21. Kit
Kit
T he walk back to the Ossuary wasn’t nearly long enough to let my lingering anger about the incident in the stairwell fade. It smoldered in my chest and mingled with the dread about the consequences of Merrick’s presence here, making it hard to think.
Revealing anything personal to Levitt was a risk but leaving him in the dark could be catastrophic. If I could bend his ear before Merrick got the chance to, explain the situation, maybe I could take advantage of our old friendship and buy Penny and myself some safety.
Back in the atrium, I stopped in front of the long table. The man from earlier looked me over with bored disinterest.
“Back again?” he asked.
“I need to see the Right Hand.”
He quirked a brow. “Did you not speak to him a few minutes ago?”
“I did. But something else has come up that he needs to be aware of. It’s important that I see him now. ”
“The Right Hand’s time is valuable. I can schedule you an appointment.”
Groaning, I rubbed my hand over my face. “Can you at least let him know I’m here? I’m sure he’ll see me.”
The man sighed and consulted the woman at the other end of the table. “Please let the Right Hand know that Mister Koesters is here wanting to speak with him, and that we have advised him he can schedule an appointment, but he insists.”
The woman dipped her head in a curt nod and disappeared through the doorway on the right.
While she was gone, I paced the front of the atrium, trying to burn off some of my anxious energy. The man’s eyes followed me back and forth, watching as if I was a child in need of constant supervision. He didn’t look away until the woman returned a few minutes later, stopping in the doorway.
She beckoned me to approach before fixing her attention on the man at the table. “The Right Hand says that Mister Koesters is welcome to visit whenever he’d like, provided His Eminence does not have a prior engagement.”
I followed as she turned back down the hall and didn’t bother to look back to see how the man reacted to his small authority being undermined.
She led me up the stairs to the top floor, then tapped on the door on the right. When Levitt pulled it open, she dipped her head in reverence and then retreated down the stairs.
When he stepped back, I followed him inside and wandered toward the desk in the center of the room as he closed the door behind us.
“I was a bit surprised to hear you were back so soon,” Levitt said. I could hear the smile in his voice. “Though I’m happy to have a chance to catch up just the two of us.”
“I’d like that, too,” I said, taking up Merrick’s previous position leaning against the desk, “but unfortunately this isn’t a social call.”
Levitt’s bright smile shifted into a look of concern, and he motioned me toward the pair of chairs in front of the windows. “Come, sit. You sound troubled.”
I followed his prompting, and we both settled into the plush armchairs. He folded his left hand over the stump of his right wrist and waited patiently while I gathered my thoughts.
“I have some concerns,” I began slowly. “After we left here, there was an… incident in the stairwell. With Penny and your Shroud Warden.”
His brows crinkled in confusion. “Merrick didn’t mention anything.”
“No, I imagine he wouldn’t have, considering the farm he pledged to the cause years ago wasn’t his to give.”
Levitt opened his mouth to respond, but I forged on.
“Merrick is Penny’s brother, and they have a troubled history.
More volatile, I think, than even I know.
After we left here, Merrick cornered Penny in the stairwell and all but threatened his life.
It seems that Penny being here may create a conflict of interest for Merrick, and I’m concerned he may retaliate against Penny because of it. ”
Levitt sat back in his chair and scowled. “Merrick is an only child. It was just him and his father.”
I shook my head. Why was I not surprised he’d claim that? It seemed he’d picked up more than my father’s penchant for avoiding handshakes. Denying the existence of an entire family was worse than just erasing one person from history.
“Their father remarried after Merrick’s mother died,” I explained. “So they’re half-brothers. He has a stepmother and a half-sister, as well.”
“He failed to disclose any of this.” Levitt’s voice was low and cold. “That means the so-called farmhand Merrick mentioned?—”
“Not a farmhand,” I confirmed. “By law, the rightful owner of the family farm. Though, given what I know of their relationship, the fact that Merrick reduced Penny to that role is unsurprising. He’s always considered Penny to be a lesser man.
” Not all of us were set up to succeed in the lives our fathers set out for us.
Penny and I certainly had that in common.
“But he manages the farm well enough. There’s clearly a reason why their father put him in charge. ”
“That would not be the first time Merrick has been passed over,” Levitt muttered, tipping his head against his seatback.
I leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
“Merrick was your father’s Shroud Warden for years while I was a Sentinel. They were rather close and shared the same ideals and views on how the Bone Men should be run.”
