Feargus

  I cried until I fell asleep on the cot in V’s office, curled up with her quilt. I only woke up when the door opened and closed. It took me a minute to remember the reality I was in, and then it hit me like an Amali punch to the gut. I swallowed back the urge to vomit and oriented myself into a sitting position. When I glanced over, Marta hesitated before speaking.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry for yelling at you, though. Ivana would really appreciate someone looking after the Peak and using her things. She was practical like that.”

  A bit of tension left Marta’s shoulders and she nodded. “Do you want to talk about her?”

  I shrugged and patted the space beside me on the cot.

  Marta sat.

  “I told her I love her,” I said. “Not long before she died. Actually, I didn’t even tell her. I just—I just wrote her a letter. And compared to the one she left me, it was pretty crap.”

  Marta leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees. “Wow, uh—I mean, I think with those things it’s the gesture that counts. Were you two…?”

  I nodded. “She left me the inn, even though it’s not technically legal.”

  “Wow, uh—wow. Okay, how do you feel about that?”

  “In a different version of my life, I’d be tickled. I love a good inn.”

  “Well, legal or not, it’s what Ivana wanted. And, if none of the other villagers step up, I was actually thinking of trading in my Captain’s title, holding things down here instead. As long as that’s okay with you, boss?”

  “Mate, I couldn’t think of anyone better. And I know V liked you, too.” I paused. “Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.” My heart seized when I remembered the first night I’d met V, when she’d caught herself opening up to me and said something similar. “But I guess you’d better get used to it if you’re going to be working a bar.”

  Marta chuckled. “Yeah, I wish it were all under better circumstances.”

  I squinted my eyes closed and shook my head. “You need to get Michael out of Leberecht,” I said. “There’s something not right going on there, and if he’s with the Artist, I—”

  “What do you mean? What do you know?” Marta asked.

  “More than I ought to about essentially everything, but if you see my sister, if you see Rhian, tell her you’re worried about him, and that you’ve had second thoughts. I’m going to check in with a few other folks and see what I can do about it, too.”

  Michael’s sister chewed on her lower lip for a while in thought. “Keep me posted?”

  I said I would, but I made her promise she’d never seen me—not even once in her life. She knew about my mission from Faust, and given her former position as Captain of the Iron Hand, she understood. I tucked everything back into the envelope, stood, and scooped the quilt from the cot, folding it up and draping it over my shoulder. “This one’s special, but she keeps the spare blankets in the attic. I have to go up there for something, so I’ll bring you one.”

  Marta stood, too, and she smiled. “Thanks.”

  When I returned to the office with the blanket for the cot and the painting from the attic, I removed the silk covering from the portrait. I couldn’t bring myself to look at it yet, but when it was revealed, whatever Marta was planning to say next came out as a slow breath through a hole in her lips.

  “I’ll go,” she said. “I’ll just let you—“ She nodded a few times, as if reassuring herself. “Yeah. I’ll be on the other side if you need anything, okay?”

  I don’t remember her leaving, or the sound of the door closing. I only remember nodding, and suddenly being alone, but I wasn’t alone, because V was there, looking at me from inside the frame with her beautiful brown eyes.

  It felt like I had an Endican sitting on my chest the whole time, but it’s what V wanted. She kept a hammer and some nails in a toolbox on a shelf, so I did what had to be done. One, two, three, four, five. I hung her portrait fifth in line. She was the first to be made, but the last to go, and that’s the way they ordered it.

  I don’t know how long I stood staring at V. I wasn’t counting.

  When I was done, I blew her a kiss, and left out the back door.

  Crew Placement:

  Rhian ? ???

  Alex ? ???

  Michael ? Leberecht

  Strauss, Adeline, Sebastian ? Other man-cave

  Zack ? ???

  Rhydian ? ???

  Bells, Riz ? Defector’s lair

  Everleigh ? ???

  I didn’t know where Rhian was, but I was worried about her. Adeline said my sister was there for the fire, and that she was with V when she died, and that it had all happened too quickly for it to have been prevented. But Rhian cared about Oskari, and she loved Ivana, too. I had to make sure she was all right, let her know we were all right, and tell her where the rest of the crew was. I also needed to speak with Alexander. Not only had we not caught up for a while, but he was Ivana’s best friend for over two centuries.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  I wasn’t sure if Rhian would be there when I arrived, so instead of letting myself into the estate with my key, I knocked. Peter answered with a somber expression. He’d known V, too. We traded condolences before he told me I’d find Alexander in the library.

  Sitting in his wing-back chair, he gazed up at the portrait of Zack above the fireplace. He looked over when he heard me enter, acknowledging me with a nod.

  The first thing I did was give him the letter V had written for him, which I still hadn’t read, and I never would. Alexander didn’t read it immediately, either. Instead, he tucked it away in his breast pocket.

  I then gave him the deed to the Peak with our names on it.

  I sat on the couch across.

  My eyes were puffy and painful, and entirely dried out. “I don’t know where she keeps the money,” I said. “I looked for another safe, but—do you know Marta yet?”

  Alexander nodded.

  “She’s offered to look after the inn, if it’s all the same to us.”

  “It’s all the same.” Alexander shrugged. “Ivana keeps her fortune here. I’ll be sure Marta Reider has what she needs.”

