“Even if he did, she broke out of her cage by herself.” He tilted his head. “You want to visit him next?”
“No thanks.” I suppressed a shudder, well aware that some of the guards believed I would take Adair’s side, given the chance. At least my new job gave me some measure of protection—once they stopped denying that I was telling the truth about being the new Fire Element, that is. Which might take a face-to-face meeting with the Death King himself.
Unfortunately, I was going to have to go back to him and explain that the House of Fire refused to commit to any kind of deal for the time being, at least until he was able to give them an offer they might accept. If he did offer to take Adair off their hands, it would solve a lot of problems for them, and as a bonus, it would solve my worry that he’d give them the slip at the first opportunity.
On the other hand, the idea of Adair being imprisoned next door to my place of employment didn’t exactly fill me with confidence either. Yet if he refused to confess to being behind the jailor’s death, then Tay would pay the price for it.
Harris reached the top of the stairs. “She’ll have one trial. One chance to explain herself. That’s all.”
“Are you sure you shouldn’t be focusing on Adair instead?” I pressed. “Unlike Tay, he definitely has the ability to influence people to do his bidding, and I’m not sure even the defences on this place can dampen it completely. How did he and the others get out last time?”
“Did you think I’d tell you?” He gave me a contemptuous stare. “You’re lucky you didn’t get arrested for aiding in their escape.”
“I didn’t know they escaped at all until Adair tried to kill me,” I pointed out. “When did it happen? Come on, you might as well tell me. They’re already at large.”
He scowled. “Less than a month ago. What does that have to do with anything?”
If they were involved with the jailor’s murder? A lot, possibly. Especially as the Family seemed to be making contingency plans for a war in which I wasn’t even sure who the major players were. I couldn’t think why the Family would murder the lead jailor, though, unless they’d intended to have revenge on the Houses for imprisoning them. But that didn’t work either. It hadn’t been the House of Fire’s jailor who’d been in charge of their incarceration after they’d been dug out of the wreckage of their house. They’d been locked up in a different facility north of the city, as far as I was aware.
“Because they used to make a living selling illegal cantrips.” I walked down the corridor to the room which contained Zade’s body, where I lifted the cantrip from the table, displaying the symbol on its surface. “That’s their signature. I thought their factories shut down five years ago.”
Or more accurately, burned down. I’d set the entire estate ablaze during my escape.
“You think your family made that cantrip?” Harris said from behind me. “Am I supposed to believe you weren’t involved?”
“Can I take this with me?” I said, ignoring his taunts. “Maybe the Death King knows where it came from.”
Unlikely, but I could ask Miles or his friends if he didn’t. If it’d been obtained somewhere local, the Spirit Agents would be more likely to know, since they were based here in Elysium. As the cantrip itself was blank, it wasn’t like I could use it against anyone, as the guards ought to know well.
“Go ahead,” said Harris. “And don’t come back here again unless you have something useful to say.”
I slipped the cantrip into my pocket. Whether Tay had been the killer or not, it wouldn’t hurt to figure out how the murderer had taken the guard’s life without leaving more than a rash on his face.
“I’ll inform the Death King you have no desire for an alliance with him,” I said to him, reaching the door. “Or should I mention that you might be open to transferring a certain prisoner to the Court of the Dead?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Is it true? He can’t use his powers on the dead?”
“Yes, it’s true.” I didn’t expect him to take my word for it, but the Death King would gladly confirm anything I said. “It’s also true that he’s more likely to start talking if the Death King is the one running the interrogation.”
Harris studied me. “I’ll ask. If it turns out you’re bullshitting, we’ll move up your friend’s trial.”
My hands clenched at my sides, over the cantrip in my hand. “If you even think about hurting Tay without first considering the Death King’s offer, then I’ll insert this cantrip somewhere you won’t forget in a hurry.”
And with that, I left the House of Fire and walked out into the street. The citadel towered over the rooftops, an obsidian structure gleaming against the overcast sky. While a node gleamed nearby, it wasn’t too far a walk to the Spirit Agents’ home from here. While I hadn’t heard from any of them since my first day working for the Death King, they’d want to know about the strange murder in the heart of the House of Fire.
Not that any of them were fans of Tay, either… but despite it all, I didn’t want her to die.
3
It took me close to an hour of walking in circles through the confusing warren of streets around Elysium’s centre before I reached the house where the Spirit Agents made their home. It was a pretty nice house by the Parallel’s standards, with whitewashed walls and a wide garden with neatly trimmed lawns. Someone among the Spirit Agents must be a keen gardener, because it wasn’t exactly common to hire services to
