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Stavros looms over me, his chiseled face way too striking when he’s this coolly fierce. He only holds my gaze for a second before sweeping his attention over the rest of my body. “Is that so? And why didn’t you tell us in the first place?”
“Because the truth sounds fucking insane.” I can’t stop myself from glowering at him. My magic keeps roiling inside me, pricking at my innards, which isn’t improving my mood. “I thought it was easier that way, and you’d find out everything else you need to know later. But it turns out that won’t happen, so here I am.”
If Stavros is cool, then Alek is outright ice. “Why should we believe anything you say now?”
My gaze slides to his masked face. Even partly covered, I can tell his expression is grim. “Why don’t you hear it and then decide? What exactly do you think my evil plan here would be?”
Benedikt tips his golden head back against the shelves. “As much as I’d like to think you simply enjoy our company, it seems more probable that you were spying on our plans. Or attempting to mislead us. Or both.”
You should just tell them,Julita murmurs.They’re only doing this because they’re worried about me.
I don’t want to feel particularly sympathetic to the men who are currently holding me bound and under blade, but their response does make sense. And shows an almost admirable protective devotion to their missing friend—if that’s really all they see her as.
I wet my lips. Spilling the beans is going to be even more awkward than I thought.
“You’ve guessed that something’s gone wrong for Julita,” I venture, letting my noble diction slide. What does it matter when they’ll know in a minute or two how far from noble I am? “That’s why you checked the records for me?”
“She’s been missing for threedays,” Alek spits out. “She wouldn’t leave for that long without giving us any idea what lead she’s following.”
Casimir nods, but his voice is softer. “You’d be the last person who saw her. You have her bracelet.”
Stavros has straightened up over me, making his massive frame even more intimidating. He adjusts the short sword in his grasp casually but with an ease that speaks of his skill. “I think we should be the ones asking the questions, and you should be answering. What happened to Julita? Let’s hear everything you know, and be quick about it.”
I raise my chin. “To be clear from the start,Ididn’t do anything to hurt her. These scourge sorcerers you’re after must have figured out she was on their trail. I was going about my business in Slaughterwell, and I heard a cry. I found—”
Seeing how the men’s stances have stiffened, I hesitate. Am I really going to toss their friend’s murder in their faces this bluntly?
“You found what?” Stavros prods.
I guess there really isn’t any way around it.
“I found her lying in an alley with a knife through her neck,” I say, a little quieter than before. “I tried to stop the bleeding, but the wound was so—”
Alek flinches. “She’sdead?” His hand flicks down his front in the gesture of the divinities.
Casimir’s pine-green eyes have widened. Stavros’s broad shoulders flex as if he’s bracing for the answer.
There’s only one I can possibly give. “Yes.”
Benedikt sags against the shelves, the cockiness of his stance deflating.
Alek’s lips part, but no sound comes out. He takes a few steps backward to sink into one of the chairs around the central desk and drops his head into his hands.
Stavros works his jaw, his eyes outright blazing, his hand clenching around the grip of his sword. But when he speaks, his voice is as coolly confident as ever. “Those gods-damned wretches. They’ll regret every drop of her blood they spilled ten times over. We’ll see how much they like their sorcery then.”
“If we’d gone with her instead of letting her carry out her investigations alone…” Casimir says in a thin voice. His rosy skin has faded to a sickly pallor.
Benedikt snorts, though he still looks sick himself. “As if any of us were ‘letting’ Jules do anything. She wouldn’t have letusexpose ourselves that way.” His pale gaze flicks to me again with sharper focus. “Assuming the imposter is telling the truth and not spinning a lovely tale to hide her own wrongdoing.”
Alek’s head jerks up. The combined weight of four hostile stares sets my skin crawling.
I grimace at them. “Why would I have done anything to Julita? I didn’t even know her before the moment I found her.”
Stavros cocks his head, considering. His gaze flicks away and back to me. “The conspirators could have paid you off.”
“Paid you to spy on us too,” Benedikt adds, warming up to his theory. “Very clever.”
“I wouldn’t have taken a job like that,” I say. “And I haven’t told you everything yet. I came to talk to you in the first place because— This is the part that sounds insane. When I was trying to help Julita and she died, somehow or other, her soul… passed into me.”
