“Dangerous for who?” the King asked.
“Yes, that is the question, Your Majesty.” Alensi bowed and went back to her shop.
Burned and buried children.
Yup, that did it.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Those motherfucking murderers!” the King snarled.
I was too busy sticking my head out of the window to acknowledge that he was correct. Angling my head toward our driver, I called out, “We need to get back to Katai's apartment.”
“Katai, sir?” the driver asked.
“Katai?” Gilhu, who was sitting beside the driver, turned to look at me. “Is Vasren in danger?”
“Yes!”
“Give me those!” Gilhu growled as he snatched the reins from the man.
The reins snapped, and the carriage raced down the street, out of the Jewelry District and toward a bad part of town where a human mastermind with enough kurline to blow up the city, was lying within the arms of one of the King's knights.
“But how would he bury himself?” the King asked.
Oh, how lovely. I didn't have to explain it all for once.
“He obviously had help,” I said.
“And the bomb? The one attached to him that almost killed him and Vasren?”
“A separate, handheld trigger would have given him complete control over when the bomb went off. He would have waited until Vasren tossed it away before he activated it. Katai was never in any danger.”
“What if you hadn't found him and dug him up?”
“He doubtless had backup plans.” I shook my head. “I suspected he was a criminal, but not Hallaxgral himself. Dear Gods, how did I miss it? I let him convince me of his innocence.”
“He convinced us all. Especially Vas.”
“And now, Sir Vasren is in danger. Because of—”
“Him,” the King cut me off and took my hand. “Because of Katai, not you.”
“I'm hoping Katai has enough affection for Vasren to not hurt him.”
“I don't think he will. Vasren has never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, and Hallaxgral has only taken vengeance on the guilty.”
“Except for the child.”
“Whose mother buried and burned other children alive.”
“Buried them alive. Just as the boy was nearly buried by sand. Do you think Lady Juva saw the connection?” I knew I would have, but most people didn't think like me. I needed Tor'rien to advise me.
“It doesn't matter,” he said. “Because you will find the proof of her crimes and arrest her, Claw Shinkai. She will pay for what she did.”
“You're right. Her and Rulli.”
“Rulli?”
