Before the interrogator could reply, a distantly familiar voice broke in.
“Kit Koesters?”
I twisted my head to see a figure standing in the doorway. She was taller than I remembered. Her red hair hung in a thick braid down to her waist, and her brown eyes were wide with surprise. A huge smile split her freckled face.
Relief washed over me. “Vi, you are a sight for sore eyes,” I said.
Violette Yost strode into the room with all the confidence of a woman in her own home. “And here I was thinking you were dead in a ditch somewhere. Where have you been all this time?”
The interrogator pushed up out of his chair and pointed at me with the knife. “Missus Yost, you know this man?”
She was already crouched, undoing the knots in the rope that bound my hands behind my back. “Didn’t he tell you? This is Vaughn Koesters’ prodigal son come back to the fold.” Pride hung heavy on her words, but pride was the furthest thing from what I felt when I heard them.
Once my hands were free, Violette levered me to my feet, then flung her arms around me in a crushing embrace. “It’s good to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back,” I lied. When she pulled away, Irubbed my sore wrists. “Actually, Vi, I arrived with another man, a recruit. I’d like to make sure he’s not been hurt.”
“Oh, that must be who they have down the hall.” She motioned to the man standing beside us. “Give Kit his things, Luca. I’ll take him from here.”
Luca drew his shoulders back, and his eyes narrowed. “Missus Yost, this is highly irregular. The Right Hand will want to know what this man’s intentions are. He said himself he’s been gone from here a long time, and Vaughn claimed to his death that he had no children.”
I bristled but did my best to keep my expression even as Luca continued.
“We really should verify?—”
Violette shook her head. “If Levitt takes issue with it, I will take full responsibility. I vouch for Kit, and I’ll vouch for his recruit as well.”
Levitt was Violette’s much more palatable twin brother. We’d been good friends in our youth. I had always hoped he’d made his way out after me, but clearly, he’d stayed. It was hard to picture him leading the cult after my father. They were starkly different people.
Violette beckoned to Luca again. “Mister Koesters’ things, please.”
Frowning, my captor sheathed my knife and handed it over. “His bag is being searched downstairs,” he said, clearly displeased with his authority being undermined.
“Thank you.” Violette slid her arm into the crook of my elbow and looked over at me. “Shall we go fetch your recruit? We’ll pick up your effects once we have him.”
Despite the urge to recoil from her touch, I forced myself to call up the air of indifference I used to hide behind as a teenager. Allies would be few inside these walls, and I couldn’t afford to offend my incidental savior.Besides, the sooner we retrieved Penny, the less likely he was to say something he shouldn’t.
I nodded in agreement. “Please.”
She led me out of the room and down a narrow hallway. “We have a lot to catch up on. I assume you’re here to finish your Oaths?”
“That’s the plan.”
She hugged my arm and smiled. “It’s about time.”
13
Penny
The woman with the sharp teeth scowled down at me where I knelt on the roughhewn floor. We were alone in a nondescript room with stone walls and not a stick of furniture. It looked enough like a prison cell that I glanced over my shoulder to try to see if the door through which we’d entered had bars.
Before I could see for myself, the woman’s hand shot out and caught me by the chin. She turned my face around and up to meet her gaze.
“What are the seven tenets of Eeus?” she asked, not for the first time.
I swallowed as tears pricked the corners of my eyes. “I don’t know.”
Kit and I had rehearsed many questions and answers when hypothesizing situations for our introduction to the Bone Men. This didn’t fit any of them.
