Page 89 of Reap & Sow

“Tempting…but the current surrounds aren’t my idea of romantic.” It was a weak protest at best.

“I stopped listening after tempting,” Kit murmured, bowing toward her—

“We need to go!”

He sighed against her brow. “Dir lhaesan van mir’hisak ek mir’tarez.”

A harsh, guttural language, but in Kit’s mouth it sounded almost sensual. “What does that mean?”

She didn’t expect a straight answer. Flushed when he whispered in her ear, “Your whim is my delight and my torture.”

“Oh.” Eda floundered. She was unused to being the subject of such unapologetic admiration. Wymond had been almost shy, but shy Kit was not. “We should…This way.”

She took the lead as they wound their way down the channel. Everything looked the same. Lich’s headquarters were somewhere beneath the streets of Crowgate, Eda knew, and they were in nearby Pitchford now. It was a good walk between the two. If she took a wrong turn, they could be circling forever like lost rats.

She heard them—the rats. Little squeaks and pattering feet over stone. In the dim shafts of light from an overhead grate, two of them scurried into view only to immediately turn and flee. The rodents of Blackbridge were more likely to bite you than not, in Eda’s experience, but perhaps they sensed the demon’s presence.

“They must know you can turn into a cat,” she joked, groping along the wall. “They obviously—”

Kit stopped her. “We have company.”

At first, she didn’t understand what he meant. There was nothing but the sloshing water and sounds of rodents. Then she heard it. Footsteps, echoing languidly in the dark. A moment later light appeared from a side passage ahead.

A familiar face peered at them, ghastly in the jaundiced glow of an oil lamp. His eyes struggled to focus on her. “Ah. Good t’ see you again, Miss Shaw.”

“Hillock?” She approached cautiously. “You knew we were coming?” Kit hovered so closely at her back she could’ve worn him as a coat.

“Lord Lich and yourself ’ave an accord, young lady. Since you’re here, I’ll take it you haven’t forgotten.”

“Not sure how I could. You’ve been watching me.”

“Hn.” The burly man’s eyes flickered to Kit. “You’ve been busy.”

“I want to talk to Mr. Lich about our agreement.”

Hillock gestured down the tunnel. “Then follow me.”

He led them along several routes until they finally came to the sprawling cavern with its moat of fresh water. Lich’s guildhall was unchanged: men taking bets, street children running to and fro. This time, Eda did not avoid their gaze. She didn’t feel quite so daunted with Kit beside her. He’d insisted on accompanying her, and now she was glad of it.

On the office balcony, Hillock swept aside the arras and bid them enter.

“Miss Shaw.” Severin Lich did not stand.

Eda took a seat. There was none for Kit, but he appeared content to simply hover like an ominous shadow. As Hillock closed the arras, another decorating the wall behind Lich stirred in the ensuring breeze. The one detailing a unicorn amidst a green forest. It was not fastened down like the others. Nothing, perhaps, but Eda’s mind latched onto it like a fishhook, oddly certain it wasn’t. She averted her gaze.

The crime lord puffed at his pipe. The room bloomed with a sweet, woodsy scent strong enough to choke on. “The mystery resident from Harecourt Road, I take it. Wolfram made a Pact after all.” Lich fixated upon Kit in a way that made her feel rather invisible. If he was unnerved by a demon in his office, he did not show it. “Fascinatin’, truly. I’ve never known your kind to care for our world beyond the years they can siphon from it. Yet here you are, a resident of twenty years. Mr. …?”

“Kit’rath.”

“No family name?”

Kit bared his teeth. “None I’d share with you.”

Lich was unruffled. “All right. My business isn’t with yerself, after all.” He looked again at Eda. “Seems you found the help you needed to set your brothers free, Miss Shaw. Well done. But that isn’t why you’re here.”

“I’m close to finding the Gateway. It’s here, in the inner city,” Eda said. “Once I know where, I need a way to alert you so that you might extract it before the bishop gets wind of anything.”

“Someone can be made available to you at the Knight and Knave, on Farthin’ Street. They will wait for word of the mirror’s location there. But you’ll need to be quick.”