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Beneath the smoky residue, he paled. His body quivered, muscles flinching across his shoulders as he struggled in vain against the zip ties on his wrists. “I don’t⁠—”

“Riiiight,” I interrupted. “You don’t know what I’m talking about.” I reached out to stroke Ini’s sleek, muscled shoulder. “Can you play a game, Ini? Show him what big, beautiful teeth you have.”

She yawned casually, showing not ram’s teeth inside her mouth but the massive canines and tearing teeth of a lion.

Charles whimpered. A soft, fragile sound that made both sphinxes quiver with anticipation. Ears perked, eyes bright, muscles bunching beneath their hides. Ready to attack.

“Despite seeing what happened to your queen yesterday with your own eyes, you chose to betray me, Charles.”

“No,” he gasped. “I would gladly assist House Isador, Your Majesty. In any way possible.”

“Except in regard to unraveling not just Rosalind’s but also Jeanne Viennois’ physical properties.”

His throat worked, small whimpers escaping his lips. His face reddened with exertion, twisting with a surprising amount of hatred. “You killed them. Both of them.”

“I did,” I replied evenly. “Their reign of agony and torture is over.”

“You know nothing of agony and torture. Nothing!” He howled the word, spittle flying from his lips. “You’re nothing but a worm among their greatness!” Then he shifted to French, screaming a long string of curses I didn’t need anyone to translate.

As Guillaume drew his sword, one of the Isador birds suddenly called me. Lucian. Both in his bond and as his bird in a shrill, lingering call that raised goose bumps on my arms. I lightly laid my left hand on Guillaume’s arm, stilling him from killing the human.

:I’m coming,: I told Lucian.

“Pretty sure they’re the ones with worms right now,” I said lightly, tipping my head. “Oh wait. No. There’s nothing left of them to decompose.” I stood with one last pet for each sphinx. “General Sekh, why don’t you and the sphinxes entertain our friend while I go check what Lucian found. Keep him alive. For now. Just in case he can provide some additional information that may prove useful.”

Sekh bowed low. “Our pleasure, Your Majesty.”

Charles threw himself toward me awkwardly.

I didn’t think he intended me any harm but rather to beg for mercy. Though it gave Ini the opportunity to take a bite of him. Nothing life threatening, just a chunk from the fleshy part of his biceps. He thrashed and tried to scurry backwards, but with his hands bound behind his back, he flopped ineffectually like the worm he compared me to.

Guillaume held his arm out to me, and I gave the bleeding, screaming human a wide berth. Rik stayed at my back as we made our way through the Valois mansion, following the tug in Lucian’s bond. Upstairs through the formal queen suites. Then up again through a narrower back staircase, clearly meant for less important individuals.

The third-floor hallways were narrow, dark, and cramped. Lew waited for us in a dim corner room, but I didn’t see Lucian. A hole opened in the ceiling, leading up into the attic space, with a thin folding set of steps. The hole was far too narrow for Rik to fit through, and I didn’t think the little steps would hold him.

“Lucian asked me to come help him access the attic,” Lew said. “Evidently he and Mallac spent a brief time confined up there before they were shipped to Louisiana.”

Sword tucked under one arm against his chest, Guillaume went up first. I could feel Itztli and Tlacel already up there, along with Lucian and Mallac’s birds.

“Go with her,” Rik told Lew as he picked me up and lifted me up toward the small opening. Guillaume grabbed my hands and easily lifted me up with him. Then Lew trotted up behind me. Rik wasn’t quite tall enough to see inside the hole, but he jumped up and grabbed the edge so he could stick his head through and watch me as long as possible.

A few beams of light filtered through the roof, but it was otherwise dark. Generally, Aima weren’t sensitive to temperature changes but it was stiflingly hot in the attic space. The air tasted old and dry like dust, sucking the moisture out of my sinuses and throat. Boards had been laid down across the rafters to create a perilous path toward what looked to be a solid brick wall that went up through the roof.

“Chimneys,” Guillaume said. “They run all the way up from the ground floor to the roof.”

I pierced my thumb for a drop of blood, just enough to create a glowing ball of fire to give us some light. Then I wished I couldn’t see. Old, rusted shackles and chains were screwed into the chimney wall.

:We were up here a few days, waiting for shipment to America.: Lucian’s scaly gray neck swayed back and forth like a swan. :Long enough to hear someone inside. He’s still there.:

“Goddess,” I breathed out. “Inside the chimney? All this time?”

Lew stepped around the brick wall, looking for a way inside. “Over here. There’s an access panel, probably to periodically clean out the creosote. Which is highly flammable, by the way, so be careful with your flame, my queen.”

The chimney walls formed a large brick rectangle in the center of the attic. I shifted my intention from fire to pure moonlight so I didn’t accidentally burn the house down before we found whoever might be trapped inside.

Itztli had shifted to his black dog, nose working along the bricks and the access panel. :No one’s been here for decades, my queen.:

“Can you smell someone inside? Is he still alive?”