“As offerings for protection, for peace, you name it. Your people are weak-willed and spineless. I do not make it so.”
Well, he’s right about that. I hate humans just as much as I hate vampires, given everything they’ve done to me.
“Ethera knew what she wanted. More than I can say for most,” Vallan continued.
I tried to bolster my anger, calling for it. It wouldn’t come as heavily as before. Vallan has sucked the wind out of my sails.
“On rare occasions, halfkeepers like Ethera sacrifice themselves to see their kin get a chance at a better life, a better station. Do you know how rare a halfkeeper vampire is? It is an honor.”
I glanced over my shoulder to the cellhouse, the scene of the crime. “. . . Not for Ethera it isn’t.”
Vallan’s body heaved in an exasperated huff. He spun away, evidently having explained himself enough to me.
Garroway held me back as Vallan marched on. Only once the massive bloodsucker had made it to Cordea’s tent did Garroway and I follow.
“You don’t understand our ways and customs, lass,” he explained in an even tone. “Best not to get under Vall’s skin until you do.”
My lip twitched. “I can’t just sit back and watch murderers ply their trade without consequence. It’s not in my nature.”
“Aye,” he said. “That fire inside you is why we like you. Even Vallan, though he’d never admit it.”
I clenched my jaw as our boots kicked up dust. “So Zefyra does . . . what? She becomes a vampire and . . . does she know her lover is dead?”
“I’m sure.”
My shoulders drooped. It seemed so cruel, pointless, and barbaric. Not only were humans dined on like soup here, they were also sacrificed for . . .What?
As we made it to the tent, I was about to pose the question to Garroway but then the conversation ended on the other side of the flap and I had no reason to ask.
“. . . Grounds empty,” Cordea was saying. “Shift’ll take another ten minutes until the next workers are up.”
Vallan said, “Tell the miners what’s happened here. Show them what happens to thieves who try to pilfer from the Commerce Ministry.”
“Show them?”
“Put the halfkeeper’s head on a pike.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vallan exited the tent seconds later, pushing past me and Garroway. The sack of silver from Cordea’s chest was slung over his shoulder. He swiftly moved through the ghost camp—workers sleeping or changing shifts so he could exit the camp unseen—and we followed. I had to nearly jog to keep pace with his long, hurried strides.
We reached the incline to leave the North Mine and everything played over in my head. I finally understood the full extent of what had just happened.
Ethera is the scapegoat,I mused.She was given a deal for her lover’s life in exchange for her own life. The poor interfolk will be cast as a thief, made an example of behind closed doors where no one can question the truth.
And the truth is . . . that Vallan Stellos is stealing silver from the very mine he oversees.
Chapter 31
“You stole your own silver,” I said an hour into our return trek to the safehouse.
No one had said a word as we swiftly traversed the uphill mountain pass. I felt foolish for speaking the words aloud, not because I feared Vallan’s wrath but because the obviousness of my statement made me wince.
“Can’t own what isn’t yours,” Garroway pointed out unhelpfully.
Right. The North Mine is the property of the Commerce Ministry.“He still stole the silver from the place he was meant to look after.”
Vallan said nothing. He kept trudging, not even looking over his shoulder at me. The sack of silver wobbled on his broad back.
