“Then you’d already be married,” Jon rumbled.
Will just shook his head and kept talking with his eyes closed. “It’s not just Helena though. The morning after she and I returned, Johar claimed the Holy Family gave him some kind of…vision, about an ‘evil, magyk presence’ spreading through the city. Archbishop Piers is so sick and delirious that the Prince tricked him into affirming it. So…my father’s been using the Iron Fist against Nottingham’s people. It’s terrible, May. At first, it was just a curfew. They locked the city gates every night, to…‘keep the magyk out’, and to keep everyone in. But then, they started going door-to-door just…justtakingpeople, for no reason. Anyone who ‘shows signs of magyk influence’, but really it’s anyone who speaks out of turn, anyone different, anyone who doesn’t comply.”
“Taking them where?” I asked, horror curling like a venomous snake in my stomach.
“I don’t know. The same place they’ve taken others before. But that was anyone suspected of seeking out a fay bargain, or even going into the Arden without cause. It’s nothing compared to what they’re doing now. They’ve hung peoplein the square for heresy—men, women, all ages. And they’ve beaten people in the streets too. There was a-a little girl…” His voice broke and he stopped.
“How many?” I rasped.
“Dozens have disappeared,” Will said, brushing tears from his cheeks. “Thirteen killed so far.” I stood up a little unsteadily and walked over to the unoccupied window, feeling like I might vomit from the sheer weight of anguish. Outside, the drizzle of rain had turned into a soft, autumn downpour, the kind that was usually over as quickly as it had begun. I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweet, cool scent, but it offered little comfort as I turned back around to ask the question I’d been dreading.
“Locksley?”
The look on Will’s face told me everything I needed to know. My entire body felt like it was sinking through the earth and my knees began to tremble, but Devil quickly walked over and stood in front of me, pressing me up against the windowsill with his own body. He took my face between his hands and gently tilted it up.
“Look at me, May. Look at me. I willnotlet anything happen to your Abbey. I swear it.”
“What can you do alone?” I muttered. “There is no one to help Locksley or Nottingham now. Oberon and Titania certainly won’t.”
“We do not need them,” Devil said, kissing me on the forehead and then addressing Will over his shoulder. “What assistance can we give?”
Will’s eyes swept over us both, appearing only slightly surprised, then he cleared his throat.
“Gold. We need gold. There’s…a small network inside the city trying to get people out—anyone who might be vulnerable to the Iron Fist. Tuck helped start it, and he won’t let me get involved, but right now, they need money. Mostly to bribe the watchmen or other officials, and to pay the boatmen who smuggle people down the Channel. Locksley needs gold too.”
“Your father raised their taxes, just like he threatened to?” I asked.
Will nodded. “He’s been very…aggressive in his collections. Sissi is frightened, but she tries not to show it, of course.”
“I thought…I thought I could help them by leaving,” I said, dropping my head onto Devil’s shoulder. “But I should’ve known he wouldn’t fucking stop!” A burst of thorny shadows jumped from my hands and Will nearly fell backwards out of his chair.
Jon let out a booming laugh. “Itoldyou!”
Will glared at him and snapped, “It’s different when you actually see it happen, alright?”
I couldn’t help but smile, and took one more deep breath before rejoining them at the table. Devil stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders, pouring a wave of comforting heat over my skin.
“I’m afraid human gold is in short supply around the Arden,” said Aliena quietly. “Johar hasn’t sent any tax collectors or caravans to Achaia through the forest in quite some time. They all go on the Channel.”
“We have a small stash here,” Larch put in, “but nowhere near the amount you probably need.”
“Well, I happen to have some information about that,” Will said, with a slightly devious twinkle in his eye, “which is why I came to see you today.”
“Oh, you didn’tcomefor me?” Jon teased.
“Jon Lytle!” Devil barked, rolling his eyes. “Don’t you dare say another word, you mongrel.”
The bear-man chuckled and Will blushed again, then splayed his hands on the table.
“Joharissending a tax caravan through the Arden,” he said quietly. “I overheard him and my father talking to some of the ministers about it. Apparently, there have been pirate raids along the coast, so the latest collection going to Achaiahasto be taken by land. My father’s been training men for it at the edge of the forest—learning to use the trees as cover and things like that.”
“That’swhat they’ve been doing with that camp,” I muttered. “I knew it was nothing good.”
“Well…” Devil said slowly, “they’ve been working so hard. It would be bad manners to let all their effort go to waste.” His fireflies twirled around us both, as if dancing for joy at the prospect of a bloody highway robbery. Jon also looked far too eager, and I knew Will had come to the right people for this job, even if the idea of it made my stomach churn with nerves.
“When?” I asked quietly.
“Nine days,” Will said. “I can write down the details I heard, and try to get more. Justhalfthe money in that collection would help save dozens more families, and it would keep the Abbey afloat too.”
