Three circles. I’d seen this pattern before.
I lunged for the drawer where I’d hidden Vitoria’s daggers, pulling them out with shaking hands. There, engraved on the blade. Three circles.
Except when I rotated the dagger, tilted it to catch the light differently, hilt up instead of down...
Not circles.
Letters.
DeC.
“Oh my Furies,” I breathed.
“What?” Pip flew closer, trying to see. “What is it?”
“We need Lucy. Now.”
“But she’s sleeping?—”
“Now, Pip. Let’s go.”
Lucette answered her door looking like she was ready to commit murder, her hair sticking up at odd angles and her eyes barely open. “This better be good.”
“It is.” I held up the dagger and the talisman. “Look.”
Her eyes focused immediately, all traces of sleep vanishing. She took both items, examining them with the kind of intensity that made her so damn good at everything she did.
“DeC,” she said finally.
“We wrote it off, but Vitoria had it engraved on her weapons for some reason. The heretics are carrying them as talismans.” I looked at her. “What does that mean?”
Lucy was quiet for a long moment, her mind clearly working through possibilities at speeds I couldn’t match. Then her eyes widened.
“We need to get to Thistle and Thorn.”
“Now? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Now.” She was already pulling on clothes, moving with the kind of urgency that made my heart race. “If I’m right about this, we can’t wait until morning.”
“What about the others?” Pip asked, racing down the hall.
I couldn’t tell them Wickett needed rest without explaining everything. Instead, I said, “We’ll be right back. Someone in this group should sleep.”
“The hunters won’t like us leaving without permission,” Pip pointed out.
I thought about Wickett bleeding in a storage room because he’d refused to betray Jorn. Thought about Tiberius’s casual cruelty, his willingness to hurt his own son for information. The way he’d kept us so close.
“I no longer give a fuck about what that man has to say about what I can and cannot do.”
Lucy grinned, sharp and dangerous. “Finally. That’s the spirit. I’ve been waiting for a little unauthorized investigation.”
We made it three blocks before Si alerted us, his sharp whistle from the sky unmistakable. Within minutes, hunters showed up. Two of them, keeping pace fifty feet behind. Not even trying to hide. But these days, two felt like an easy win.
“We’ve got shadows,” I muttered.
Lucy didn’t slow down. “Let them follow. We’re not doing anything illegal.”
“Yet,” Pip added helpfully.
