God, it was good to see his face again. It seemed unbelievable that it had only been a few days since I'd gone to the castle.
Finn led me to an old pub accessed through a narrow alley—the King and Crown. I’d never been in there before, because it was outrageously expensive. It was a pub for bankers, not people like Finn and me.
There weren't many people here today, just the bartender and two men at the far corner, smartly dressed. Like aristocrats.
Finn ordered us two glasses of wine, and I sat there staring at the table until he returned.
I let my head fall into my hands, still reeling from the shocking memory of that photo. Burned into my mind forever. For a moment there, I’d wanted to believe the best about Samael. Then, I’d been shown incontrovertible proof. The worst thing I could imagine.
When Finn sat down and slid a wine glass across to me, I drank the whole thing in about two gulps. I needed to dull the jagged pain running through my nerves, to quiet the screaming in my head. I didn’t have the Raven King’s ghost to calm me anymore.
I hadn’t quite muted the shrieks yet, but with the wine in my system, I was ready to talk.
Finn leaned in close to me. “The very top know about you now.”
I frowned. “The top of what?”
“The Free Men. Our leader goes by the name of the baron. I haven’t met him, but he knows who you are. He says that if you do this for us, you’re a true patriot.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know about that. I just want to stop Samael from murdering more women.”
“The Free Men think it’s not just the murders. They say Samael actually wants to end the world. An apocalypse, the angels taking over. They want to make us their slaves. They want us in chains.”
Dread slid through my bones. I knew Samael had some kind of master plan, but not what it was.
“So you’ll do it?” he asked.
“Do what?”
He fell silent, his throat bobbing. “They want you to kill him.”
I stared at him. “How?”
“First you have to seduce him. Do you think you can do that?”
“I already have. I mean, I’m not sure if it was enough. It wasn’t—”
He clamped his hands over his ears and shut his eyes. “I don’t need the details.” He pulled his hands away. “But from what I’ve heard, it doesn’t have to be the whole … thing. Kissing is enough for most angels.”
“I’ve certainly done that.”
He looked furious with me for a moment, then his cheeks went pink. “Okay.”
I didn’t have time for his prudishness. “What next?”
“Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Whatever it is Finn, I’ll do it.” I said it right away, without even thinking about it. "If Alice is dead, then I have almost nothing left. Just you and Zahra. But Mum has lost her mind and my sister is gone, and she was one of the strongest people I knew, and …” I trailed off, and the screaming rose once more. "I'll do whatever it takes, and I don't care if it's risky.”
I wanted him to die. It wasn’t that I wanted him to suffer, but he simply needed to go. If he didn’t, more mortals like Alice would lose their lives at his hands.
Finn nodded solemnly. "Do you think you can get in and out of the castle again?”
I frowned. "I didn't get permission to leave today. I snuck out. But if I’m careful, I can probably sneak back in at night. I don't think they have any idea that I can scale the walls. And I’ve found a route to move around the castle that no one else seems to know about.”
“So you could get in and out of his bedroom without him seeing you?”
I nodded. “There’s a secret passage. I don’t think he even knows about it.”
“Okay. Look, I don’t want to make you too nervous, but I do need you to understand that if you mess this up in any way at all, you could …” He cleared his throat. “Explode.”
I let out a long, slow breath. “We’re talking about a bomb, I take it.”
“It’s designed to be planted in a drawer. Is there something he opens every night?”
“He has tea every night, I think. He pulls it out of a little drawer by his hearth.” My nerves were electrified. “How does it work?”
“Give me a minute.”
He rose from the table and closed the wooden shutters, so no one would be able to look inside. Then he locked the front door. Anticipation made my pulse race, and I watched as he crossed to the two men in the corner.
Finn pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and slid it across the table to the two Free Men. One of them shot me a pointed look over his wineglass. Then he raised the glass, like he was toasting me. I thought I saw a flicker of disdain in his eyes, but I supposed for men like him, someone like me would always be trash.
I didn’t really care what he thought. I had a job to do, and that was about it.
One of the men rose and went through a door at the back of the pub. A moment later, he returned with a brown leather briefcase. He handed it to Finn, who took it very carefully from his hand.
Finn crossed back to me, his face red, visibly sweating. He was breathing heavily as he slid the briefcase across the table, and his hands were shaking wildly when he reached to open the brass latches.
I grimaced. “Maybe I should do it, Finn. You’ll set it off.”
He nodded, sweat pouring down his temples.
I turned the briefcase to face me, then shot a glance at the two Free Men in the corner. They were watching me carefully, and one of them nodded, touching his forehead.
I took a deep breath, and popped open the latches.
My heart started pounding as I slowly inched up the lid. There, neatly tucked into the briefcase, was an instrument of pure death.
41
Lila
It looked almost like a mousetrap glued to a small, wooden box. When I leaned down, I saw that it had a spring, and a switch release. A string attached to the copper switch, with a little pin on the end. Next to the bomb, nestled in the packaging, was a small tube of glue.
“How does it work?” I asked in a whisper.
Finn pointed at the wooden box. “First, you glue it to the bottom of the drawer. Carefully. And you’ll need to make sure it’s in the right place. There are two sticks of dynamite in there, in the box part. When that copper switch release is pressed down and hits the contact, the whole thing blows.” He looked like he might throw up.
He breathed slowly in and out, then pointed at the pin attached to the string. “You pin this string to the back of the drawer, so when he pulls the drawer open fully, the string will pull the switch down. It will touch the contact, and detonate. That’s why it has to be in the right place. But you have to be careful—”
“I understand, Finn. I won’t let the switch hit the copper bit while I’m there.” At least, I bloody hoped not. “I can do it after night falls. Around eight-thirty, maybe. He usually doesn’t come back to his bedroom till late.”
Finn scrubbed a hand over his mouth. "I didn't want you to have to do this.”
A dark thought wound around inside my skull. What if I was wrong somehow?