“I thought you might say as much.”
“Brought them back? What do you mean, child?” The mayor’s hands blanched white, no effort to hide the eagerness from his face. “You can revive the dead?”
Lucena folded in on herself. “I never will again. Never.”
“Where is your daughter, Mayor?” Lux smiled, teeth laid bare. A copy of Riselda.
“Taken to her bed, of course. What with Colden’s death.” A sudden shift and suspicion sharpened his eyes. “Why do you ask?”
“I wouldn’t trust the source who led you toward that conclusion, is all. Servants can be easily bought.”
The short man shoved himself to his feet, cheeks flushed crimson. “What do you know? Tell me, girl, before I order the Shield to make you speak for me.”
Lux relaxed into the chair at last. “I know she isn’t crying into her pillow over her departed beloved.” She watched him seethe a moment more. “Imayor may not know where she is. And torture me all you like, Mayor, but I think you know as well as me, that I will never make a sound.”
The mayor held her eyes for an age, but when she didn’t flinch away, he lowered himself into the chair once more. “You come to barter with her life? For what? Your own?”
“When the tumors clinging to your insides like great warts decide to claim you again, who will revive you? No amount of lifeblood is going to restore your health indefinitely; they’re simply too quick. You’ve lived too long, and now you need me more than ever.”
Labored breaths stained the quiet. “What is it you want, Lucena?”
“Oh no, no. Your gift needs to be cultivated! I had no idea, and right under my very nose, too.” Lucena didn’t recognize the greed for what it was. “A brilliance such as this is rare. Astounding, really. It’s unfortunate what happened to your parents, but I will personally ensure your comfort and education from now on. You’ll come to find that I’m a very generous man, my dear.”
He was at her side, his hands like ice.
“How old are you, child?”
“Eight.”
The hand left her thin shoulder to travel down her arm. “You’ll be a young woman soon.” His fingers left her to caress his curling mustache in thought. “I’ll have arrangements made for you. You may live here. With me. And my family, of course. Do you see how generous I am? Everything you need will be at your fingertips, and someday, you may even stand at my side. As Ghadra’s Necromancer.”
“There’s a man held within your prison as we speak. I seek his freedom.”
The mayor chuckled darkly. “The man who, by all appearances, accompanied you? Who set fire to my infirmary—” Lux snorted, “—only after desecrating it first with a ghastly message? Never. He knows too much.”
“Too much about lifeblood? About your harvesting of it from prisoners only after their torture and inevitable death? Or perhaps about your unnaturally long life? Twenty vials. That’s a very small amount for the number of people I know have gone into that place never to come out again. What have you done with it all? Has it taken the place of your evening tea?” Lux tried to even her breaths, to tamp her temper, butoh,how shehatedhim. “You disgust me. You’re a heinous, despicable, poor excuse of a man.”
The mayor straightened, puffing his chest and prepared to fight. “Do you know where you would be without me, you foolish girl? Ghadra has no farmland, no livestock, no fruit trees. It is a blot between a seeping marsh and a wicked wood. Do you believe it would still exist if it weren’t for me? I’ve built this city up. I’ve brought in the apples you eat and silks you wear. My secret path is the most secret and only disclosed to a dedicated few. Do you know how I’ve accomplished it?” A frenzied gleam enteredhis eyes. “By sacrificing the dregs of this town. Nobodies. The worthless poor that do nothing for me or these walls.” His voiced dropped to a hoarse whisper. “The world outside pays very well for the gift of time.”
What…?“You’re selling your people’s souls?” Like breaking glass, she felt her own shatter. This, she did not expect.
The mayor scoffed. “Not their souls. Don’t be dramatic.” He steepled his fingers. “So, you see, I cannot allow your friend, lover, what-have-you, to be freed. He would incite a riot, and with this obstinate plague still about, he may rouse enough to actually go through with it. And I’d rather enjoy the festival tomorrow, thank you very much.”
“Obstinateplague? Do you not know its origin or how it can be stopped?”
He stared at her as if she were crazed. “Of course not! Quite frankly, I’ve been living in utter terror that it will infect the people of quality at any given turn. Perhaps even myself! Thankfully, it seems to be contained to the squalor for the time being.”
Lux’s heart hardened. She couldn’t think on the implications of that statement yet. She had only one means of leverage left, and she’d use it to save a good man. “And if I agree to an eternity at your side? What would you say, then?”
His gaze meant to bore straight through her. “What are you proposing?”
“I remember a time when you wished for my presence. In your home. At your right hand. It’s no secret you’re attracted to power. And I am very powerful.” Lux pulled back her shoulders. “Let him go. As you said, he is no one. Should he even utter the word, you can murder him where he stands. Though people are unlikely to believe a nobody anyway. In his place, you will have me: my silence, my loyalty. And Morana’s freedom of course.”
His eyes were slits. “I could have you anyway, you know.”
“I will take a knife to my own eyes should you even attempt.” For good measure, she drew the black-handled blade, its curved edge glowing beneath the lamplight.
She could try to kill the mayor. Right now. But that wouldn’t save Shaw. And it certainly wouldn’t save Ghadra from the revenge his family would wreak upon it.