  “Did you know about this?” I asked, in reference to the deed.

  “Yes. She’d come to see me about it a week or two ago.”

  I remembered once barging in the office and finding Ivana writing something she’d tried to pretend she wasn’t, suspiciously covering it with her ledger.

  “I don’t understand why she did it.”

  “Why she left us the inn?”

  “No, why she—why couldn’t she just stay out of it?”

  “Because, Mister Finlay, she was trying to end her cycle.”

  “By burning to death?”

  “No.”

  “So if she wasn’t trying to die, then it’s my fault, isn’t it?” I asked. “I told her I love her, and she couldn’t say it back, and I knew she couldn’t, but I did it anyway because I’m selfish. And the fact I’m dumping this all on you right now does a lot for the case.”

  Alexander regarded me in silence before he stood and made his way to the bar. He mixed me a Piglet, handing it to me before taking a sit beside me on the couch.

  “Enduring through pain and guilt is my role, Mister Finlay. You can let it go. What would have happened to you both otherwise? Ten, twenty, thirty, forty years of her watching you grow old, if you survived long enough to grow old, and only if you were in a position to remain in Amalia. Instead, she’s left you with love caught in stasis, love in its purest form. And my oldest friend finally found her peace.”

  I can’t honestly say Alexander’s words did much for me in the minute, but they would stick with me down the line, and there’d be times when I’d rely on them to get through the day. For the better part of an hour, we shared stories about V, and then it was back to business.

  “Where’s Rhian?” I asked.

  “Gone looking for you.”

  “Is she all right?”

  “She’s pushing through.”

  I nodded. “Any word from Faust?”

  “Nothing, but if I were you, I’d scout the Drop. As you know, I’ve been expecting her.”

  It was solid advice, and I’d get right on that. “If you see Rhian, tell her that Everleigh kidnapped Adeline and Strauss, too, but now they’re both safe with Vincent Delestade.”

  I explained what happened in the silver cell, that I was confused about what Everleigh had done, and while we yapped, I debated whether to tell him the truth about Vincent. Sebastian had spilled the beans to the others, but he’d been the one who’d chosen who to tell. We’d made a promise to protect each other, and he’d come through on his part.

  So, Alexander remained none the wiser for now.

  Before leaving, Alex set me up in the silver and blue bedroom where he said I could store my things if I wasn’t feeling safe at the cabin anymore.

  After breathing it in, I laid Ivana’s quilt on the bed.

  It was too precious for the cabin.

  Crew Placement:

  Rhian ? ???

  Alex ? The estate

  Michael ? Leberecht

  Strauss, Adeline, Sebastian ? The other man-cave

  Zack ? ???

  Rhydian ? ???

  Bells, Riz ? Defector’s lair

  Everleigh ? ???

  I was eager to see Zack, but I needed to manage exactly what Faust would be walking into when she got here. So for the rest of the day, I watched the Drop until around midnight when an embark landed at the docks. Councilwoman Faust checked in at the outpost.

  I doubted very much she’d want to stay at the bunkhouse and had to figure she’d make her way to the estate straightaway. So, in preparation to receive her, I hid in the wagon I was expecting her to take. Twenty, twenty-two minutes before the driver took his place at the front and Faust climbed in the back where I was sitting, waiting.

  “’Eya,” I said.

  The surprise on her face came and went as quickly as the other, and she sat on the bench across. It wasn’t long before we started travelling in the direction of Alexander’s estate. I fished the reports out of my bag and handed them over.

  “Profiles on everyone and a postmortem,” I said.

  “Lidia? Is it true?” Faust tucked the reports away without reading them.

  “True, and not to mention at least seventeen more.”

  The surprise lingered a bit longer on her face that time, but it was immediately replaced by relief. “Sending Lucas Bellamy back to Palisade was unexpected.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said. “Fallout?”

  “Well, it’s not good, but I’m managing it.”

  “I have updates since I wrote the reports,” I added. “I found out Lidia injured Strauss, so he went back to the lair with Rhydian to recover. On his way back to Amalia, their Nav intercepted the Palisade embark carrying Lucas Bellamy and his Amali bodyguard. There was an event—I don’t know all the details—but I’m afraid to tell you the bodyguard didn’t make it. The Nav dropped Strauss off in Amalia and brought Bells back to the lair.”

  “Injured?”

  It was going to be much easier to make a case for Strauss’s resilience now that I knew for sure how he’d cope with the blindness. That's to say, so far so good. “Right, there’s no easy way to say this, but I’ll tell you: he’s handling it all right. You haven’t got to worry.”

  “Agent Finnegan…”

  “He’s blind.”

  Faust didn’t even pretend to take the news well, and I basically watched her age ten years the matter of seconds. But there was still more.

  “Lidia turned Helena Varis while the others were in Istok. She then tried to turn Michael, and it failed. She’s dead now, but Michael was left comatose. Rhian took him to Leberecht to live his final moments with his family, and then his sister took him to see someone called The Artist. Nobody seems sure how—"

  Faust didn’t reply, she just held up a finger and knocked on the wood separating us from the driver. When the carriage slowed to a stop and the driver came around to see what Faust needed, she told him to re-route.

  “Take us to Leberecht.”