Lux flinched, and so did Riselda. She’d nicked her. “Iwantyour answer.”
“The deed to Mothlock’s estate, Lucena.”
“Why? You cannot think to take over this place. It doesn’t need you here. The people nearby don’t need you here.”
“And yet, it shouldn’t be left with this degenerate society, should it? You witnessed the remains of Grimrooks in that garden.”
Lux’s grip softened without meaning. Her memories propelled her backward. To the day Riselda enacted the last portion of her terrible plan in Ghadra.
“You planned for us both not just to come here,” she murmured. “But to stay?”
“It’s ours.”
Lux stamped down the knowledge of their shared blood at once.No. Don’t think of it.Riselda’s goal could have been far more sinister, and while what Lux had said was true—those near Mothlock’s estate would not thrive with someone like Riselda at its helm—it must be better than the harvests that occurred here now.
Another problem for the future; she was collecting them expeditiously now.
“Go on, then,” said Lux, and stowed away her dagger.
“How kind,” replied Riselda with the barest bite.
The door pushed in.
Unlike the cavernous crypt far below, this high room didn’t flicker to light upon their entering. But there was something lit: A single lamp upon a desk.
And the room was aglow.
With a wide, glass-doored cabinet of lifeblood.
“We’ve found it,” breathed Lux—at the same moment Shaw gripped her around the arm and dragged her behind him.
She didn’t have time to question him or register the large contraption in the center of the circular room, when a new voice croaked, “Intru—”
An axe sank into the soft flesh of the person hunched over the bell pull; they hunched farther before slumping to the floor. A dark stain spread through the attendant’s clothing.
He hadn’t even protested.
“Riselda!” Lux hissed. “You could have knocked him unconscious instead of murdering him.”
“No, Lucena. You’re right. There is something wrong with their life force; we should cull them all.”
Shaw moved toward the body, his fingers pressing to the man’s wrinkled neck and coming away again. He was dead, Lux already knew. Shaw shoved his lids closed.
But she couldn’t help her curiosity. She stepped forward herself, and when her finger pressed to his eye, she searched. “He’s empty,” she said. Her glance strayed around the room.
More ornate cabinets enclosed with glass. Stacks of blank paper and ink. The contraption in the center, which must have been the printing press, was larger than she’d ever expected. But what caught her attention longest was the scratched cup and tin plate scattered beside the dead man, empty of all but crumbs. “They kept him up here.”
“And he more than likely managed to pull that rope,” said Shaw. “We need to leave.”
“I will have my deed first.” Riselda spun away from the gruesome scene she’d created and, without bothering to wipe her axe, replaced it within the confines of her cloak. She began pulling open drawers at random.
Shaw’s gaze found Lux’s, and she could see precisely what he thought.She cares for nothing but her own goals.
Lux glanced at the body and immediately regretted having done so. The seeping wound would no longer be contained by any fabric and now puddled on the stone floor. She flung her eyes away. To the pages splayed out beside the machine, the contraption prepared for more.
Her heart told her what it was before she saw it up close.
“Damnthem,” she growled when she neared.
