He pulled six vials of blood from the small hole—half black and the others red. “Or who gave it to her?” Aspen countered.
They looked like Sam’s vials.
Ronen glared at the blood in Aspen’s hands. Silent. Thinking.
“It’s not Sam,” I protested. “He’s done nothing but help us.”
“He’s the only one we know who has access to my blood,” Ronen said, then glanced at Aspen. “He also knew where we went in the early mornings.”
We?
“You think he told Ridigar where to attack?”
Attack? Ridigar? Early mornings?
I whipped my head toward Aspen. “You were there?” Then toward Ronen, my mouth gaping. “And you lied about it?”
“I never lied. Just withheld all the facts.”
“That makes it better?” I snapped.
Ronen sighed. “I was helping him for you, Hellion.”
My anger fizzled. How could I be mad at that?
“And we didn’t want the guardian bond to interfere with my progress,” Aspen added.
The rest of my fight left me.
“Okay. But there has to be another explanation for how Ridigar found you two. Maybe Anya saw it and told Ridigar somehow.”
“Maybe,” Ronen offered. “But it doesn’t explain how she got my blood.”
“Yes, but Sam would need your key, right?”
He nodded. “Unless he stole the spare from my room or Lucifer’s.”
“What about Cato? Would he have access to Lucifer’s room or his key? He had Tsal-mawet.” Which didn’t seem important until now. The last I remembered, Ronen had the blade after I gave it to him in the Tenebrous Kingdom.
“Lucifer demanded Tsal-mawet back after our unsanctioned mission. He could’ve given it to Cato for safekeeping until he needed it.”
Until my father decided to hand the reins over to Ronen and steal him away from me. Right.
“Does the librarian have motive?” Aspen asked as he reread Anya’s note. “Because the first place I’d go to seek information is the library.”
Ronen considered Aspen and the small paper in his grasp, then turned his calculating stare on me. “You said Cato’s been hiding information. Does any of it hint at or pertain to the infection?”
I thought back on all our interactions, all our conversations, and the instances where he wasn’t forthcoming. But none of them even remotely revolved around the infection. He hid information about my parents. Their secrets. He knew what my mom was hiding. He’d told me. Just like I had told him my mom wanted me to find Miriam. But never once had Cato guided me in that direction, and he seemed almost pleased when I’d failed. He didn’t even have a response to her prophecy, just skated over it like it didn’t matter.
Miriam was my answer.
“No. He’s only hidden the Unmaking Ceremony.” I glanced at Aspen, holding his gaze. “And things about our moms.”
His lips turned down for only a moment before understanding lit his face.
“What things about your mothers?” Ronen inquired slowly, peering between the two of us.
Mouse squeaks and the slow drip of water filled the silence as I gathered the courage to tell Ronen another secret.
