“That doesn’t explain why Luca was in such a panic,” she muttered. “You’re sure nothing happened last night?”
I frowned, considering.
“I was with Jude, inside Harlowe, until nearly daybreak this morning,” I told her. “If anything out of the ordinary happened, I’m not aware of it.”
She nodded, though I noted she still didn’t seem convinced. I couldn’t blame her. Isla was as close to her cousins as I was to mine. If she truly believed Luca had some concern he wasn’t sharing, she was probably right, but I couldn’t concern myself with that now. I had other business to attend to.
Jude and I had managed to go over both journals with a fine tooth comb last night, matching dates and events along timelines we were able to generate with the help of both journals as well as other records of the era. Eximius’ madness had come on at the exact same time as the last uprising, the only one in our history that could be considered a success in any sense. The mentions of the necklace had begun to occur only in the second journal which began after a break of a few weeks after the first ended. When I’d read it at first, I hadn’t known what he was referring to since he’d called it ‘the jewel’ and I’d never seen it before. But now that I had access to Jude’s library and the necklace itself, we were able to connect the dots easily enough. Something had happened to Eximius of House Avus in thosefew weeks between his sane journal and his mad rantings and that something, we now believed, had everything to do with the necklace containing a voice claiming to be a god and where he got it.
It all seemed to be tied together somehow. Eximius, the journals, his madness, the necklace, the rebellion. There was something larger at play here. Something, I dare say, divine. But I didn’t have the slightest idea how to find out any more information than that. My only recourse, the only chance I had to discover more of the story which, it seemed, wasn’t recorded anywhere in this city, was to put that necklace on and ask the ‘god’ itself. The very idea made me shudder. I couldn’t help the fear that coursed through me when I thought about speaking to that deity again, when I considered the probability that I might go and lose my mind as thoroughly as my ancestor had, but this was important.
“Cleo is finding you some breakfast in the kitchen,” Pax said suddenly and I looked up to find myself already outside of my study, having left Isla in our room and gone off to start my work.
I nodded in thanks before striding into the office he stood outside of. He followed me in, leaving the door open behind us, presumably for Cleo.
“I expect my wife to let me sleep in like that butyou–” I began.
“You needed your rest,” Pax interrupted before I could properly scold him. “You can’t keep burning at both ends all hours of the day and night, Milo. You’ll wear yourself out and we need you at full functional capacity, especially now.”
I glanced up at the grim tone.
“Did something happen?” I asked him.
“Something did,” he replied, “but we’re not sure what.”
My brow furrowed in confusion as I reached my desk and glanced down at the papers arranged on top of it, the resource reports I’d requested and now had to review.
“What does that mean?” I asked when no further information was immediately forthcoming.
“There were…blood stains found outside the gates of the House of Harlowe this morning,” he announced and my gaze snapped up to him. “There had been an obvious attempt to clean them up but a member of the House noted the discoloration of the stone and the red-tinge accompanying it. We probably would have seen it too if we’d waited until sunrise to begin the journey home. It wasn’t there the previous evening but they found it this morning after we left.”
“Which means something happened while we were inside.”
Pax gave a firm nod. I blew out a breath, running a hand through my hair.
“Were the Guardians called?” I asked. “Do they have any leads? If someone is injured–”
“The Guardians claimed they couldn’t determine if the stain was blood or not and they left without even taking a report,” Pax grumbled and I raised a brow at the reaction.
“You think Viper is involved?”
“Who else could manage such a thorough cover up?”
“Not thorough enough if the House of Harlowe saw it from within their gates.”
Cleo entered at that moment bearing a tray of cut fruit, fried bacon, and a generous helping of eggs. I eyed the plate with a frown.
“Deanna set some aside for you,” she explained with a grin before setting the food on my desk and heading back toward the door, closing it behind her.
“All I’m saying is someone died outside those gates last night,” Pax argued the moment we were alone. “The size of the pool of blood that stained the stones was such that no one could have survived the loss of it. Harlowe states–”
Pax was interrupted by a loud crash when the door nearly came off its hinges slamming into the wall as a familiar Third Ringer came storming into the room.
“—can’t go in there!” Cleo was shouting after him, but Harrison didn’t so much as glance her way.
His face was contorted with a fury I’d never seen on him before as he crossed the room to slam a glowing blue necklace covered in blood onto my desk. I stared down at the object for a moment, my brain making the connections I’d been ignorant of all morning. I only had long enough to inhale before Harrison exploded.
“They have her,” he screamed, leaning over my desk until his face was inches from mine.
