24. Chapter 24
Remus
Ines points at the coffin, her eyes as round as saucers, and I'm not sure if she's intrigued or frightened. "Is there a person in there?" She scratches her nails across the top of the box; the sound sends an unwelcome shiver down the center of my spine.
"Oh, don't worry, he's dead," Olli chimes in once we're all locked inside the preparation room and pats the coffin. "I will wait for you all to leave before I work on him."
"Work on him? Wait! You actually work here?" Ines' inflection perks.
Olli scratches his head, brows furrowed. "Well, of course I work here. Who else would guard – "
I narrow my eyes at him, leveling him a look that would make any man squirm.
Olli might be loose with his tongue amongst friends, but as much as I want to give Ines my complete and unyielding trust, there's a piece of me that won't allow it.
Especially with a secret of this magnitude.
Ines thankfully misses my silent chastisement but presses Olli further when he trails off.
"Guard what?"
"The records," Olli fumbles to find a quick answer.
Thankfully, he's a nervous creature by nature and his slight stutter doesn't rouse Ines' suspicion.
At least, I hope she's not able to sniff out we are withholding something from her.
"Just in case the Soberano sends one of his henchmen to destroy what's left of the Venturan history. "
Ines accepts his answer, and I breathe a sigh of relief. One day, I'll share the truth and there will be no secrets left between us, but for now, this is information she doesn't need to know.
Ines pops a hip to the side and roots her elbows to the coffin, planting her chin in her palm. "So, you work here, and you work at the opera?" I can see the wheels in her head spinning, trying to piece together what is true and what is false.
"No, that was a one-time thing," Olli explains.
"Otero wanted you to have a friend there in case you needed help.
" He chuckles and rubs the nape of his neck.
"I felt bad about poisoning the real waiter's drink and stealing his uniform, but he was about my size, and I needed to find a way inside without rousing suspicion. "
"You killed him?" She's not surprised per se, but her question has an odd quality to it. As if she's sized Olli up and she's deemed him incapable of such a feat. And she would be correct. Out of all of us, Olli is the one with the cleanest hands. Which says a lot.
"Killed?" Olli practically chokes on his own breath. "Saints, no! He spent tonight hugging his toilet but he's not dead." He glances around at the rest of us, eyes wide, but all I can do is watch Ines.
A prickling sensation slides down my spine and although her face remains neutral, the unexpected twitch of her right eye reeks of secrets.
Her forged rap sheet made no mention of murder, but then again, I interrupted her cat-and-mouse assassination attempt on Montenegro hours ago.
I thought it was a rage-induced need for revenge that fueled what I presumed to be her first kill, but perhaps there are more sinister sins hiding behind her pretty facade.
Like this church, beautiful on the outside, but filled with skeletons and dark secrets on the inside.
Cassius' brow raises as he crosses his arms over his broad chest, appearing more like an unmovable mountain than a man. "We don't kill people." He says, tilting his head curiously at her. "Inconvenience people, sure, but never kill."
Ines doesn't say anything in response but finally gives a slight nudge of her head to acknowledge she heard what he said. There's a stifling thickness in the air that forces me to loosen the top button of my shirt.
Carmen clears her throat, tugging her shawl tighter around her petite shoulders. "Well, if there's something of importance for us to discuss, let's be quick about it. This place gives me the creeps."
"Right," I say, stepping up to the table we're surrounding and start the meeting. "Vulpes, what have we heard or seen – "
"Vulpes?" Ines interrupts, eyeing me from across the coffin. It's then I realize I've never fully explained to her who we are.
"We are the Ordo Vulpe." Order of the Foxes. "We keep our eyes and ears on high alert, gleaning scraps of information to aid our rebellion."
"So, you're running a secret club?" I hear the provocation in her voice but won't succumb to the bait.
"Sure." I drawl, putting an end to our short-lived sparring. "What's the word from the Brogratto?"
Cas stands with his feet shoulders-width apart. "Same as always. Poor are getting poorer. The district is growing more dangerous. And more people are going missing without a trace."
"What do you mean without a trace?" Ines asks, eyebrow quirked. "They're probably dead."
He shakes his head. "There are no bodies."
