"He'll come. As furious as he is with me due to our involvement in his affairs, he won't risk offending Lynx by missing this. Even his priests and Guardians couldn’t save him from the combined wrath of two major Houses. He knows that."
"Is that what you're meeting with Raghnall about later this week? Combining forces? Do you think he'll side with us if Cosmo—"
"In time, boy. All will be discussed in time. This is neither the time nor place, however, as there are many eyes to watch and many ears to hear. Take me to the bench this way, if you please. I'll need to rest my weary bones for a moment. Ah, yes. That's better."
I frowned down at my grandmother as she settled onto the blue velvet cushions, rubbing her ancient knees.
"Grandmother, Olympia is gone," I told her.
"I know," she replied.
I blinked, caught off guard.
"You…know?" I repeated.
"She's where I sent her and where she needs to be," Nascha answered with a sigh, craning her neck back to peer up at the night sky. "Nothing to concern yourself with, Milo. Nothing at all."
"But she's meant to be in her room. You said—"
"Things have changed. She has her role to play. You have yours. Have you found anything yet?"
My shoulders slumped. This again.
"I'm trying," I told her. "I've read the first few passages half a million times. There's nothing there to indicate anything like what you say you're searching for. Truthfully, grandmother, I don't know that there's any useful information in the diary at all."
"There is," she replied.
I sighed. I was never going to win this debate. Nascha wasn't going to let me give up on that diary until I found something, even if I still didn't fully understand what I was even looking for in the first place.
"He's here," someone said behind me.
I turned to find Paxon watching us from the doorway to the little alcove I'd taken grandmother to rest. I didn't ask what he meant. I knew exactly who'd arrived a moment before I heard his booming voice from the hall beyond. Cosmo.
I whirled back to my grandmother in time to see the grim expression on her face as she sighed and rose to her feet again.
"Well," she announced with a tone of resignation, "let's greet the Vipers with clear minds and guarded hearts, shall we?"
Chapter Four
Olympia
Ishould have known Luca would skip the party.
Luckily, my former partner had never been the most observant, so I still had no trouble sneaking into his family home once all his aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings had vacated for the evening. After entering through the low windows of the basement where Raghnall kept all his best liquor, I'd wasted no time swiping a bottle and making my way through the dark crimson halls of House Lynx. I kept to the shadows, whiskey bottle dangling from my fingers.
I didn't take the first sip until I reached Raghnall's study. Running my fingers along the spines of books that clearly hadn't been opened in half a century, I tipped the bottle to my lips and took a deep drink. Setting it on the immaculately dusted bookshelf, I turned and headed for the desk.
Raghnall wasn't studious but he was meticulous. Every letter was folded neatly and stacked in designated piles as part of an organizational system I wasn't neurotic enough to understand. Three golden pens sat side by side, exactly a centimeter apart,and a crisp, clean notepad lay on the corner of the walnut desk, empty lines open to the recessed lighting above.
I poked and prodded the panels of the walls as I passed, leaning in close to examine anything that didn't appear to belong, but I found nothing as I approached the desk and, instead, looked down at the stationary arranged upon it. Perfect, immaculate, neat. The pride of House Lynx. I rolled my eyes and, grinning, turned the end of the left pen with one finger until it was only slightly askew. With a snort, I shook my head and turned around.
Behind me, against the deep burgundy walls, rested a painting in a golden filigree frame. I cocked my head to the side and examined the strange creature staring back at me. Olive eyes and pointed ears with black tufts shooting off the tips, the beast looked not unlike some of the stray cats I'd seen wandering around the lower levels. There was something fiercer to it, though, something more wild, primal.
Shrugging, I reached up and gripped the bottom corners of the frame in each hand. With a grunt, I lifted and eased it off the wall. It was heavy enough that I feared I might pull every muscle in my back as I lowered it down to the wall below despite the enhanced strength I’d earned for the last trial I’d completed. When I stood, however, I was greeted with the sight of exactly what I'd come looking for.
Nestled into the wall and hidden behind the painting sat a massive metal safe. So the rumors of Raghnall's greed were true. What was it he kept hidden away? What was he stockpiling to profit off of once the Vipers cast Sanctuary into turmoil after whipping up enough religious fervor to do so? I leaned in to peer down at the lock and frowned. A keypad. There was a code and I didn't know it.
I glanced back over my shoulder at the letters on his desk. Raghnall wasn't the brightest but he didn't strike me as dullenough to leave the passcode to his safe lying around in the very same room the safe occupied. Yet I didn't have time to search the rest of the house. Even if I had the time, I couldn’t be sure it would be written down anywhere at all. It would be a waste of my valuable time to search for something that may not exist. I still had one stop to make this evening.
