Chapter 33 Kit #2
He was sending a man up north to check on some of Ashpoint’s interests there, he’d said, and would be happy to facilitate finding what I was looking for somewhere along his route.
It was my luck that he’d be passing through Stagcross both ways, and I knew the craftsmen there would do justice to my request. I’d done my small part by putting my meager leatherworking skills to good use, then sent it off with instructions, coin, and a prayer.
I knew it would be worth the wait.
Levitt folded his cloak in his lap. “I hope Penny realizes how lucky he is.”
I chuckled. “Pretty sure I’m the lucky one, Lev.” Guilt twinged in my chest as soon as the words left my mouth and I realized how he might take them given our last conversation after the house raid.
“On the topic of books…” I set the package on the coffee table, more than ready to redirect the conversation. “Have you gotten any updates from Fletcher on when he’ll be done with my father’s journals?”
Levitt shook his head. “There’s a lot to go through. He wasn’t sure how long it would take the last time we spoke, but I can follow up with him again.”
“I appreciate it,” I said. “I’ll feel better when they’re back here where they belong, and safely out of Merrick’s reach. Considering all the places that my father implicated him in the commission of his crimes, I wouldn’t put it past Merrick to want to alter the entries to hide his involvement.”
“Ah, Merrick.” Levitt crossed his arms over his lap, and a scowl twisted his lips. “You should know that he’s made more allegations.”
I didn’t need to ask to know that Harlan had ratted me out.
I suspected as much when Violette commented the previous morning about how poorly Penny had taken the hemlock.
I only hoped that, since this conversation was a private one and there were no Sentinels hovering behind me with a length of rope to tie my wrists, I might be able to talk my way out of trouble.
“What is it this time?” I asked, feigning disinterest while my mouth went dry.
“Apparently, Harlan told Merrick that you showed up at his house in the middle of the night and threatened him at knifepoint.” Levitt’s eyes slid over to me, watching for my reaction. “I thought that was laughable until he told me why. That you were demanding he help Penny survive the third Oath.”
It was hard to hear him over my heart pounding in my ears, but I kept my face impassive, careful not to betray my growing panic. “I see. And what help did the old man give me?”
“Harlan said Penny was seizing, that he stopped breathing and, in fear for his own life, he intervened. He got Penny breathing and administered fluids per your demands, though he wasn’t sure where you’d gotten the idea that it might help.
Harlan is of the opinion that Penny was dying, and had he not stepped in, that Penny would not have survived. ”
Levitt wasn’t making any of this sound accusatory, more a statement of fact.
But there was a hint of something in his voice, either pity or sympathy, that I didn’t expect.
He should have been angry or busily devising a punishment for my rule-breaking if he believed Harlan’s claims. Instead, he sounded sorry.
He drew breath to continue without waiting for a response from me, for which I was thankful. His expression was inscrutable, and I wasn’t willing to chance saying the wrong thing until I knew what he was thinking.
“The Sentinels are unwilling to pursue any more of Merrick’s claims after the last two were proven false.
There was enough rumbling from the other residents about the unwarranted invasion of private spaces that they’re wary of stirring up further unrest. And considering Harlan’s been disproven once already as well, they’re no more eager to believe him, either.
” Levitt paused a moment before adding on, “However, this time, I do.”
Any relief that had crept in dissipated, and it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Sweat prickled at my hairline.
It was only a matter of time before Levitt realized I’d been lying to him, but I hadn’t expected it would happen so soon. The Sentinels may not have wanted to pursue these accusations, but Levitt outranked them. If he opted to take this seriously…
“You told me you took Penny to the mission outside Emberstead because he was ill,” Levitt said.
When he didn’t immediately go on, I answered. “I did.”
“You said it was worth the risk.”
“I did.”
He sat back against the cushions, and his lip curved in the ghost of a smile before it was gone again. “I like to think I know you pretty well, Kit, even with the time we spent apart. And I think you thought this was worth the risk, too.”
I fought to maintain eye contact while it felt like my plans were crumbling around me.
I couldn’t refute it, because he was right.
I’d known there would be consequences if I got caught, and I would accept whatever repercussions I faced as long as Penny remained alive and well. That was all that mattered.
Levitt cocked his head, and his eyebrows arched. “You’re not going to deny it?”
My shrug was far more nonchalant than I felt. “Would it matter if I did?”
He was quiet for a moment. “Your father broke the rules for the third Oath too,” he said, yet another piece of information I’d given him that I now had cause to regret. “To save you, but for the wrong reasons.”
