Chapter 14 #2
Tilda sat in a chair in the middle of Drex’s living room.
The coffee table and couches had all been pushed to the walls to allow more space.
Niamh sat in one of the chairs in the corner and Sebastian and Nessa stood to either side of Tilda.
They’d donned their Elliot Graves and the Captain attire, and both were splattered with crimson.
They were very good at mental warfare. Broken Sue and Aurora were against the walls, one at the front of Tilda and one at the back, probably watching for body language. Austin sat on the couch to the side.
“Did ya get lost or what?” Niamh demanded when we entered.
“Nah.” Drex took my glass. “I took a page out of your book and poured myself a drink.”
Niamh’s brow lowered, but amusement lit her eyes. “Sure, ye need a cooler. Do two things at once, like.”
“Okay, Jessie.” Nessa bounded over, her ponytail bobbing. “Everyone in this room knows the sordid history of Miss Tilda here. You know a little, and that is plenty. You don’t need to hear the rest. Just trust us that it is bad.”
“Yup.” I took a seat next to Austin. He draped his arm over my shoulders.
“We also know when and how she left the Guild,” Nessa said. “Basically, she poisoned a bunch of people and snuck out.”
Tilda lifted her chin slightly and pursed her lips. She didn’t feel badly about those deeds, not that I would, either.
“Why’d she take people with her?” I asked.
Nessa paused before looking at Sebastian. “I didn’t even think to ask that, did you?”
“Yes. Usually Guild employees, especially those of higher status, think it is everyone for themselves. I wondered what they had that she needed.”
Now Tilda’s eyes narrowed, not liking that comment. We wouldn’t even need Broken Sue or Aurora in here. Even I could read this mage’s body language.
“Okay, we’ll get to that in a while.” Nessa bit her nail as she moved to stand directly in front of Tilda, who was not tied down.
Her hands were free. She could use magic if she was quick enough, and Sebastian was making a statement that she wasn’t.
“Tilda, my darling, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”
Drex came back in, his glass filled. He’d correctly surmised that I didn’t want one. He sat down on the couch opposite Austin and me where he had a full view of the room and the front door beyond. He’d be a spectator, trusting in our mages to handle things.
“Just so everyone here knows what you are,” Tilda said, “what is the hard way?”
Nessa laughed, swishing her stained cream romper.
“They know exactly what we are, Tilda. They helped us with your past work associates, though you probably didn’t know them.
The Guild members were in the extraction department and much lower in the hierarchy than you.
I know how the Guild likes to keep up the status quo. ”
Her lips thinned.
Nessa lifted her eyebrows. “Aren’t you going to ask what the easy way is?”
“I’m not an idiot,” Tilda spat. “I know how these things work.”
“Because you’ve participated in these things,” Sebastian said, using a knife to clean dirt out from under one of his nails. “We know. I guess it isn’t just what we are, is it, Tilda?”
“Well…it is,” Nessa said. The two of them were always amazing at playing off each other in these things. “We, as in all of us, her included.”
“Oh, yes, right.” Sebastian ticked the air in Tilda’s direction with the knife. “By your definition, Tilda, we are all scum.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she replied angrily. “I created and administered the potions, or I was punished.”
“Ah.” Sebastian ticked the air again. “But you did have a choice. You either created and administered the potions, or you got punished. Tortured, if we want to put a name on it. I know this because I had a choice once. Pay an exorbitant amount of money for the privilege of being let go or continue to get tortured. Given that you saw me dragged to and from that room, I don’t have to tell you which one I chose. ”
Her jaw clenched. She didn’t respond.
“So, what’s it going to be?” Nessa asked.
Tilda rolled her eyes. “I have nothing to hide. I told Alpha the truth.”
“And now you can tell us the truth.” Sebastian smiled pleasantly, a predator sighted in on its prey.
Tilda huffed out a breath. I could see her body trembling.
“Look, I know”—she grit her teeth, apparently deciding not to start there— “I started in the Guild when I was eighteen. I had talent with potions but not a lot of power. The Guild was where you could earn some real money, so I started there near the bottom, and learned all I could so that I could advance. All I saw was that ladder, I’ll admit it.
I learned the culture, fell in step and stole, lied, and bought myself better and better potion recipes. Better know-how.”
“By breaking into other people’s labs?” Nessa asked, walking around Tilda.
