“Good. I will see that Quinten is returned, alive, to you immediately after the gathering,” he said. “Look for him there.” He plucked up the token with long fingers.
“And my grandmother?”
“As long as our agreement stands, she’ll come to no harm. Helen will drive you back to the city. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Matilda Case.”
I walked out of the room, wanting to be as far away from him as quickly as I could. If he owned Boston Sue, who else did he control inside House Brown? I didn’t know who I could trust anymore.
Helen was on the other side of the door. “This way.”
We strode back to the same elevator.
“Why do you care for him?” Helen asked when we were alone.
“Quinten?” I asked. “He’s my brother.”
“You were made of dead people,” she said. “You aren’t really Dr. Case’s child. You aren’t really his sister. You’re nothing more than just a chunk of medical waste that didn’t have the good sense to die.”
I reached over and grabbed her wrist, squeezing just a little harder than necessary.
“Flesh and blood doesn’t have anything to do with family and belonging. Not that you would ever understand that. If you ever let your House hurt my family again or if Reeves Silver betrays me, I will reach down your throat and pull out your pretty guts. And I can make sure you feel every single second of it.”
Her eyes widened, then narrowed. She felt my hand on her arm. She’d feel anything I did to her.
I let go and we rode in silence back down to the car.
29
Alveré Case and his descendants swore to sacrifice everything to correct their mistakes.—2197
—from the journal of L.U.C.
Helen dropped me off a block away from Gray Towers.
I made my way down the sidewalk, watching for hostile movement.
When I was just a few feet away from the slick glass front of the building and the doors that I hoped would let me in, Neds shouldered out from a shadowed overhang and fell into step beside me.
“I’m angry and sick, Ned Harris,” I said. “You don’t want to talk to me.”
“Tilly,” Right Ned said. “Let me explain.”
“All right.” I stopped in the middle of the crowded street. More than one person cursed as they were forced to squeeze past us. “Explain to me why you lied to me for two years, ate my food, worked my land, and falsified our friendship so you could spy on me for House Silver.”
“It isn’t,” Right Ned said, his eyes tight with anger or pain. “That isn’t how it happened. I mean, it happened, but that’s not why. I answered your ad for House Silver. But I stayed—Iwantedto stay for you.”
“She won’t listen,” Left Ned said. “You’re a part of House Gray now, aren’t you, Matilda? Working your deals, playing the game. Just like a low-class citizen. Just like us. So before you go judging us off something some dick of a House said we did, get your facts, and get them straight.”
“Were you spying on me?”
“We were,” Right Ned said, putting his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “But we were trying to keep you safe. I understand if you won’t trust us. But we’ve never wanted you hurt or used or involved in this mess. We tried to do right by you, Tilly.”
“What about Quinten? You call that doing right by me?”
Right Ned frowned. “No. We know we failed you. But we’ll do what we can to fix that. To help him.”
If I told Neds what I’d done, the deal I’d made with House Silver, all bets and all favors would be off.
“I hate this,” I said. “I hate this place and I hate these people. You were right, Ned. I should have run when I had the chance. The things they do. The things you’ve done . . .”