I didn’t miss the implication that there was a right reason.
“What are you going to do to me?” I asked.
Levitt sighed, and his face broke into a soft smile. My panic eased, and even further still when he waved off my concern.
“Nothing. If Eeus had wanted to take Penny, he would have, regardless of what you did to try to stop it. As far as I’m concerned, let the Sentinels believe Harlan is a liar, and thank Eeus that whatever the old man did to help worked.”
It wasn’t the reaction I expected. When he’d told me months ago that he thought we shared a vision for the Bone Men, I’d found it almost laughable. Now, I wondered how similar our ideals for the cult actually were. And if he could be frank with me, maybe he deserved a little more of my honesty.
“There’s nothing I won’t do for Penny,” I said. “You may as well know that.”
Levitt studied me for a moment before he said, “It’s serious, then.”
I wanted to tell him that I loved Penny, but he didn’t deserve to be the first to hear it out loud, so I only nodded.
His eyes pinched with a hint of sorrow, but he forged on.
“I’ll continue doing my best to protect you, Kit, but you’re making it increasingly difficult.
The next time you seek help breaking the rules, try to ask someone who doesn’t despise you and won’t immediately run to tell your biggest detractor.
You have allies here, you know. And they’ll become more valuable as you move up the ranks. ”
I couldn’t help a wry smile. “Still want me as your Shroud Warden, then? Even knowing what I did?”
“I told you before: I appreciate that you value people over protocol. That’s how it should be.
Your father believed the opposite, and I’ve spent the last four years trying to reverse course and get us on the right heading again.
” He reached over and gripped my bicep. “You can help me do that. Merrick will only continue to get in the way.”
“Then things are moving forward?”
“Not as quickly as I would like.” Levitt sighed again, this time out of irritation.
“While the Sentinels will no longer risk publicly appearing to support Merrick in his personal vendettas, there’s work to be done yet to win them to our side.
I won’t risk moving too quickly and showing our hand. This is too important.”
This had already dragged on longer than I’d wanted.
I’d hoped to see progress prior to the third Oath, on the off chance I could have spared Penny from going through with it, but we were at the mercy of a tight-knit group of people who all had firm opinions on whose methods were better. Those would take time to change.
I nodded. “I understand.”
“Give me a few more weeks for the dust of all of this to settle and to lay a little more groundwork,” Levitt said. “When I’m assured we’ll find success, I’ll call the vote. In the meantime, try to stay out of trouble.”
That was a difficult ask considering trouble incarnate lived with me and now shared my bed. I smirked. “I’ll do my best. Update me when you can.”
“I will.” Levitt stood to pull his cloak on, hesitating as he fastened it at his throat. His mouth pressed a thin line and his brows drew down as he looked at me again. “I’m glad you’re all right. Both of you. And I’m sorry about Reimond. I know you and Penny were fond of him.”
My throat tightened, and I had to force out my response. “I’m sorry, too.”
I stood to walk Levitt to the door, plagued by memories of the quiet, earnest man who couldn’t keep a secret.
Reimond had only pursued his Oaths to impress Thoma, who didn’t need impressing, and who now had to live without the man he loved.
The injustice of it all gnawed at me because I cared enough about Penny to seek help and, if Reimond had faced down his third Oath with Thoma, I was certain Thoma would have done the same.
Instead, Reimond had suffered and died with no one but Anders for company.
The blast of cold air when I opened the door wicked away those somber thoughts. Levitt stepped outside and paused on the stoop to look me over.
“I know you’re taking good care of Penny, but don’t forget to take care of yourself too.”
I managed a tight smile. “I’ll try.”
With him off and Penny likely to return from the market any minute, I took advantage of the quiet to retrieve the package from the coffee table. I moved it to the top shelf of the cabinet above the sink, the one Penny always struggled to reach.
As I lit the fire in the cookstove in anticipation of my recruit’s return and our impending breakfast, my mind replayed my conversation with Levitt.
He did know me well, even after all this time.
I had to consider whether Levitt might know more about what Penny and I were doing here than he let on.
At several points, he seemed to be hinting at something, though he could just as easily have been fishing and hoping I’d take the bait.
For a moment, I considered coming clean about our plans, chasing Levitt down before he reached the Ossuary and telling him everything.
It would feel good to be honest and clear the air.
But if I was misreading the situation, it wasn’t just my life and safety at risk.
And for as much as I liked to think I still knew Levitt as well as he knew me, he wasn’t the same man as he’d been at twenty.
And he had kept things from me before.