“Yes.”
“By killing anyone that got in your way?”
Tilda’s jaw clenched. Her eyes flicked to Drex and away again. “Yes. That’s the way it was done.”
“I realize that,” Sebastian said. “I killed a—“
“No, you didn’t,” Nessa cut in. “You don’t need to take the rap for me anymore, remember? I killed the mage that broke into your lab. I killed him from behind as he was about to deliver a killing blow to you.”
“Right,” Sebastian replied. “He was a powerful mage and a Guild favorite. It didn’t matter that we killed him in self-defense, or that he was trespassing.
We were held accountable. Well, I was. I took the blame because I knew they wouldn’t kill me.
I have too much power to waste. They would’ve easily killed Nessa.
I was tortured for that death, and then I was tortured because I wouldn’t pay to be released.
Hell, maybe I was also tortured for shits and giggles.
Honestly, it’s hard to tell with the Guild. ”
“True,” Nessa agreed. “Continue, Tilda.”
If she cared or felt remorse on behalf of the Guild for any of that, she didn’t show it.
“I learned. I advanced and got higher and higher positions, more money, and respect. I advanced faster than any potions engineer ever had. It was a badge of honor for me. I got invited to all the important dinners and parties.”
“And what, pray tell, went wrong?” Nessa quirked her eyebrow. “What brought Humpty Dumpty tumbling off the wall?”
Tilda picked at her nail. “It wasn’t any one thing, at first. It was a lot of little things. I checked into some of the people they took to those rooms—“
“To torture,” Nessa quipped. “Which some might think is more than a little thing, but sure.”
Tilda cleared her throat. “Some of those people had killed top mages when they shouldn’t have, but others hadn’t done anything wrong.
They hadn’t paid for the Guild’s protection, even though the Guild never really provided protection.
Or they offended someone. Or they had information the Guild wanted, even if it was somewhat arbitrary.
Things like that. I heard of some political maneuvering that wasn’t… entirely above board.”
“It’s got to be bad for you to be squeamish about it.” Sebastian put his hand on his hip. “I’m very intrigued. But we’ll get to the Guild’s secrets later. We don’t want to take up Jessie’s precious time.”
I swallowed and burrowed a little harder into Austin. Drex glanced at me and then away. If he was uncomfortable, he wasn’t showing it. Not to me, anyway.
“About this time, a new power started infiltrating the Guild. It was subtle. Whispers here, information exchanged there, late hours by some of the higher-level staff, fancy new cars and watches people couldn’t afford on their Guild salary.
No one was talking. After a while, I was approached by someone claiming to be a representative of a powerful new mage on the scene—Momar. ”
Goosebumps covered my arms.
“We had conversations about duties and money. About loyalty and keeping secrets. I never met the man himself nor anyone else who worked for him. Just that one contact. He didn’t tell me who else was employed, or if they were all working double-time for the Guild and Momar both.
I tried to bring it up to a few people who’d seen a larger cash flow and then learned why you stayed in your lane where it concerns Momar. ”
“Lemme guess…” Sebastian bent a little to catch her eye. “The ‘punishments’ you didn’t want to earn with the Guild. You got your ass handed to you.”
“They nearly killed me,” she spat. “They broke me up so badly, I was out of work for a month. The Guild didn’t ask any questions.
I didn’t have to give any excuses. I didn’t even call in—they’d already known I was out of commission.
I was a privileged employee, and they did nothing.
” She swallowed. “That scared me. I started paying more attention to things then. I mean, if the Guild would let that happen, what else would they allow? I saw all the shadow deals and the filthy things that started going on. The double-crossings, the quiet killing…” She took a deep breath.
“The potions they started asking for were worse than anything I’d devised so far.
Vile things. The Guild seemed like it was getting more ruthless, less civilized.
I knew I had to get out. I couldn’t work for them anymore.
I was afraid to work for Momar. I didn’t know who was on whose side, or if it was all one side, or what, I just knew I needed to leave—“
“Just so everyone in the cheap seats are caught up…” Sebastian put up a finger.
“Let me break that down for you. She got treated like so many innocent people and people in low positions, and that scared her. She’d thought she was special.
She’d thought she was above all that, and then she realized she wasn’t. ”
“Quite a sobering realization,” Nessa said.