Oren straightened and smiled. “I think he’ll be just fine.”
“Aelius,” said Ilsa, squeezing past Fyfe to approach Aelius’s other side. “Aelius, I—”
“Shhh,” Aelius managed – an easy word even for the frailest – and stretched a wrinkled hand up to catch hers. Tears had pooled in her eyes before she could stop them.
“Why d’you got to be so brave?” she scolded through her tears. “You should’ve told me I was a fool, like Eliot does.”
She caught Eliot’s eye, and despite the tempest of fear and anguish in his features, he managed a ghost of a smile.
Aelius was suddenly gripping her hand with some force, Oren’s too, and beckoning their attention again. They both leaned closer as he struggled to force out the words.
“Gedeon,” he gasped, his chest heaving from the effort. “You need to find Gedeon. He’s in terrible danger.”
Ilsa felt everyone stop breathing at once.
“Aelius.” Hester said his name like a command. She came to the side of the bed and Ilsa was forced backwards. “Aelius!”
“What does he mean?” said Cassia quietly. Despite her recent penchant for violence towards Gedeon, she looked stricken. “Hester?”
“Cassia,” said Oren gently, “he’s under the influence of a healing tonic. He might be delusional.”
“And he might not,” said Cassia, her voice rising.
“Let him speak!” said Ilsa. She had forced her way back to Aelius’s side, and could see that he was struggling, but still conscious; still present. And she knew, unlike the others, what Aelius had been doing. “He knows something Gedeon don’t.”
The frown on Cassia’s porcelain forehead was as deep as Ilsa had ever seen. “What are you talking about?” she demanded.
Ilsa shot a glance at Eliot, but all his mistrusts and reasons didn’t matter anymore. Gedeon was in danger. “Aelius went to the Heart because I asked him to,” she said, her voice breaking from desperation, or shame. “He went to try and find out what the rebels know ’bout the seventh Seer’s amulet.”
Oren and Cassia appeared confused. Hester laughed disbelievingly.
“To what end?” she said. “It’s a fairy tale.”
“We don’t think it is.”
Ilsa told them how they’d tracked Gedeon as far as the crypt at the Seer’s temple, and then discovered he had researched the amulet in the library. When she explained their theories about the Heart rebels being after it too, she skirted the truth of Aelius knowing the raid was coming. All the time, she held his hand in hers, squeezing his fingers, willing him to find the strength.
“You were right,” he said thinly when she was done. “The rebels think the amulet is here. Their spells tell them that it is.” He coughed. “Or was.”
“Was?”
“Within the last twenty years. They’re certain.” He laughed a painful laugh that made Ilsa wince. “They meant to kill me. So they told me everything.”
“What of Gedeon?” said Hester. “What did they tell you about him?”
Aelius’s humour vanished. “He’s been… planning for months. A coup.”
“A coup?” Hester laughed in disbelief. “He’s already our leader.”
“Camden’s, yes.” He paused, struggled. Ilsa could hardly believe what she knew he would say next. “He wants the city.”
Oren drew a breath. Eliot toppled something on the dresser he was leaning against. Hester’s eyes were on Aelius, but her gaze was far away. Her tight mouth quirked up at one corner.
“That doesn’t sound like Gedeon,” she said.
“No. It’s a peace enterprise,” Aelius said, and despite his state, he managed to force some derision into the words.
“That sounds like Gedeon,” said Fyfe.
“He means to form a conclave. Six members. Each faction.”
Ilsa had been in this torn-up London a matter of weeks, and even she knew such a thing was idealistic at best; at worst, delusional. What was more, she thought with a flash of anger, Gedeon had gone about his grand plan without confiding in his lieutenants, the people who supported him; who had been doing his job in his absence, and could have managed a lot worse at it too.
Or had he? Ilsa cut her eyes across to Eliot. Is this what he had been hiding? Everyone seemed to think he knew more than he was letting on, but perhaps the secret he’d been keeping for Gedeon wasn’t about his disappearance at all.
Somehow the more Eliot showed her, the surer Ilsa was that there was more she couldn’t see. She only had a moment to study him before he glanced her way, and it was inconclusive. He was unsettled, but so were they all.
“Gedeon was the first to mention the amulet… as a tool… for their takeover. They think… he has it.”
“So they’re not his true allies,” said Hester, her tone screaming of long-suffering disapproval. Had Gedeon always been too trusting?
“Not all. I don’t know who.” He took several long, slow breaths and closed his eyes. “But his Whisperer… Fortunatae.”
Ilsa knew who. The Zoo had had a high-ranking Whisperer ally for years; an obvious choice. “Alitz.”
Incomprehension registered on Aelius’s haggard face before he let out a long sigh and fell unconscious.
“That’s why she’s been waiting,” said Ilsa to the room. “She ain’t found the amulet here so she needs to see what Gedeon does.”
“The closer he gets, the more danger he is in,” said Oren, almost to himself.
“Hester, we have to do something,” said Cassia. “We can’t keep trying to keep this quiet.”
Eliot – ever hovering at the periphery – stepped forward and addressed Hester. “Gather the wolves. Let Ilsa tell them everything she’s learned of Gedeon’s movements and have them try to track him. They know their missing pack members. They’ll know how they think.”
Cassia made an exasperated noise. “We’ve already asked the wolves,” she said. “We exhausted all of our leads in a day, or don’t you remember?”
“But now we know what he’s seeking,” said Oren, his voice soft, “and perhaps where to find it.”
Fyfe shook his head. “The amulet isn’t here, Oren. I’ve been looking but—”
“No, not here,” said Oren, toying with his glasses. He turned to Ilsa. Something in his gaze stirred unease deep
