Arthie stared at him. “Left you for—”
“That’s enough!” Flick snapped, stepping between them. The storeroom fell silent. She was breathing hard, her blood roaring under her skin. Arthie could hear it. “Stop. Both of you. I know you’re hurting. I know you’re angry, but haven’t you always said, Jin, that Arthie has her reasons? And haven’t you, Arthie, always said that Jin felt more deeply than anyone else you’ve known? Is that not enough to understand each other?”
Jin crossed his arms, his answer spelled out clear as a rare, cloudless Ettenian sky.
Flick sighed and waved the ledger between them. It was open to a page marked with a card, the ribbon fluttering loosely.
“As I’ve been trying to tell you both since we reunited: I found something,” she said.
The change in Jin was instant, like a rubber band snapping loose, allowing the air back into the room.
“About my parents?” he asked.
Flick didn’t respond, only turned away and walked over to anold chair where she proceeded to make herself comfy with the kitten curled up along one side of it. The others moved closer too, and Arthie remained where she was to slump against the wall.
Was what Jin said true? Was she hiding behind a shield? She wasn’t naive; she knew she masked much of what she felt because emotions existed to drag her down and nothing else, but was there more to it than that?
“We could be in the comfort of the Athereum right now,” Matteo groused. “And safety, mind you.”
But getting back inside the Athereum was as difficult as it was getting out—regardless if one was a member or not. The mobs were packed tight against the walls, some trying to climb the gate, the guards doing their utmost not to incite violence upon those who were inciting violence.
Arthie willed her feet to move her closer to the group. Jin avoided her. Matteo gave her a small smile. The three of them gathered around Flick as the kitten leaped onto her lap, her dove gray tail more luxurious than a high society lady’s hair.
Flick picked her up with a little laugh. “I’ve named her, by the way.”
Arthie half expected Laith to walk through the door and pick up the kitten. To rub at her chin and glance at Arthie, somehow seeing straight through her mask to her eternal disquiet. When she blinked, the vision disappeared. In its place, Arthie saw blood blossoming across his chest, unfurling like delicate crimson petals over the white of his robes.
“Opal,” Flick said, brushing the kitten between her eyes. A purr started in her throat.
Chesteroohed.
Matteo gave her a nod of approval. “It suits her as well as Flick suits you.”
Flick ducked her head with a smile, and when Opal hopped to the floor, Flick turned back to the ledger, readjusting the collar of her shirt and rubbing her injured arm with a wince for the umpteenth time. She didn’t appear to have acclimated to her new attire just yet.
“Now,” Flick said, gesturing to the book. “The reason why I don’t think the ledger is rubbish is because the majority is written in code, and very well hard to crack. I’m sure Penn might have been deciphering it, but I didn’t find any of his notes, so I’ve been deciphering it myself over the past week, mainly using my knowledge of my mother’s handwriting to do so.”
“So she might have moved certain warehouses and smaller operations to throw us off her scent,” Matteo said.
“Precisely,” Flick said with a nod. “Now, on to what I’ve found. How likely is it that the Siwangs are in the same place as the East Jeevant Company vampires?”
Arthie narrowed her eyes. “Is that even possible? Are you talking about the vampires the EJC has been weaponizing? They’re being shipped to battlefields everywhere, are they not? The Ram hasn’t once stopped colonizing since she became monarch.”
Flick shook her head. “Not according to her notes. It appears they’re being shipped to one place. They’re dated differently, and the quantities vary, but the cargo routes are the same. There’s no indication they were moved after either.”
“Strange,” Arthie said. “I assumed she was already utilizing them.”
“That does tally,” Matteo offered, glancing over. “Vampires have only recently been going missing. The operation must still be in its early stages.”
Arthie didn’t know if she should have felt relief then, that the vampires weren’t being weaponized just yet, or worse because that meant the kidnapped vampires’ suffering was being prolonged.
“Penn told us the vampires are administered one dose of the silver inoculation to immobilize them,” Matteo continued. “Thenthey’re starved.”
“None of this confirms my parents are with them,” Jin said.
“A gamble, but isn’t it unlikely that the Ram would trust anyone other than the ones who know the inoculation inside and out?” Matteo countered.
Inoculation. It was a disheartening reminder that the Siwangs’ discovery for the betterment of people, to protect them, was being abused in such a way.
