“We need your help,” she says.
“You always need my help,” he meows.
“Mortem,” I say, a warning in my tone.
“Fine,” he says and then yawns, lies down, lifts his thigh and licks his butt.Lex scrunches her nose and pushes what was left of her toast away.
“What is it you need this time?”He yawns.
“Tomes from the underworld library,” Lex says, and then adds, “If you please.”
“Sounds exhausting,” he says and slow blinks.
“You know what isn’t exhausting?”Midnight says.
He glances up at her.
“When I rode into town the other day to do some reapings, I saw a new butcher, and you know what they had in that butcher’s?”
He tilts his head at her.
“An entire charcuterie.Row upon row of delicious and rather sumptuous fish.Sushi and salamis, meats that would make your mouth water.I wonder how exhausting you’d find it eating a fillet of salmon, an entire tuna steak or even premium prawns.”
He turns to Lex.“What do you need?”
She grins and together they pad into her room.
“We should talk about the fact you’re willing to play bait,” Midnight says, threading her fingers through mine.
My mouth pinches; I knew we were going to have to face this.Not least because I think I need her help.I don’t know that I can be bait without her.
“We don’t have a lot of choice,” I say.
Midnight’s nostrils flare as she lets out an enormous sigh.“What are you thinking?”
“We bring in the Societas, or what’s left of them.They’re camped outside campus anyway so we may as well take advantage.Then if they’re on campus when Architecti and Interitus arrive, I suspect they’ll be a perfect distraction.They’ll swarm their messiah angel, meaning Interitus will struggle to escape.”
Midnight’s lips quirk.
“What?”
“Did you forget she can fly?”She’s trying and failing to suppress a laugh.
“No,” I say a little too quickly.I clearly did.
I sigh and slouch in my chair.
“What if Alistair and I create a mesh?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, first of all, I disapprove of the plan entirely.But if we have no other option then think about how we stitch the Veil.All we’re doing is knitting fabric together.We could use the same method with ribbons of campus magic and create a mesh that stretches across campus, preventing Interitus from leaving.”
I nod, a little more enthused.“Has Architecti seemed off to you?”
She scans my face.
“It’s probably nothing.”
