“Fell killed his own legion?” His voice was hoarse, as if he’d spent the last few days parched. He couldn’t understand what would make a captain attack his own guards.
“Yes,” Genna said. “His legion, the nomads, the Witch. Well, I thought he killed the Witch until—”
“Until someone started murdering guards.”
Genna nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
“I should have. But I thought if I told anyone, there would be nothing stopping Fell from killing me.”
Fell had always been a problem for him. But this was a whole new side to his fellow captain. A side that needed to be put in check.
“Sounds like there’s never been anything stopping him,” Nes murmured.
“You’re right,” Genna said. “Captain Fell is dangerous, and I was too naive—or too proud—to think his danger would ever come knocking on my door.”
Nes rose higher in her seat. “So what do we do? How do we get him to pay for his crimes?”
Toran sank lower. “We don’t.”
“Toran. This isn’t something to debate. He’s killed a lot of innocent people.” Nes waved a hand at Genna. “She was almost one of them!”
“Exactly. Genna is the only person who can accuse Fell of anything.”
“Then she comes forward. Tells everyone what she just told us. You can protect her.”
“If it gets him locked up for life,” Genna said, “I’ll do it.”
Nes’s eyes were shards of ice hovering over him as she said, “See?”
He curled a hand tight atop the table. “Genna can’t come forward,” he said quietly. “As far as anyone knows, Sergeant Genna Rizzo died in that well yesterday. What do you think will happen if she were to miraculously come back from the dead?”
Nes deflated in her seat, her understanding a thing he could inhale. “They wouldn’t listen to a word she said. They’d only see her survival as proof she’s the Witch.”
He lifted his fist and knocked it against his chin. “There’s only one way to get people to believe Genna’s story over Fell’s. We need to find the real Witch first.”
Nes grinned at him, the conviction in her smile like a sprouting weed. He struggled to hold his own against it.
“Then it’s a good thing we have a plan.”
27
Nes
Nes crouched on the roof of a nondescript building on the outer rim of the Ditch, her hood tucked low over her forehead, the ends of her cloak billowing around her ankles.
She had a new plan. And she hated it.
She didn’t like anything that involved Phineas. But their search for a large stash of magic in the city had been fruitless, and Phineas was the only person she knew who’d have what they needed. Even though his distillery had been raided, she knew he could replenish his magic stores quickly.
But to get him to give her some, she’d need something on him.
She stared at the letter Suri had slipped in her pocket days ago.
122 South Street, Wharf. Two times 24. I’ll be the one in red.
She’d long since memorized the message, but holding it in her hand made it feel more real. It gave her the tiniest bit of hope that, when it came to Phineas Wraw, something would finally work in her favor.