"There are plenty of ways to hide a body." She says in retort which once again silences the room and confirms my suspicions; she's killed before. She clears her throat. "Why do you think they're missing? Maybe they just left the Brogratto?"
Cassius stares at her intently for a beat longer than is comfortable, but Ines doesn't bat an eye, not intimidated by his hulking frame for a second.
Finally, he breaks. "For years, people in the Brogratto have been reported missing.
A few people here, a few people there. The Black Guard didn't do much about it and once they moved out of the Brogratto and allowed the citizens to fend for themselves across the river, that number only increased.
Now, hundreds go missing each year and no one can explain why.
They don't make enough money to book passage on a ship out of Orlencia – "
"Nor would they be allowed to since they aren't allowed to cross the bridge into the main districts to board said ships," Carmen lets out bitterly.
"The Brogratto is built between a river and an unscalable mountain," Cas continues, rubbing his fingers through his scruff.
"If they tried building their own boats to leave, they'd be noticed and stopped.
There are no tunnels underground for them to escape beneath the mountain pass. It's a mystery."
"Is there a pattern for those going missing?" I ask, my brain on fire. "Age, gender, occupation, familial name, housing section?"
Cas shakes his head, defeat in his eyes quickly replaced with determination. "It seems random, but disappearances happen once every two-to-three months. It's as if a shadow man skims through the streets searching for victims. Anyone out too late is captured and never seen or heard from again."
"Olli, see if you can find anything in the records of another way in or out of the Brogratto that we might not know about," I instruct. "An ancient, secret way. Maybe someone discovered it and they're getting others out of the city slowly."
"Or maybe they're being kidnapped for some other kind of work," Ines says softly under her breath, stroking her fingers up and down her chin.
"What?" I turn my attention to her, and she meets my gaze.
"Rogelio insinuated the Soberano reaped his fortune by ill-gotten means. Do you think perhaps he's…" She trails off, shifting through her muddy thoughts.
"Go on," I press. "What do you think he's doing?"
"When I was in prison, I heard the warden speak of a prison mine in the mountains. He threatened to send prisoners there who wouldn't comply."
A prison mine. I have never heard of a mine in the mountains surrounding Orlencia, but it is worth checking out if possible.
"Do you know where this prison might be located?" I ask her, knowing the answer before she speaks.
She presses her lips together and shakes her head, disappointment smeared across her face. "No."
I rap the table in front of my cousin. "Cas, see what you can find out about this mine."
"Right." He readily agrees.
"Hey!" I point at him, making sure he's paying attention. "Don't go alone."
He huffs and rolls his eyes. "Understood."
"Good." Hoping Cas won't be stubborn and risk the mountains by himself, I move on to the next order of business. "What's the word from the Night District?"
Carmen and Shaw exchange a quick glance before Shaw removes his arm from around Carmen's shoulders.
"It's been typical bar chatter. People are excited for the Soberano's jubilee more so for the day off work than anything else," Shaw starts, but his better half quickly chimes in with, "There's rumor a high-profile execution is to take place toward the end of the celebration."
My heart jumps to my throat. In all my planning for the Soberano's jubilee, I've not been privy to news of a public execution.
In fact, there hasn't been a public execution since our people were slaughtered fifteen years ago, so whoever is docked for the executioner's blade isn't on my radar. "Whose execution?"
Carmen shrugs. "No one knows for sure."
"And it's just a rumor," Shaw includes and is met by a menacing glare from Carmen.
"Where did the rumor start?" I ask, knowing there are some drunks who like to say whatever comes to mind without any truth to back it up.
"Arturo Alvarez," she says.
Shit. Now there's need to worry. "Arturo Alvarez is one of Severo's aides," I eye Carmen, my mind spinning. "How sure are you of this intel?"
"Heard it from his own mouth last night." She says without a tremor of hesitation.
"And he didn't mention anything else? Only there was going to be an execution at the end of the festival?"
"When I pressed, he admitted he wasn't supposed to say anything at all and begged me to keep my mouth shut.
Paid me extra for my silence, too." Carmen tosses her hair over her shoulder.
"Arturo claims he doesn't know who is being executed.
Only Don Severo and the Soberano know who it is, and they plan to keep it that way. "
"Shit," I mumble, rubbing my fingers across my forehead.