AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maximillian stilled as I grabbed his arm, forcing him to a halt. “Stop what?” he asked, his eyes flashing.
“Stop acting like an overbearing, protective nanny dog,” I snapped. “Contrary to the picture you painted for the commandant, you donotown me, and I don’t need to be kept in a glass cage. Sparrow brought me bloodbane and an apology for what happened last night, then took me to the temple to try to convince me that human life isn’t so terrible here and that I should help you.”
“I see.” Some of the anger cleared from Maximillian’s face, replaced by a thoughtful look. “Did it work?”
I snorted. “Maybe. Until I remembered that you’re about to hand a powerful weapon over to that monster I just met in the courtyard so he can use it to kill witches.”
Maximillian sighed. “Is that why you were out in the courtyard? You wanted to convince me to destroy the prototype, or perhaps shove it up Vinicius’s—”
“No,” I said quickly. “Although if you did that, I would definitely help you.”
His gaze shuttered. “If you asked for anything else, I would gladly give it to you, Kitten. But I can’t.”
“Why not?” I dropped his arm and took a step away, feeling the sting of his rejection. “You don’t even have to destroy the prototype—just delay it, or something! I don’t understand why you have to do this.”
“Vladimir has spies everywhere, including the factories,” Maximillian said, lines of frustration bracketing his mouth. “I can’t risk such an obvious betrayal. Besides, the technology involved has the potential for other uses. I won’t ask Eliza to destroy it, not after all the hard work she’s put into it.”
“Wait,” I said as he turned away. “I’ll do as you ask and stay out of sight. But I need a favor.”
“What is it?” he asked, a wary note in his voice.
I gave him a grim smile. “The case files from a certain barrister’s office.”
12
“Phaeros’s beard,” Eliza exclaimed as she walked into the common room. “What in all the hells is this mess?”
I looked up from where I sat on one of the couches, surrounded by stacks of boxes. Case files and notes were spread out on the coffee table before me, along with leftover crumbs from the dinner I’d hastily scarfed while reading.
“Oh, good, you’re back.” I set down the file in my hand. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Have you now?” Eliza snatched a cookie from the plate on the side table as she threw herself into the armchair on my left, and I noticed she looked a little haggard. Purplish shadows dogged her eyes from lack of sleep, an oil smudge marred her right cheekbone, and her short, blonde curls were wild with frizz, as though she’d raked her fingers repeatedly through them. “I’m sorry, but I don’t really have time to be your personal tour guide now that the commandant is breathing down my neck. I’m basically his slave for the next few days until this prototype is finalized.”
“I’m not asking you to be my tour guide,” I said lightly, forcing myself not to take up the subject of the prototype cannon. “I just need you to be my date.”
“A date?” Eliza’s eyes flashed with interest. “Where to?”
“The Red Tavern.”
Her eyebrows flew up, disappearing beneath her hairline. “You want me to take you to agambling den?”
“Keep your voice down,” I hissed, leaning in. I didn’t think Nyra or any of the others were here, but vampires had very sharp ears, and you never knew when one might be listening. “I’m investigating a disappearance, and I’ve heard that the Red Tavern is a good place to find information on that sort of thing.” I decided not to mention that I was also looking for any rebel witches that might be lying low in the city. I liked Eliza, but I wasn’t sure if I could trust her with that kind of information.
The aetherion woman’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at the files. “Is that what this is about? You’re playing detective?”
“I’m not ‘playing’.” I folded my arms across my chest, mildly offended. “I used to do a lot of investigative work as a vampire hunter.”
“Right.” Eliza picked up the file I’d been reading, her green eyes flickering as she scanned it. “A missing person’s case?”
“About thirty of them.” The anger that had simmered inside my chest for the better part of an hour began to bubble again, and I sucked in a deep breath through my nose. “All within the last year. And this is just from one barrister’s office.” There were six—I’d asked.
Eliza blew out a breath. “I hate to break it to you, Kitana, but people go missing all the time in Lumina. Many are slaves who run east to join the rebel movement.”
“That’s what the barrister said, too,” I told her, “but Hannah believes that if her friend was planning to join the rebels, she would have told them before she left.” I scooped a hand through my hair as I considered the spread of files. “The inspector barely even bothered to file incident reports. There’s almost no information here to go off—"
“Which means the case files are fairly useless,” Eliza finished for me.
We sat in silence for a long minute while I chewed on my frustration. I had so badly wanted to tug on the thread Hannah had presented to me, but in truth it would take far too long to track down all these families and piece together any sort of pattern that would reveal if any of these disappearances had a connection. In all likelihood, Imogen had been preyed upon by a hungry vampire who'd flaunted the rules—an incident that was bound to reoccur no matter how strictly Maximillian tried to enforce his utopian regulations.
