Vi watched her go, grabbing the watch at her collarbone. The hairs on the back of her neck were on end. Her ears were filled with whispers and the sounds of distant drumming.
This was a moment fate shifted. Vi could feel it.
But had she changed the course of time for the better?
Chapter Twenty-Two
There wasthe small matter of procuring a corpse before dawn.
Vi made her way quickly back through the labyrinth of passageways. She trusted her instincts to lead her back and tried not to question too much. Questioning would make her pause, second-guess, and turn around or change course. Doing so would only waste time and get her lost.
Still, she breathed a sigh of relief when she emerged onto the top level of cells.
“Durroe sallvas tempre,” Vi whispered to mask her footsteps. She treaded lightly past the elderly guard and through the castle.
Out of the castle and across the drawbridge, Vi glanced at the horizon. The sky was still completely dark. She had a few hours before dawn, and before any suspicions could be raised.
Vi made her way through the city to the Cathedral of the Mother. Detached from the main building and off to the side was the city’s morgue, where all bodies were held ahead of Rites of Sunset. Bracing herself for the smell, Vi walked into the halls of death.
She was pleasantly surprised that it did not reek of decay. Instead, there was a chalky, herbaceous smell in the air. A Crone was stationed at a wide desk set in the center of the mostly empty, rectangular room. Behind her were rows of tables on which bodies were laid out. Over half of the tables were empty, but several had human-shaped figures underneath dark red cloths.
“Fiarum evantes,” the Crone murmured sleepily, bringing her milky eyes up to Vi.
“Kotun un nox,” Vi replied dutifully. “Crone, I fear my friend might have fallen today… Do you have any bodies here that have yet to be identified?”
The Crone lifted a gnarled finger, running it down the page of the open ledger before her. Vi was impressed her eyes could still see well enough to read at all, especially in the low light of the room. She tapped a few notes.
“Four are unidentified. Was it a man or a woman?”
“A woman.”
“Three, then.” The Crone pushed herself upward and Vi could hear the bones in her joints popping.
“Crone, please—” Vi rushed around the table, resting a hand lightly on the elderly woman’s back and holding out the other for support should she need it. “Could you tell me which they are? No need to trouble yourself.”
“If you don’t mind, sweet child?” The Crone gave her a smile. “That would be most kind.”
“I don’t mind at all. Which tables are they?”
“These.” The woman tapped the outlines of three tables in her ledger that corresponded with the back three on the right-hand side. The word “unknown” was scribbled by each of them.
“I’ll return promptly,” Vi said as the woman settled back into her chair.
The night was going well, almost too well. But given how it had started with the Knights of Jadar, Vi could use a few lucky breaks. In the back corner there were the three bodies. Vi peeled back the coverings of the first two—the third was far too short to be Zira.
Of the two remaining bodies, Vi decided on the woman on the right. Their builds were similar, and whatever misfortune had befallen her was gruesome enough to leave cuts over the majority of her face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered softly to the woman. “But this sacrifice is for all of us.”
Vi went back to a clerical table and grabbed a knife. As she cut the woman’s long hair to vaguely resemble Zira’s, Vi wondered who this person had been. Was she someone important? Or was she someone the world had long since overlooked?
Her heart ached. At the very least, this woman would have dozens mourning for her—even if those mourners were misinformed.
“Yargen bless you,” Vi murmured as she covered the body in the sheet once more and burned away the chunks hair in a flash of fire.
She went back to the Crone and informed her that the body was that of Zira Westwind—that the Empress herself would come to mourn for the loss of her friend and chief guard at sunset. The Crone took Vi at her word and scribbled in the ledger dutifully, even adding that the cause of death was an attack by the Knights of Jadar during guard duty. With that settled, Vi returned to the castle.
Fiera wouldn’t be up for a few more hours yet, and Vi didn’t feel the need to wake her. Nothing would change if Fiera found out her machinations a few hours later. And Vi could use the time to plan her next moves.
