Chapter Thirty
Olympia
“Ineed to talk to him,” I growled to my cousins who stood loyally outside of the Heir’s door, as always.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea at the moment,” Paxon’s voice rang out.
I turned toward him to find him raising a brow and glancing at the door to our cousin’s room, clearly trying to impart some meaning.
I blinked, not understanding, until I saw Cleo giggling into her hands behind him and Nick biting his lip to keep from snorting as well.
My brow furrowed as I glanced back to the door.
Then I rolled my eyes and planted a hand on my hip as I turned toward Pax.
“It’s important,” I said. “The Bexleys are–”
“Allow me to rephrase,” Pax interrupted me boldly, stepping forward. “I won’t let you interrupt him right now.”
What a wingman. I blew out a puff of air and rolled my eyes once again.
“Fine,” I hissed. To be honest, I didn’t want to interrupt him anyway. I really didn’t want to see what was on the other side of that door. “Just tell him we lost the older brother, Harrison did his job, and I’m on my way to find the Wolf. He’ll know what it means.”
Paxon’s brow furrowed in response, as though he was trying to solve a riddle he didn’t have all the clues for, but he nodded and that was enough.
The streets were still relatively empty as I made my way down, though they grew more populated the further I went.
By the time I was on the Third, some citizens looked on from the shadows, not daring to step out into the open but not hiding themselves away in their homes either.
Their gazes followed me as I headed for the only place I’d ever seen known rebels go to during all my months of surveillance.
Their watchful eyes were heavier now. There was a weight behind their gazes that spoke of pain and a mistrust exacerbated by recent events. I’d have to be more careful than usual.
The half-workshop, half-bar sat on the far side of the West end, close to the direction of the tenth tunnel.
The door was slightly ajar, light filtering out into the night.
That was the only indication the man who owned the place was open to visitors.
Not that I was a part of that group. Tonight, it wouldn’t matter.
Without taking a moment longer to consider what I was doing, I stormed right into the place.
The front was an actual workshop. Wooden benches littered with half-finished tools and partially carved furniture pieces sat at odd angles, cluttering the space so I had to turn sideways to slide between them.
A door at the back was closed but light slid out through the space between it and the floor at the bottom and I could hear talking behind it.
Pushing a rickety bedframe aside, I pushed the door open.
All chatter ceased at once as every eye in the place turned my way and narrowed.
A man called Marvin, who I’d known owned the place without taking into account his leather work apron or bulging craftsman’s biceps, pushed a few other men aside to make his way over to me. He was frowning when he spoke, his voice low and gruff.
“We don’t want any trouble tonight,” he said.
“Just tonight?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
His jaw clenched.
“I’m not here for trouble,” I told him. I wasn’t afraid, just outnumbered, and I preferred not to try my luck tonight. “I’m here for Wolf.”
A few murmurs shot through the crowd and my gaze snapped to those speaking so quickly their words died away in an instant. It all happened in a split second but it was enough to tell me my suspicions were correct. This place, whatever it was, had connections to the rebellion. They knew Wolf.
“I don’t know where you heard that name–” he started and my patience broke.
“It’s late. I’m busy. Tell him I just want to talk to him and I won’t have to go run and tell the Vipers to come shut your shit down.”
His jaw clenched even harder and he ground his teeth as he thought about what I’d said. Apparently deciding I wasn’t bluffing, he finally stepped aside and spoke to a tiny woman nearby without taking his eyes off of me.
“Get Wolf,” he growled.
Shaking like a bird, she sprinted off toward the stairs in the back of the room.
“Was that so hard?” I asked, crossing my arms and raising a brow.
“Watch your words, little miss,” he warned, stepping closer to me so I could smell the sharp scent of alcohol on his breath. “You’d be wise to remember there’s no love lost for you down here.”
I leaned away from him, shaking my head and making a show of just how unimpressed I was by his threat.
“Somewhere I can wait?” I asked instead, eyeing the various tables and chairs scattered around the room as if to give the appearance that this was actually some sort of reputable establishment.
“Pick a seat,” he snarled and then stormed away.
I headed to a corner near the front, closest to the door in case they actually did decide to take their chances and turn on me.
I couldn’t be too sure about these people.
They didn’t seem to strike without a plan, and certainly not at a known First Ringer, but they had bombed a trial and killed a handful of innocent witnesses just a few days ago.
I couldn’t afford to underestimate them again.
He appeared at the base of the stairs moments later.
Here in the light it was easier to make out his features.
He was still tall and thin with clothes that seemed to be two sizes too big.
He wore a leather coat that made an effort to bulk up his shoulders but was wrinkled so badly it gave him the appearance of having been crumpled and tossed aside.
He had a long nose and a scar running down the left side of his chin.
His eyes were dark, almost black, and his lips were thin and dry.
Overall, he definitely wasn’t the most attractive man I’d ever seen.
A hard life had withered him away so completely I couldn’t quite tell how old he was.
If I had to guess, I’d say mid-thirties, but he looked older than that.
“I hope you aren’t here to waste my time,” he grumbled as he pulled out the chair across from me and sat.
“Very busy in the dead of night, are you?” I snapped back, lifting a brow.
He watched me for a moment, just glaring.
“Are you sleeping well with the blood of innocents on your hands?” I asked, unable to help myself. The way he was just sitting here, watching me, talking with me, as if we didn’t both know he’d organized a horrible crime less than forty eight hours ago, was vexing.
“Are you?”
