“Use?” Leena’s laugh sounded shrill even to her own ears. “Are you not working for Hargreaves and the Wake?”
“I’ve worked for them in the past, yes,” Orley replied. “It was I who told them about your abilities, and it was I who sent our ghost here to lead you on the hunt for the red diary.”
It was further confirmation for Leena: Lord Avon was never going to come.
Everything we’ve been through, coming to Weavingshaw—it has all been for naught.Leena’s chest was entirely hollow, as if her insides had been scooped out to fester outside her body.
“Do you want the red diary?” she asked dully.
All hopes of bargaining for their freedom were lost with the shake of Orley’s head. “I do not care for the diary. It is the Wake who want it.Iwantyou.”
Leena’s own lips curled in disgust. “What do you want from me?”
“Hargreaves agreed to deliver you to me once his business had been concluded, but I began to believe that he would do no such thing. Yet you are endlessly valuable,” Orley responded. “I neededyou to be outside of the Saint’s protection so that I might be able to act.” At her expression, he laughed. “I needed you to be desperate, and I believed being hunted from all sides would make youverydesperate.”
“Aye, the King’s army is approaching,” Mackenzie said, rapping on the doorframe with one large fist. “They’re not too far off. They will starve this town into submitting to the King’s will.” He flashed her another grin full of stolen gold. “It is truly your misfortune that the same day you leave Weavingshaw is the day for which the King’s soldiers had planned their siege.”
Leena stilled completely, her horrified eyes nearly too wide for her face.
“And I assume Lord Hargreaves is not far off,” Orley continued, sensing her fear and taking pleasure from it. Leena wondered if whatever the Wake wanted with her was better than whatever these three had planned. Lord Hargreaves could be bribed with the red diary. Orley could not.
“Choose wisely, dearie. I am your best option.” At her silence, Orley continued, his tone oily and persuasive. “All I want is to make a deal with you.”
“Why should I trust you?”
Orley threw a pointed glance at Bram’s collapsed form.
She stayed silent, her mind frantically debating the choices set in front of her.
“Can you believe it, Mackenzie?” Orley breathed, watching her with awe. “A vessel within a human. I never thought it possible.”
“How can you be sure?” Mackenzie asked, tilting his head at her with significantly less amazement.
“I have never beenmoresure.” Orley’s fascinated gaze had still not left Leena.
Burr looked between the two of them. “What’s a vessel?”
Leena jabbed her pistol in the air. “Answer him.”
“Apologies.” Orley bowed low. “But ever since Theodore told me that you could see past the veil of death, I haven’t been able to stopthinking about you.” He laughed when he saw repulsion twist her features. “Oh no,not like that.I’d never lower myself to a human. Lovely as you are.”
“What is a vessel?” Leena asked now, through gritted teeth.
“I am a demon and I am far from home, trapped in this world littered with humans for centuries.” Orley blinked, his eyes turning misty. Leena wanted to throttle him. “I want to return. But demons, unlike humans, cannot travel easily between worlds without a vessel.”
“Like a key,” Burr shouted, bouncing on his feet.
Orley snapped his fingers. “Exactly like a key. Your human Saints destroyed too many of them, and they are now hard to find, and exceedingly valuable. They take the form of objects. A pebble on a beach full of pebbles might be a vessel. A seed. A twig.”
She felt suddenly lightheaded. “And what does that have to do with me?”
“A vessel has possessed you. I’m not yet sure how or when, but that is why you are connected to the spirit world.” Orley smiled, showcasing surprisingly white and healthy teeth. “And it is why you will help me return to mine.”
Thatwas the reason her life had stagnated—because she was nothing more than a host for some sort of vessel?
The walls were closing in on her.
Every breath leaving her chest was a gasp.
