“That’s going to stain, you know.” Camile kicked her feet from where she sat at the ticketing counter. “Their blood isn’t like ours.”
Andre looked at where the blood had spattered his trousers with a grimace. Leona smirked at how he could always forget that fact. Bringing the hand to his mouth, he took a timid lap of the blood.
“Hanging stars! You actually ate it!” Camile howled with laughter at Andre’s offended scowl.
“What did you think it would taste like?” Leona drawled, crossing over to the counter. A small woman quivered behind it, ordered in place by Camile. “Were you here when the King’s Riders fell?”
The woman blubbered for a minute before collecting her words. “I was not.” Leona sighed heavily and Camile swung her feet over the desk. The woman held up her hands, backing against the wall. “But I know what happened. The woman who works the desk on even numbered days of the month was here and she’s my friend and she told me everything. I’ll tell you what I know.”
Leona and Camile exchanged a look.
“Can’t we just kill her and be done with it?” Andre spoke in Royuk. “She’s clearly going to be useless.”
“Let her speak.” Leona stopped him with a palm. She spoke in Fenish so the gray woman would understand her calling off Andre.
“You’re too nice, Leona To.” Andre pouted against the wall. “You never let me have my fun.”
“I let you have too much fun,” she replied in Royuk. “Plus, you can kill her once we have the information we need.” Leona turned back to the woman, shifting her language again. Fenish was soft and delicate, just like the people who it originated from. “Now, what do you know?”
“A Dragon attacked the Riders.”
“Blue skin, orange hair?”
“I think so… He wore a hood, goggles, and mask. But that sounds right.” The woman’s heart raced so loudly, Leona could hear every beat. She was lying through her ugly flat teeth, but Leona knew the Dragon could only have been Cvareh.
“And he had people traveling with him. Tell me about them.”
“Two.” The woman nodded frantically. “A girl—a Raven—with a revolver. Standard issue for initiates in Dortam. I don’t know how she got it.”
That would be Florence. Leona kept her thoughts to herself. But the pasty little Mercury Town man’s information continued to hold up, affirming that the decision to barter with him was a wise one. “And the other?”
The Fenthri looked around nervously. Leona tilted her had to the side in interest. No matter how afraid of them she was, she was more afraid of uttering this one name.
“I can’t say for certain… But the rumor I heard is that it was the blight of New Dortam.”
“The blight of New Dortam?” Leona knew exactly who the woman spoke of, but she was going to make her say it. She wanted to watch this Fenthri squirm, to understand the root of the fear.
“The White Wraith.” The Fenthri’s eyes flicked around like beady little flies, as though the criminal could be summoned with just an utterance.
“Why do you think it was this…White Wraith?” Leona asked coyly. She had her own reasons to think it was the infamous organ thief. But she wanted to hear the woman’s logic.
“Three days ago, the harbor master reported a break in. A theft. He discovered the funds missing in the middle of the day, in broad daylight! Now the whispers from the station… everyone knows it must be the Wraith. I don’t know how he’s expanded his territory so widely, but we are all in danger if it is the case.”
“Do you fear the White Wraith?” Leona asked loudly.
“Everyone in Ter.5 does. And you should do the same. The Wraith is infamous for a—”
The woman gurgled blood from her flooding lungs. She looked down in shock. She never even saw Leona move over the counter to thrust her razor sharp claws into her chest. Leona leaned forward to whisper in the woman’s ear. “There is only one in this wide world whom you should truly fear. And that is your King.”
Leona held her hand in the woman’s chest cavity until the last muscle spasms faded from her heart. Withdrawing her hand, Leona wiped it on the woman’s shirt, taking a page out of Andre’s book. It worked to an extent, but she’d want to wash it sooner than later.
“Isn’t she cute when she defends her mate?” Camile teased to Andre.
“If only the Dono was here to witness it,” he joked back.
“Now, don’t be jealous. I would kill Fenthri for your honor too.” Leona grinned, flashing just enough of her teeth to caution them to tread lightly when it came to her fondness for their sovereign.
“I’m not sure if that’s really a compliment…” Andre folded his hands behind his head, falling into step with them.
“Given the high regard you hold Fenthri in,” Camile finished.
“But defend us to, hmm, a member of House Tam? Then maybe we’ll think you care.” The man grinned.
Leona laughed. “Your laziness knows no bounds. You just want me to fight your duels for you.”
“No one can tear out throats—” Camile started.