Before she could, a flash of movement over Blade’s shoulder along the roof line caught her attention. The outline of a bearcat briefly appeared, followed by a pair of eyes that shone before disappearing again.
Night. Perfect timing as always.
The invisible unease over having lost Peter’s trail vanished. She could leave this in Night’s capable paws. In light of Blade’s revelations, it was probably for the best. Night was the better tracker. Add in the fact he was a master at moving undetected—Archie notwithstanding—and that he understood the tunnel’s layout better than anyone, having spent years down there after he’d awoken, and he was their best bet for finding and catching Peter.
Not wanting Blade to realize Night had just infiltrated his territory, Tate decided a misdirection was needed. “Sleepers. Sleepers. How long have I known this again?”
When all else fails, pretend to be dumb. It likely wouldn’t work but it usually frustrated her opponent enough that they lost all sense of reason.
Blade was made of sterner stuff than her normal victims. Instead of reacting to her provocation, he calmly finished cleaning his blade before tucking it into one of the many sheaths Tate knew he had hidden all over his body.
Being someone with an affinity for concealed blades herself, Tate didn’t find that strange. Actually, if she was being honest, the fact he was putting the blade away rather than taking out a second one was reassuring. It made it less likely he’d try to kill her.
“I’m going to assume it was when you entered Jaxon Kuno’s realm.”
Tate concealed her reaction, keeping her face carefully blank.
“And you didn’t tell anyone because one—you were hoping you were wrong. And two—you feared the city’s reaction if they knew.”
Unease rose inside Tate. Assassins made good killers because they understood the habits of their prey. It didn’t bode well that he could read her well enough to guess her motives so easily. It would make him a difficult opponent should they ever find themselves on separate sides of a fight.
Seeing he’d guessed right, Blade’s lips quirked. “I’ll inform my Night Lords of this new development. They’ll need to make different preparations in the event you’re right.”
“What will they do?” Tate asked, needing to know.
Blade didn’t answer for a long moment. “Nothing as bad as you’re imaging. We’ll do what we’ve always done—accept those we can and eliminate those who present a threat.”
There was a lot of room for gray area in that statement. The Night Lords weren’t in the habit of running a charity. They protected many in the Lower but it was because those people were useful to them. Not out of a sense of duty.
Sleepers who had useful abilities might find themselves in a cage of a different sort—and one with invisible bars was still a cage.
It wasn’t Tate’s preferred option, but for now it would have to do. For the determined, the courts wouldn’t be much of an impediment to finding freedom if they truly wished it. It might even be considered helpful since they’d have the chance to learn a little about how this world worked before stepping onto the surface.
Blade started to walk away before pausing. “Your minor goddess had a message she wanted me to give to you.”
“Ai?”
“She didn’t give me her name.”
There was only one person Tate could think of matching that title and who also had access to Blade.
“Black hair. Looks around the age of fifteen. About this high.” Tate held her hand up to chest level. “Kind of creepy?”
Blade inclined his chin. “That’s her.”
Strange. Ai didn’t usually reveal herself to others unless something was going on.
“In future, I’d appreciate if you could let her know I’m not your personal messenger,” Blade said.
Tate scoffed. “Yeah, because telling minor goddesses what to do is great for my continued existence.”
Granted, Tate’s memories told her Ai and the others like her weren’t technically gods, but considering they were nearly all powerful in their limited spaces, she figured they were close enough to be treated as such.
For Ai, her movements were limited to the tunnels. The others Tate had met were even more limited.
Tate didn’t know what had possessed Jax to create such powerful beings, but she thanked her lucky stars he’d had the foresight to restrict them in some ways.
“What did she have to say?” Tate asked, curious.
