“Oh, but Jin doesn’t like that,” Chester pointed out for them both.
Jin cracked a smile. “You’re breaking my heart, Felicity.”
“Good thing it doesn’t beat anymore,” Matteo quipped, wrinkling his nose when Opal tore at the fish and a piece landed beside his shiny shoes.
“Is that true?” Chester asked, aghast.
“Not if I drink some of his blood,” Jin said darkly. “Vampires can have a pulse if they drink enough.”
“Is that a threat, Casimir?” Matteo asked.
He was toying with Jin, Flick knew, but she’d seen them fight on the steps of Matteo’s house and wasn’t eager to witness that again. She stepped closer to Arthie, as discreetly as she could. The last thing Flick wanted was to make Matteo feel as though she was scared of him because she’d learned his secret. She wasn’t scared ofthatin the slightest, but caution was a good thing, wasn’t it?
Not counting Chester and Felix, Flick was the only human among them. Her pulse spiked, sending a rush of fear through her veins. Did the others smell it in her blood? It was a startling thought, even if she wasn’t afraid of them. How far she’d come, from having never seen a vampire to being involved in their affairs.
“Back to the matter at hand,” Arthie said over them, riffling through the ledger. “If we’re taking an EJC ship, Flick will need to stay regardless.”
“Why?” Reni asked, reaching carefully for the kitten’s tail as she thumped it on the floorboards.
“Becauseit’s an EJC ship. They’ll know where their ships are at all times. Flick will need to forge documents to make sure we don’t get caught,” Arthie said, shutting the ledger again. “According to this,they send a particular line of ships for Ceylani routes, and several had departure dates as little as four days apart, which means it’s no more than a two-day journey each way, possibly shorter if the ship remains at port for maintenance.” She made a face. “Or longer if we hit stormy waters. There’s no telling how long we’ll need on Ceylan itself, but here in Ettenia, the Ram will need to believe everything is running without a hitch.”
“How will a piece of paper make up for a missing ship?” Chester asked, brow pinched.
“We’ve been importing tea for years,” Arthie said. “We rarely saw superiors getting their shoes dirty at port. The laborers report to the foremen, the foremen report to the dockmasters, and on and on until the boss finally catches wind of it. Flick will only need to intercept messages before they get that far.”
“I can forge documents,” Flick said, “but if she’s storing vampires to ship them, she’s bound to notice they’re not being shipped.”
“Not unless she thinks they’re being shipped, while her dockworkers think she wants them to stay put,” Arthie said. “Again, a letter to each will do the trick.”
Flick released a careful breath. She hadn’t forged anything without the company of the Casimirs since the signet ring that resulted in her life falling apart. This time, the Casimirs wouldn’t even be in the same country as her. Opal bounded over and leaped into her lap again, smelling like a basket of fresh laundry, despite having chomped on a fish the past hour.
“Won’t there be vampires on the ship?” Reni asked.
“If the ship’s stocked, I’ll have it cleared,” Arthie said, as if she’d already considered the possibility and had figured out a way to avoid it. “If they’re being treated like cargo, they’ll be returned to a warehouse. We’ll tail them to whatever new warehouse they’ve been relocated to, and free all of them.”
“That easy, eh?” Jin asked. “How are you going to have a stocked EJC ship cleared?”
Arthie prickled. “I’ll do my job; you do yours.” Before Jin could counter her, she continued. “But the EJC vampires will need to remain there until our return. I’m not risking our element of surprise.”
“Sidharth can handle it,” Matteo suggested. “We’ll put him in charge of them and tell him no movement until we return.”
“Good,” Arthie said. “Moving on. Chester, you and the boys will intercept the messages. Give them to Flick for the appropriate response. Flick, make sure you track down the foreman’s penmanship too. Keep the ruse going for as long as you can, understand? If you have to write letters yourself, do it.”
“You trust me to?” Flick asked, surprised. She’d only ever forged and written what Arthie had dictated.
“Of course. In the meantime, keep studying the ledger for anything that might help us. On the tribute, other secrets, further plans.”
“Maybe even the real reason why she might be kidnapping humans off the streets,” Matteo suggested.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s solely for the reason of creating more chaos,” Jin said.
Arthie didn’t look so certain, and Flick marveled at how quickly Arthie had learned Flick’s mother. “She’s desperate, but she’s not typically one to waste a resource. Once we bring back Jin’s parents, the show will have only just begun. Treat the Ram and Lady Linden as two separate people. We’re going to bury them both so she has no way of clawing her way back up again.”
Flick held back a smile. She was well aware Arthie was talking of her mother’s demise, but she sounded like herself again. Passionate. Whip-smart.
Alive.
“Make that three,” Arthie corrected with narrowed eyes. “The Ram has three parts: monarch, businesswoman, and lady. Each needs stifling, or she’ll assume duties as the other. Take down the Ram, and the EJC will still flourish. Take down the EJC, and the Ram will still rule.”