That explained how Merrick had seemed familiar with my tensions with my father when so many of the newer acolytes had no idea who I was.
What else did he know about me that he could use against me later?
If they were so alike, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was the oft mentioned protege my father gushed about in his journals.
“As a whole,” Levitt continued, “the rest of us were uncomfortable with the path they were leading us down, and there was a fair amount of discord among acolytes and laypeople alike.
“So, when Vaughn was arrested and executed, the other Sentinels and I were unwilling to let Merrick ascend to Right Hand. We knew that if he did, nothing would change, and we would be well on our way to suffering another Judgment. It was a risk no one was willing to take. We decided that one of us would have to take the position in his stead.”
He looked almost pained, like this wasn’t a story he enjoyed recounting. I could have sworn I could see the weight of his responsibility pressing him deeper into his seat.
“The vote needed to be unanimous to bypass Merrick as the tiebreaker, and I was the only one the other Sentinels could agree on. Given the alternative…” He turned a weary smile in my direction.
“It was really no choice at all. I accepted. Merrick was livid, but there was nothing he could do. He’d been outvoted, and he didn’t have enough support to overrule us.
Everyone was ready to see things go back to how they were before your father took over, and that couldn’t happen with Merrick at the helm. ”
His smile was weak. “Would have been better if you’d been here. You’d have gotten all four of our votes to succeed your father.”
The thought of taking over in my father’s stead made me nauseous.
Giving up my right hand to the Vessel, losing my ability to practice my trade or make a living for myself outside of these walls, and damning myself to the service of a god I despised was a terrifying notion.
Faced with the choice Levitt had been, I would have been cornered into the same resignation.
Anything to keep Merrick from taking over and continuing the barbaric practices that had become the hallmarks of my father’s reign.
“You were always the better choice between us,” I said. “Though I do wonder why you keep Merrick as your Shroud Warden knowing he doesn’t support your vision and likely wants your position for himself.”
Levitt waved away the concern. “He hasn’t made any moves against me.
Though, he does grumble behind my back. I hear more than he knows.
” He chuckled. “But I’ve no valid reason to remove him at this point.
Should he give me a reason in the future, I’ll pursue it.
In the meantime, I suffer his input and mitigate his extremism the best I can. ”
“I suppose that’s the best we can hope for,” I said.
Levitt nodded. “Thank you for coming to me with this. If I’d known ahead of time they were brothers, I might have been concerned Penny was here to further Merrick’s agenda. Given what you’ve told me about their less than favorable relationship, I will rest a little easier.”
I couldn’t help a chuckle of my own. “There’s no chance of Penny backing anything Merrick believes in. I will personally guarantee that.”
Levitt’s bright smile was back. “Good. And please let me know if there are any further incidents so I can address them. For now, I’m going to give Merrick some time to come clean about the farm and his family. However long that takes will be telling.”
“I appreciate you taking this seriously. I want to believe my recruit will be safe here, but I worry about the threat Merrick may pose. I feel better knowing you’re aware of this before he can try to twist things to suit his own plans.
” I got to my feet, and Levitt stood as well.
“Considering he was close to my father, I suspect his ire will fall on me too, as much because I brought Penny in as for my supposed disrespect for my lineage.”
“You’ve always been above reproach,” Levitt said. “If you maintain that, he won’t have anything to use against you.”
“Thank you, Lev. That means a lot to me. ”
He grinned. “What are friends for?”
As he saw me out, guilt stuck in my throat.
It shouldn’t have been so easy to manipulate my childhood friend, to twist his trust until it fit my needs.
But just like four years ago—when he’d taken a job he never wanted because there’d been no other choice—I had no choices left now.
This was the only way to keep Penny safe.
To keep myself safe. Better a living liar than an honest dead man.
I drifted through the market, my eyes skimming over the stalls without seeing a thing.
I told myself I was trying to settle my thoughts enough to go home and check on Penny, but they wouldn’t be tamed.
They tangled and knotted, circling back on themselves until I couldn’t tell where one ended and the next began.
In the grand scheme, my comfort was irrelevant.
I’d known from the moment I set foot on this path that it would demand pieces of me I never meant to give.
That I’d have to become the villain if I wanted to tear the Bone Men down from the inside.
I was no hero. But I was the only one willing to gamble their quiet life staring down a dark god, knowing I wouldn’t walk away unscathed.
If I lost my soul in the process, it was a small price to pay to save the world.