Enne fiddled with her token. “So what do we have? A connection between the Shadow Game, Gabrielle and Lourdes? That’s it?”
“We’re digging up history,” Lola said. “Did you expect better?”
“No. But I’d hoped.”
She swatted at Enne’s hands. “Put that key away.”
“Key?” Enne asked, confused.
“Yes. That coin in your hand. Isn’t that a Royal Bank key?”
Levi took the coin from Enne and turned it over, examining it. “That sounds familiar...”
“It should,” Lola said. “It’s in Olde Town. It’s the oldest bank in the city.”
Enne’s spirits lifted. “You mean it’s still there? We can find it?” Even if their research had been fruitful, learning the identity of her birth mother had brought her no closer to finding Lourdes. But this...
“Don’t involve me,” Lola said. “Olde Town is Iron Land, anyway.”
Levi shook his head. “I’ve never heard of this bank. Have you, Jac?”
“I think there’s some place like that near First Square,” Jac pondered, and Enne’s spirits lifted even higher. This was a real lead.
Levi rubbed his thumb on the edge of the token. “These numbers might reference a vault.”
“Then we’ll go tomorrow,” Enne declared. “Tomorrow afternoon.” She packed up their papers, eager to leave this place and the tragedy they’d uncovered behind.
“Lourdes won’t be hiding in some bank,” Lola said.
Enne shook her head. This was about more than just finding Lourdes now. If this wasthe bankthat held the account Enne had accidentally discovered, the one Lourdes had kept secret all this time, then this meant answers. And it also meant volts. Alotof volts.
“You’ll be there with us,” Levi told Lola. “You’re in this now, too. We all are.”
“Involved enough to be hanged for it, you mean.”
“That’s a rather depressing notion, but sure. How did you put it earlier?” He grinned. “Oh, right. ‘You’re one of the villains, now.’”
DAY SIX
“Avarice, pride and lust—these are all modest desires. What the City of Sin truly craves is destruction.”
—The City of Sin, a Guidebook: Where To Go and Where Not To
LEVI
Walking into Olde Town usually felt like walking home, but today, Levi had a sinking, anxious feeling in his chest. He shouldn’t be worried. With Vianca’s gift, his own salary, Enne’s payment and two days’ worth of gambling spoils, he had seven thousand of the ten thousand volts he needed to pay Sedric Torren. A few more casinos, a few more lucky streaks, and he was going to make it.
Even so, the alleys felt narrower and darker than usual, the way Olde Town probably looked to those who didn’t belong. But Levi more than belonged—he owned this place. Its filth and rust and ruin were the Iron Lord’s claim.
“How are you doing?” Jac asked beside him.
Was his unease that obvious? He molded his face into a neutral expression. “I’m fine,” he answered.
“I know what Reymond was to you.”
“I’d rather not talk about it.” He didn’t think his current state of mind was related to Reymond. He knew the ache of grief from his mother’s death. It hadn’t come yet—Reymond’s death still felt unbelievable, more than anything else—but it would. This feeling just wasn’t that.
“Jonas already has patrols stationed around the borders.” Jac shook his head. “I know we talked about getting some dealers into Double or Nothing, but that den is right on the border. Might be too risky now. There’s plenty of other opportunities in our own territory.”
