Empire of Shadows

16.

"I have a theory."

Raziel leaned against the wall of the tavern, his arms crossed at Vasco.

"Oh, a theory?"

Dante looked up from where she sat beside the prisoner whose head had slumped onto her shoulder in the middle of reading a short child's book. She picked up the prisoner's hand, tracing a vein in his wrist, the prisoner didn't seem to mind. She was scheming—she was making her scheming face. "If it's about Ketil, you should know he doesn't share your affections. Know it before you get yourself hurt."

Vasco stopped, eyebrows furrowed. "Where did you arrive at that little conclusion, little girl?"

She shrugged, Jameson startling awake at her movement. "For you or for him?"

"This is a pointless conversation," Raziel muttered under his breath. "We have a task at hand, we should focus."

"Focus on what?" The prisoner said, stretching slowly.

Dante continued, unfazed by Raziel. "It's written all over your face, Dracon. That wistful longing in your eyes..." Dante smiled, standing to her feet. "I am not nearly as oblivious as you believe me to be."

A small smile fixed its way on Vasco's lips. "Well then, little girl, spill your secrets."

"We don't have time for this nonsense, Dante. I don't know when they will return or if they will return to begin with! I don't need you fighting with the escort—"

"No, I'm interested in what she has to say. Did he say something about me?" Vasco's voice was soft, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh he said nothing, but Ketil does not feel affection—not in that way. Be it his death that caused it or just who he is, I can't tell you. But he has no feelings for anyone and does not desire them. After everything that happened between him and Anubis, there's nothing there."

Vasco stared at her for a moment, his eye narrowed in thought. "You're not lying."

"No, I'm not lying. I don't lie, especially when it comes to him." Dante wiped her hands against her skirt, looking to Raziel. "Am I lying?"

"No, not a bit. So can we not talk about this now?"

A bit of fire in his eyes died, but he quickly hid it. "Enough about Ketil," he cleared his throat. "I have a theory about our little friends. They are speaking to Tsar Reznik, yes? They are speaking to him and receiving some sort of command because Anubis is the Royal Bastard."

Jameson's head perked up. "What the hell? A riesun related to the Tsar? It's not just improbably but impossible. Your kind is dying and he's the one killing them!"

"It is a small secret that the Tsar collects useful riesun of nobles as a type of slave." Vasco stared at his hands before balling them up into fists. "I have seen them, I have heard of their stories. I have seen the brand against their backs. Status is the only thing that saves them, and even then they are just shells of a human."

There was silence as Dante and Raziel exchanged a look.

Raziel nodded slowly, "you would all find out eventually." He took a breath, pacing their small room. "We are the Order. We complete missions for the Tsar."

"Then she is the Cursed Royal." Vasco let out a sigh that echoed around the room. "I had my suspicions, but she was nothing but a myth."

"Obviously not," Dante said.

"If he killed her, he would violate the Law of Blood. The practically sacred law handed down by the Lady Rejna in protection of innocent children."