45
Lila
Part of me wanted to stick around, to see if I would hear a blast. But that was a terrible idea for a number of reasons. So I forced myself to run.
Except I felt this terrible sense of wrongness. I was destroying something divine.
I supposed no one said war was easy.
So I simply pressed on. Escaping the castle again wasn’t hard. The magical cloud of nightshade had been so powerful, the soldiers were still unconscious. All of them—every soldier in the courtyard. I scaled the wall easily, then moved quietly, stealthily through the streets.
There were soldiers out here looking for me, but it was easy enough to evade them. I took the side streets, the alleys, and I slunk in the shadows.
I’d never assassinated anyone before, but this I was good at. Blending in. I tried to keep moving so I wouldn’t give in to the sharp, agonizing grief I felt, like my heart had been carved out.
When I got to the music hall, I lingered in the shadowy park opposite for a few minutes, looking for Finn. He’d said he would be working the door tonight, but he wasn’t. It was a guy with ginger hair I recognized, but I didn’t know his name.
Odd. Where was Finn? I wanted to tell him what had happened.
A lump rose in my throat. Something was … wrong. Had the Clovians found him? Were they rounding up the Free Men?
A little panic started crackling through my body, and now I needed to know Finn was fine.
From the shadows behind the line of trees, I scanned the street. If Clovian soldiers were inside right now, I’d see the dancers and revelers streaming out, looking panicked.
When I saw two women striding out laughing, I thought it must be fine in there.
I rushed over to the doorman and nodded at him. Smiling, he pulled the door open, and I hurried inside.
First item on the agenda, find Ernald, ask why Finn wasn’t here. A sense of dread was coiling around my ribs.
I tuned out the music, the dancing, and I pushed my way through the crowd.
I slammed the door to Ernald’s office open. I found Zahra there, too, sipping a cocktail.
“Where’s Finn?” I blurted.
The real Zahra raised an eyebrow. “Nice to see you too. We were just discussing Finn.”
“What exactly are you doing here?” Ernald snapped. “Why aren’t you at the castle?”
“Sorry, but …” Make up a lie. “I had a night off.”
“A night off? You expect me to believe that?” Ernald, unfortunately, always saw through my bullshit.
“Where is Finn?” I asked again.
Ernald leaned back in his chair, puffing his cigar. “Fired.”
“Why?” I demanded.
Zahra frowned at me. “Lila, you’re not mixed up with Finn’s Free Men bollocks, are you? Because those people are dodgy as fuck.”
I looked between the two of them. I wasn’t about to tell Ernald about the bomb, or about Alice. If I could get a moment alone with Zahra, I’d tell her everything. But not with Ernald here.
I was heading for the door. “I have to go.”
“Wait!” Ernald shouted. “Did Finn get you mixed up in the resistance?”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about that.” I remembered his key, and pulled it out of my pocket. I handed it to Zahra. “Can you make sure he gets this?”
Ernald blew a smoke ring. “Lila, this is important. You met the Free Men on the Merry Cauldron. You’re a sensible girl. What was your impression of them? Did they seem like the kind of men who are actually saving our country?”
“Absolutely not.” They seemed like wankers, honestly, but that was neither here nor there. We had a common goal. “But Finn isn’t like them. And sometimes, you have to work with people you don’t like to achieve the goals you want.”
“Wait!” Ernald pounded his desk. “Lila. They’re not on our side. Do you understand? They’re not bloody on our side. Finn’s putting on an accent around them. He’s not who you think he is.”
I knew what he meant—they were rich, we were not. The aristocrats treated us with contempt, which was why we lived in slums and didn’t learn to read. But I wasn’t looking to be one of them. I just wanted to get rid of Samael, and they happened to have a bomb I could use. “Ernald, why did you fire Finn?”
“He’s been lying to me,” said Ernald. “I came into my office today to find five Free Men in here, in their black shirts, buttoned all the way up like a bunch of pricks. He’s been meeting with them here. Bringing the Free Men into my establishment after I forbade it. My office. I know Count Saklas didn’t want them here. I don’t want nothing to do with them. Not to mention I found chemicals in here. Don’t know what he was doing with them, but I doubt it was good.”
“Chemicals?” What was he talking about? “But why would he meet with them here?”
“No idea,” said Ernald.
“Do you know what Annie saw?” said Zahra. “In Cobbler’s Row. Two men in the black shirts the Free Men wear, strangling a woman. Those women murdered in alleys? She said that’s the Free Men, punishing women who had sex with angels. They’re trying to start a war with the angels. An uprising.”
I stared at her, feeling sicker by the moment. “Zahra, Finn wouldn’t do that. You know he wouldn’t. Annie must be confused. Look—I’ve seen photographic evidence of what the angels have done. I found Alice’s locket in the servant’s room at the castle. Alice worked there, just like Finn said. And all the servants were murdered. And I’ve seen the proof.” I hadn’t meant to divulge this much, but it was just coming out now. “I’ve seen the proof with my own eyes. The count killed Alice. I saw the picture. Maybe the Free Men are first rate wankers, but a photo doesn’t lie. It was Alice, unmistakably. Her platinum hair and dark eyebrows. And Samael had killed her. He was holding up her severed head, smiling. If I stayed there any longer, I’d meet the same fate. I’m sorry the Free Men are rich, but Samael has to go.”
Ernald dropped his head into his hands. “If you’ve done something, Lila, I suppose you need to get the fuck out of here before you drag me into it. I’m not having any part of this war between the angels and the Free Men.”
My jaw clenched, and I turned to the door. “Fine. I’m leaving anyway.” But when I took a step, something snagged in my mind. It was the hollow sound of my footstep.
Something about that sounded an alarm in the recesses of my mind. It was, after all, a sound I’d heard earlier today. And when I sniffed the air, I smelled an unfamiliar chemical scent.
I glanced down. Beneath my foot was a slightly raised floorboard.
Just like I’d seen in Finn’s room.
I stepped back and crouched down.
“What are you doing?” Ernald shouted.
“Hang on.” I reached down and pried the board up. Horror washed over me. Paints, photographs lay beneath. Film negatives, and the scent of chemicals.
These were the chemicals. Photography chemicals.
I picked up the photographs, my hands shaking violently. “Oh, God.”
“What is it?” asked Zahra.
“Art supplies,” I stammered, a tear spilling down my cheek. “Fucking betrayal is what it is.”