn’t begin for another four hours. “We need to go. Show Laith the sketch of the bunker. You, tell us everything you know, and if you think you can lie and get away with it, I will kill you.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Laith said quietly, following them to Matteo’s sketches that he’d made using the Ram’s terrible artistry and Flick’s recollection of the place. “There are two entrances. One here—”
“Where I exited,” Flick said. “It leads to the outside.”
“And another here,” Laith said, pointing to a corner at the top of the other end. “Connecting the palace to the bunker. The door leads to a tunnel, at—”
Matteo didn’t move to make note of it. “Forgive me for not trusting a traitor.”
Laith crossed his arms. “Am I a traitor if you never trusted me to begin with?”
“And a murderer.”
“Aren’t we all? The tunnel is at least thirty feet long, and if we enter through the palace, it’ll take us close to the room with the cage.”
“Us?” Matteo asked. “There is nousafter what you’ve done.”
“Be that as it may, you haven’t seen the bunker to navigate it on your own,” Laith said.
Jin shook his head. “We need to get to Arthie before the tribute begins. One, that means there won’t be an audience loitering in the gardens for us to use as cover. And two, the palace doors won’t be open yet to even access that entrance to the bunker.”
“I’ll lead us through the other entrance then,” Flick said.
“You need to stay safe. Aboveground,” Jin said.
Flick furrowed her brow. “No, I do not. I promised the humans I’d be back for them. Even if I hadn’t, I’m not letting the rest of you go in there while I sit outside.”
Jin wanted to lock her away and keep her safe, but she was right. He had trusted her before; he couldn’t stop simply because she was hurt. Flick could handle her own. Shehadhandled her own when they were leagues away in Ceylan.
“The Ram’s men outnumber us by a large shot,” Flick added. “Plus, we have to prepare for the humans to have been turned, and possibly free of the cage. We need all the help we can get. That means Laith’s too.”
“Very well,” Matteo said, the look on his face making it abundantly clear he was ceding only because of her.
“Sidharth, get the assassin armed and cleaned up, please,” Jin said. “Your vampires?”
“Thirteen Athereum members were invited,” Sidharth said. “A few more managed to get invites through friends and other means, butfewer and fewer of us are able to keep our identities a secret. I have twenty vampires total, nicely polished and dressed for the event.”
