4. Penny #2
Kit rolled his eyes at the reminder of Levitt’s twin’s charges against him.
Levitt just smiled.
“We needed to do a more thorough search, but I couldn’t risk doing that while he was in town.
He still has too many allies here that could have alerted him to what we were doing and given him a chance to destroy everything first. So, I sent him after you, and while Vi was out of the house, we turned it upside down and found your father’s journals hidden in the floorboards. ”
He paused to take a sip of his tea, then gestured to the shelves on the side of the fireplace nearest to him.
There were two stacks of books there, out of place laid on their sides in front of a row of otherwise neat volumes.
Upon closer inspection, I recognized the stitching on the spines, though some of them didn’t look quite as hefty as I remembered them to be.
“They were missing quite a few pages,” Levitt went on, “but Merrick didn’t have time to get through them all.
There was a fair bit of incriminating information involving Merrick in the ones he didn’t finish redacting, which leaves little wonder as to why he didn’t want you to have them, or anyone else to get the chance to read them.
It’s clear from what happened before you left for spring planting that Violette was colluding with him, so we detained her, along with Fletcher, who was supposed to be cataloging the journals to be returned to you.
And as soon as Merrick returned, we detained him, as well. ”
Gone were all traces of irritation. Mistrust forgotten. The cowardly leader of the Bone Men had descended from his perch at last. He was moving. Acting. Doing something. And, gods, that felt good.
My grin spread while Kit sat beside me, slack jawed.
Levitt looked less pleased than he had earlier, likely a bit torn at having to treat his sibling like a criminal. It was a feeling to which I could relate. It seemed we’d both been unlucky in that area.
“They’re all being held pending sentencing,” Levitt concluded. “Now that the two of you are back, we can proceed. I assume you’d both be willing to give testimony?”
“Yes!” I blurted and pushed to standing. “Today? Right now? Let’s go.”
Levitt chuckled, then waved me back down. “There will need to be a trial before the rest of the Tribunal—a formality, really, at this point—but I also need to put the Sentinels to a vote on replacing Merrick.”
His explanation failed to impress me, but I remained hopeful despite being given an elaborate “no.” This was good news. More progress than we’d seen in months. The end was in sight, and fate may have finally been on our side.
“Kit, can I assume you’re still willing to take his place?” Levitt asked, and I joined him in looking at Kit, who met my gaze instead of his.
“Are you okay with that?” he asked.
Not entirely. Not even very much. But I believed in Kit, and I’d trusted him since the day I showed up at his house and he waved a knife in my face.
He would be a far better Shroud Warden than Merrick had ever been, and he would do what it took to fix this place.
Then we could wash our hands of it, and he could have the peace he'd been chasing for half his life.
“I am,” I told him.
Kit smiled faintly, then turned to Levitt. “We are.”
Levitt nodded. “Very well. I’ll call the vote this evening, and we will commence with the trial in the morning. Thank you both for your time. I have some work to do.”
He remained in his chair, but the sense of dismissal was clear. Our tea was left, forgotten and untouched—maybe Kit was as suspicious as I was—as we stood and backed away from the long table.
We were turning to head to the door when Levitt spoke again.
“You know, Kit, I’ve been waiting for months for you to be honest with me about why you really came back here.”
I glanced over, and Kit’s countenance was even paler than usual. His jaw ticked, but he didn’t reply as Levitt rose and came around to face us once more.
“Based on what you said earlier of your intended, I would surmise he knows as well.” He nodded to indicate me.
Kit nodded back, then swallowed audibly.
A heavy breath escaped Levitt, and he looked past us to the open window and the box of flowers beneath it.
“When I told you we had the same vision for the Bone Men, I meant it,” he said.
“I’ve spent the four years since your father was arrested doing everything I could to repair the damage he’d done, piece by piece.
I outlawed the sacrifices. I did what little I could to make the Oaths safer, though Merrick and the Death Watch stymied much of those efforts.
I tried to make this place more of a community and less of a prison.
” His small smile was almost sad. “I had hoped you would trust me enough to tell me, but I understand why you didn’t. ”
Another glance at me, and it felt damning.
I knew I was the cause for much of Kit’s discretion.
I’d been a liability in his eyes from the start, and his sparse words the night before had spoken volumes about what he would and would not do to ensure my wellbeing.
Not all of his desperate measures were good, though.
This may have been further proof of that.
Levitt reached out and clapped his hand on Kit’s arm. “Just know we’re both working toward the same end, and I think that together we really stand a chance.”
I almost thought to tell him about our budding resistance, but my faith in Ashpoint’s leader was yet in its infancy.
Still, I could see the end he referred to, and it was bright.
We had more support than we even knew, and we’d had it all along.
In the shadows. Behind closed doors. Speaking in whispers so that soon we would be able to shout.
Merrick was banished from the Oliver farm.
Soon, he would be banished from Ashpoint.
He would take his scourge away from this place and these people, and the land would heal.
Like we’d done in Eastcliff, we could repair things here.
We could give our new friends a safe home and a better future.
It wasn’t exactly farming, but weeds were weeds no matter where they took root, and I was ready to tend this soil. Turn it. Grow something beautiful.
I expected the same relief I felt when I looked over at Kit, but what I found instead was pain. His brows were pinched, and his hands curled into fists at his sides.
“You were waiting for me to say something?” he asked softly. “Why didn’t you?”
Levitt’s smile fell away, and he dropped his hand back to his side. “I wanted you to trust me enough to bring it to me yourself.”
Quiet met his words, and I curled my fingers around one of Kit’s fists, hoping to slide my hand into his. To offer some kind of reassurance or comfort. But it remained clenched tight.
“I risked everything coming back here,” Kit said several moments later, “only to find you sitting where my father once sat. Lording over this place and carrying on like not much had changed. I wanted to trust you, but time and again you made that impossible. If I told you what I planned, there was a chance I’d be dead before I could do anything at all, and that Penny would be, too, just for being my recruit. ”
“Kit, I never would have—”