Page 60 of Ravens
Liars.
“Fine.” I put my mug on the counter. “You don’t want to show me yours? I can play that game too, boys.”
“Wait.” York steps forward. “What do you have that could be useful?”
“Eye of the beholder, I’m sure.”
“Right,” William says. “But how do we know?”
“I’ll write down a handful of names I think will pique your interest. Between the four of you, decide which one is most valuable to you, and I’ll spill the tea.”
“That seems far too generous.” York puts down his coffee.
“It’s not.” I cross my arms. “Because if you want it, you’re going to tell me what that little look between the two of you was about.”
William makes a small sound in his throat and walks out of the room, so I shift my attention to York, who has found something very interesting at the bottom of his coffee mug.
“Maybe you should all . . . discuss it before this deal gets set in stone, and I’ll be kind and take a shower to facilitate that.”
“I’d rather take a shower too,” he mumbles, stepping closer.
“I bet.”
I walk out of the room, leaving him behind.
Thirty
We’re all sitting around the dining table again, and I’m in the same clothing I was wearing before the shower, with my wet hair slicked back as York pours me a drink.
“It’s like, ten in the morning,” I point out.
He doesn’t say anything as he sits down, and the four men meet my gaze.
William slides a pad of paper and pen across the table. “Names of interest first.”
Scratching my brow briefly, I take up the pen and begin writing. Five names. Good names. So good, I’m not really sure how they’ll pick. I shoot the pad back across the table, and William snags it. They all lean over to see it.
“Fuck off,” Carter hisses, pointing at the paper. “How could you possibly know a thing about him?”
“Decide,” I say firmly, “and I’ll tell you.”
“These two are a waste,” York says, indicating the list. “I know enough that’s actionable already.”
“This is interesting,” August says, but Carter’s right. “That one’s wild.”
“Fine.” William nods. “Give us the duke.”
“You first,” I remind him, and he exhales, leaning back, only it isn’t him that speaks. It’s York.
“I didn’t kill Babylon or Carthage,” York says. “I never took the contract at all.”
“I did,” William says proudly. “York had his little side quest for the ghost in the machine—you—but I killed Babylon when I caught her red-handed in Venice, and when the contract came in, I jumped on it. Carthage was the easiest to find. And then I kept going.”
A shiver crawls over me. “You kept going? How many are left?”
“Down to the last three now.”
I scrub my face viciously for a second. “You’re just tying up loose ends for the Agency.”
