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He touched my cheek, almost like he was curious what my skin was made of. “To protect you, I would do what was necessary, and it would go along with my own ambitions, of which I have many. If not for my grand ambitions, I’m quite certain that I would have found a way to seriously flirt with you long before now. But alas, I want to control the machine that you and I shed so much blood to refine. I want to ensure that the cause is pure and true without sacrificing those who uphold it. She should have hired you when Old Man Porter ate his grave. You knew the House of Mercy’s library better than anyone, and he’d been training you for years between missions. I won’t ever forget her betrayal of you.”
I forced a smile. We were being sentimental and lighthearted now, or he wouldn’t be talking about seriously flirting. We were not romantic, and we never would be, not when I loved him like a real brother. “I almost killed the new librarian. Such an educated idiot who had no idea how to deal with sacred texts. How is the library?”
“It’s fine. Libraries are always fine, because they have no feelings.”
“Libraries have all the feelings within their walls, Cross. Don’t speak blasphemy. She’s seriously willing to sell my body for money?” I poked my chest. “I didn’t think I could feel any more after she gave away my library, but it genuinely hurts. I really must have gotten too sensitive in the last few years.”
He sniffed his elegant nose. “Of course it hurts when the woman who raised you keeps thinking of you as parts to use and throw away when worn out and no longer useful. If she knew that you were recovered, she would want to use you again. You were her greatest asset. No one could hunt evil nearly so well.”
“Lucky me. I’m not going to run, because once you start, you can’t stop. Also, the sudden change would create ripples and everyone who’s ever wondered about the fire will take another look at me.”
“Then I suggest you convince the vampire that he wants to keep you safe and free. I will take a body back to Mother Mercy, but I can’t guarantee she will leave it at that.”
“If she finds out…”
He waved a hand around. “I’ll let her think that you tricked me as well as her. She won’t push the issue, or I’ll push back. I’m quite good at politics, strangely enough. People trust me who really should know better.”
I grinned at him. “Like me.”
He smiled back. “Not remotely. You understand me more than anyone else ever will. What we do is good and essential, and you know that even better than I do after all that they took from you, but sometimes it feels that the light takes just as much, and corruption comes in many forms. No one is completely holy, but you come remarkably close. I was more certain about our cause when you were beside me, but she threw you away, like she would have thrown me away if I weren’t far more devious than you are.”
“You’re a natural-born swindler. Do you remember that time when you?—”
He shoved a bite of omelet in my mouth. “I’m a Commander of the House of Mercy, ergo, I remember nothing of the past that doesn’t make me look even more gloriously upright. I still think that you should run. Mother Mercy has gotten more desperate in her old age, anxious to eradicate evil once and for all, which veers close to paranoia.”
I chewed and swallowed then grinned at him. “She’s always been paranoid, just like you. It’s always good to see you, even when you bring bad news. Do you know who these people are who want to examine my body?”
“No.” He frowned darkly. “And I’ve tried to find out. If you asked nicely, maybe the Scholar would do some digging.”
“Maybe they aren’t priests, but someone from my past who wants revenge.” I wiggled my brows at him. I wasn’t about to ask a vampire for a favor, even if he had a reputation for being ‘good.’
He snorted. “You never left anyone alive. There is no one from your past other than me, and the only revenge I want is your happiness. That’ll show her.” He nodded decisively.
I smiled at him, remembering the good times, the fact that he’d always been the one reliable person in my life. “Thanks, Cross. I can’t promise that I’ll be happy, but I’ll try.”
He bent to kiss my cheek then left the kitchen, heading for the window that looked out on the alley. He slipped out without another word, disappearing into the darkness like another shadow.
Chapter
Six
The music hall was a beautiful building, towers rising around the larger main structure, its curved façade filled with large windows that hadn’t been washed for some time. The hall itself looked close to crumbling, and I’d pass on going up into any of those towers. Music Master Mirabel certainly hadn’t exaggerated the dire straits of the music hall. Inside was worse.
Five large groups of musicians were set up in the main hall, each playing a different style of music on different kinds of instruments, and each group trying to be heard over the others. I didn’t see Mirabel or anyone else I knew, so I hovered near the front doors. Maybe she’d forget about me and I wouldn’t have to play. No, she wouldn’t, and joining the music guild would be another link in this city that would make ripples if someone decided to yank me out of my life and do an autopsy on me. Who knew? Maybe playing music would make me happy. I’d promised to try.
I walked around the perimeter of the hall, past a band playing Dixieland, banjoes waling with the trombones while the gnome woman led them with a sour expression. She shot me a look that made me feel guilty for no reason, but I only smiled back and kept walking, trying to look purposeful. Master Mirabel had said that there would be instruments for me to try out, but that clearly wasn’t in this room. I looked through the first door I came to and found musicians milling around a large array of tables for snacks. Did they have sushi?
I walked inside, aiming for the nearest table, only to find stale crackers, tuna paste, crumbly hummus, and hard candies with lint stuck to them. Wow. I tried a cracker and then spat it into my hand before looking around for somewhere to wipe it. There were no napkins.
“Atrocious, isn’t it?” An old man looked at me through his monocle that he held up, peering at me as if I was a suspicious entree. “In all my life, I’ve never been to anything so poorly catered, but with finances how they are, it’s remarkable that we have anything left in the cupboards at all. I believe this will leave them completely bare, and I know that the new Singsong Master was eating them because she didn’t come here with any funds, so now she might starve. Of course, starvation is probably preferable to eating sawdust crackers topped with bad tuna. Don’t even get me started on the fruitcake. I’m Tiago, and you must be the librarian who has come to try out instruments until you find your soulmate.”
I gave him a sickly smile. “I thought that maybe the new music master had forgotten about me.”
He sniffed. “Not likely. She’s already proving her mettle as far as manipulation and plain deviousness go, but that is probably necessary in these troubled times.” He gave the snack table one last, sad look and then gestured me towards a door on the end. “The old music practice rooms are not in the best shape, but it will do for our purposes.”
After an hour spent trying a variety of instruments stacked in the medium-sized room, I settled on a guitar, scratched surface still giving a beautiful tone when I plucked the out-of-tune strings.
“Remarkable,” Tiago said as I tried to tune the thing.