“I didn’t–”
“Kill anyone? Not directly, no, but what do you think starving us eventually leads to?”
“I’m not here to discuss politics. I’m here to issue a warning. You don’t want to face the gathered might of the First Ring Houses.”
“You don’t have the gathered might of the First Ring Houses.”
I frowned as he leaned back in his chair and eyed me shrewdly.
“You put one of your own on trial,” he reminded me. “You’ve been at each other’s throats for months, looking for a reason to go to war with one another.”
“I imagine we’d put aside our differences for this,” I warned, glaring right back. “In fact, you might have given us cause for unification. Thank you for that.”
Anger flared through his dark eyes and he sat up, rigid.
“The Patriarch of one of your Houses beheaded a boy in front of three dozen witnesses and got away with it,” he growled.
“Because of you,” I barked, pointing at him. “Because you bombed his fucking trial.”
“He never would have gotten sentenced to anything more than a slap on the wrist and you know it. Meanwhile, that mother lost both of her sons and took her own life because of it.”
I reeled back, stunned.
“You didn’t know that, did you?” he snarled, lip curling as he leaned toward me. “Your kind ruins lives without a second thought. Cosmo doesn’t want us to worship the gods. He wants us to worship him and I’ll be damned if I get on my knees for a child murderer.”
“We are not Cosmo,” I argued, trying to return to the argument, trying to set aside the images of that woman weeping in a puddle of her own son’s blood, of Harrison at her side, just as angry as the others, of leaving that meat on her doorstep and thinking it would matter to her at all after what she’d lost. Maybe I was ignorant.
Maybe I was foolish and didn’t have any answers either.
Maybe I didn’t know how to heal the rift that had torn this city apart for millenia.
But I knew someone who might. “Milo was Adrian’s friend.
He’s made unprecedented moves toward unity.
He’s invited her family to visit the First, invited them to his wedding, created friendships with minor houses, and even formed a new, expanded Tribunal to try a reigning Patriarch for abuse of power and homicide.
He’s getting shit from all sides for doing those things but he’s still doing them.
It isn’t perfect but it’s better than a fucking bomb. ”
“I disagree.”
I could see it now, what Milo would have wanted me to say, to do.
I wanted to throttle the man before me. I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze until he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.
But that was his whole point, wasn’t it?
When you fought fire with fire, everyone ended up getting burned.
I’d always been the one doing the burning, the hotter head, but looking into this man’s eyes, I could tell he wasn’t going to back down.
His fire burned hotter than mine because his flames had been fanned by centuries of oppression.
So I’d have to try Milo's way. I’d have to keep a cool head and be the bigger person because if I didn’t, we’d all get burned.
“I know you don’t have any reason to trust us,” I started, keeping my voice measured, calm.
“If I was in your place, I wouldn’t either.
But we are not all Cosmo. Let Milo prove that to you.
Come and meet him, speak to him, listen to what he’s done and what he plans to do for Sanctuary.
Ask him your questions but just give him a chance. ”
His eyes narrowed and I sensed I was losing him. I needed to switch tactics, appeal to him in a different way.
Olympia, Luca’s voice in my mind was like a bucket of ice water splashed over my soul. I ignored it, focusing on the rebel in front of me, on the argument I was making.
“If you go on like this, your own people will die, people you love,” I reminded him. “Whether you win in the end or not, whatever success looks like for you, you’ll lose some of them, maybe all of them. Is that a price you’re willing to pay? Is proving your point so important?”
His anger shuttered. I could see the flame flickering in his gaze. I gave him a moment to think on my offer, to ruminate on it in peace. Then he spoke.
“When?”
“Tomorrow night,” I told him. “I’ll come get you myself.”
Olympia, answer me. It’s important.
I blinked, resisting the urge to shake my head, to clear my mind.
Wait, I hissed back at him.
Wolf gave one nod. I nodded back. As that was likely the most in the form of agreement I was likely to get, I took the cue to rise from my chair. Ignoring the glares cast my way, I headed for the door at the back.
“How’s your witness?” Wolf called out when I’d made it just to the light of the shop beyond. “Quite unfortunate timing for his true loyalties to be revealed when they were, wouldn’t you say?”
I turned back, slowly, to face him. Images of throttling the grinning Wolf were flitting through my mind once more. I clenched my fists at my sides and took half a step back toward that table.
Olympia, it can’t wait. It’s important.
I sighed, letting air hiss through my teeth in an irritated fashion as I shook my head and turned back again.
“I hope you protect your own, Wolf,” I said over my shoulder instead, “because that one’s got a target on his back even bigger than yours.”
The asshole actually laughed as I left their shitty bar, stepping into the light of the shop and crossing quickly through it to the cool, dark street beyond.
What? I mentally barked at Luca the moment I was free of them, the moment I could think again.
Bade just left, Luca started.
You called me out of an important meeting just to tell me your plaything had other plans tonight?
Listen for once, would you? He said he was on strict orders from Cosmo to perform reconnaissance on House Avus. He said he was looking for something specific but he wouldn’t tell me what. He seemed spooked, Olympia, all wide-eyed and frantic. He was acting like he wasn’t going to see me again.
My eyes darted to the nearest stairwell, the west ones. I needed to get home. Now.
Thank you, Luca, I sent back as I sprinted for the steps.
Be careful, Olympia. Bade didn’t say anything but I think something might have happened when they were all at the temple. Cosmo came back plotting and when Cosmo plots…
People die.
I ran.