“It is due process, my lady.”
“And there’sformalwritten documentation for it?”
Rufus seems surprised by my questions but does not miss a beat. “Mr Kharkorous prefers it this way, but these papers are burned, and the files deleted at the end of each week by Mr Drakos himself.”
I’m stumped by this level of organisation. “What is the name of this beast?”
Rufus leans forwards and squints at the paper. I scan it quickly.Simon Clawson.My brows shoot up.
“A Clawson?”
“He used a pseudonym, of course, but we picked up on it quickly and proceeded to observe him as he moved around our warehouses.”
It’s Yeti who adds, “It’s common practice for the crime lords to plant spies in each other’s organisations. We weed them out, but they keep coming. We send ours; they send theirs, and on it goes.”
“So, we have spies at the Clawson House?” I ask carefully. Minnie goes still.
“I imagine we do,” Yeti says, glancing at Beak.
“Who?”
“Only Scythe would know that,” Beak says. “Only he knew I was a plant at Halfeather House.”
I quieten at this information, reading the formal lines of the paperwork. So clinical. So businesslike. “Hold off on this.” I slide the paper back across the table. “I’m not signing it.”
Rufus doesn’t reach for it. “My lady?—”
“My own execution was scheduled not all that long ago, or has everyone forgotten about that? I won’t sign this.”
Yeti shakes his head. “Every beast in the state will know about Scythe’s absence within days, Lia. You’re going to have a giant target on your back, and they’re all going to try their luck. Showing mercy will make you look weak.”
“I’ve always had a target on my back,” I say evenly. “And life is hardly a mercy. He’s my cousin once removed, did you know? Cassius Clawson was my mother’s mate.”
The table goes quiet, and I stare defiantly at them all, one at a time, until I get to Rufus. “I did not misspeak, Mr Rufus.”
He nods solemnly and takes back his paper. “As you say, Lady Boneweaver.”
“That will be all for today. I’ll expect your phone call tomorrow morning.”
Rufus hides whatever reaction he may have had, standing and bowing over his folder before Yeti leads him out. I sag in my seat, squeezing the bridge of my nose as the urge to burst out of this room tries to overwhelm me. What the fuck just happened?
Beak reminds me of his presence by clearing his throat. Sighing, I open my eyes. “I would like to ask everybody except Beak to leave the room, please.”
Minnie smiles kindly at me and rubs my shoulder in support as she gets up and leads her mates out. When they’ve all left, I turn to the American eagle. Beak has always been a handsome male with his dark blond spiky hair and big biceps. From the first moment I’d met him, I’d swooned over his frat boy charm. That had all faded since I met my mates of course, but he’d always been sincere with me.
“How much do you know?” I ask flatly.
“Scythe had a question for me a little while back,” Beak admits, sitting back in his chair. “Would I take a new regina, if I had the chance?” My fists tighten in my lap. “I was honest, and said I’d not considered it. Then he asked if it wereyou, would that change anything?” He looks back at me, dead in the eye. “And I said it would be a good way to spend the rest of my Goddess-forsaken life.”
I want to punch the seriousness off his face. When Scythe had revealed to me, down in the carpark of the Lily Institute, that he’d been thinking of leaving and swapping himself for Beak,I’d been so angry I’d shattered glass. “As I said before, my mates are not dead. Mates are notmusical chairsto be swapped and inserted in and out!”
“No, but your mates are not here,” Beak says, a hint of steel in his voice. “They are not here to protect their regina. To serve her.” There is a glint in his eye that I’ve never seen before. A fierce devotion that shone for a regina he once had and a great pain that nearly takes my breath away. “But I’m here. Without a regina. I want to help you. Let me.”
“They’re coming back,” I say quietly.
Beak takes a deep breath, putting his hands up in surrender. “And when they do, I’ll step back into the sidelines like I always have. But I’ve worked for Scythe, Lia. I know how things run. Same as Yeti.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose again, turning the enraged thoughts around. If I’m going to get through this, if I’m up against the nastiest beasts of this world, I need all the help I can get. Beak is a good eagle. I lower my hand. “We need to talk about boundaries, then,” I say firmly. “You follow my orders. You don’t try…You don’t try anything.”
