AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Where I’m huddled in the thickest shadows, I can’t see anything of the people who enter. But multiple sets of footsteps scrape across the floor.
The first voice to speak, hushed even in the privacy of this space, I recognize as Ster. Torstem’s. “We’ll regroup. We took a gamble and it failed. There are plenty of other prizes to try for.”
It definitely doesn’t sound like he’s just talking about rare insect specimens. I scoot a little closer beneath the desk, my heart thumping with both anxiety and eagerness.
A woman speaks next, no one I can identify just by her speech. “Do you know exactly what went wrong?”
“We lost some of the bugs, and there weren’t enough left for our purpose. I think we’ll get farther with the other enclosures. It’s time to focus on more refined tactics.”
I frown. I’m guessing that by “bugs” he means the daimon, speaking in code to be safe. But what other enclosures? What would that word stand for in terms of their real plans?
A third figure, a younger man I also don’t know, interjects with a short chuckle. “That seems like another kind of gamble.”
Torstem makes a dismissive sound. “They allow for easier control. We’ve built up quite a supply already, and I’ve already sent someone on to speed up construction.”
Well, that definitely doesn’t sound good,Julita remarks with a sense of a grimace.
No, it does not.
“We’ll need more people to exert that control, won’t we?” the younger man goes on. “With Wendos—”
Torstem cuts him off with a chiding sound. Obviously the law professor is awfully careful about what he says even in here.
“Our club could always use more members with the right perspective,” he says in a measured voice. “If you notice any likely candidates with appropriate interests, pass their names on to me.”
There’s a warble of fabric as he retrieves something. He must hand it to the woman, because she thanks him. Then they head back out into the hall.
With the click of the door shutting, I slump against the underside of the desk. My head is spinning.
The scourge sorcerers have some new plan—which may or may not involve the daimon, but if it does, it’s using different tactics from before.
I don’t really want to know how awful their new efforts are going to end up being.
But our investigations won’t be finished until I do. And Ster. Torstem is looking to recruit even more students into his sick cabal…
I pause, lingering on that discovery. An uneasy flutter passes through my chest, solidifying into a ball of resolve in my gut.
That might be our answer right there.
As I slip back through the neighboring window and make my way to the Domi, I keep turning the idea over in my head. With each prod and poke, my certainty grows.
I ease open the door to Stavros’s quarters to find him sitting at his desk, watching me with an expression like he’s considering ramming a sword through my middle.
As the door swings shut behind me, he stands up. “Good. You kept your word once.”
I swallow down the ache at the memory of past conversations we had in this room, when he looked at me like more than a criminal. “I found out something we can use. Something that could get us everything we need to take them all down.”
The former general’s eyebrows arch despite himself. “And what’s that?”
My lips form a crooked smile. “I’m not just going to make friendly with a few students. I need to convince Ster. Torstem to recruit me into his conspiracy.”
Five
Ivy
“And that,” Stavros says from his lectern at the front of the classroom, “is why you should always check your boots before shoving your feet in them.”
He offers a wry grin to his students as laughter ripples through the class. I set the quills I just collected in the storage case and resist the urge to fidget.
