Page 77 of Blood & Ash

“I suspected. The scar and the residue from Delphine’s ward matched the records, but suspicion wasn’t proof.”

“So you left to find paper while we buried three people.”

Sebastian accepted the blow without defending himself. “I went to determine whether the woman who killed them had any control over her actions and whether Arrow could be made to release her. I found one answer and not the other.”

Marcus looked at the nine-point seal. “He didn’t send her because he expected us to surrender.”

“No.” Sebastian moved to the map. “The sickness forced the pack, the coven, and the nest into the same room. Sable’s attack tested the nest’s defenses. The sabotage at the clinic tested Marcus’s priorities, and Arrow’s visit to Gabriel showed him exactly how the pack responds when its leadership is threatened.”

“He was mapping us,” Luca said.

“He was confirming a map he already possessed.” Sebastian pointed to Nightshade & Nettle, then the packhouse and the nest. “He now knows who moves first, who follows, and what each of us refuses to sacrifice.”

Marcus thought of Del’s name sealed beneath Arrow’s thumb. “What comes next?”

“Something that requires all three groups to be weakened or divided. The illness failed to do either.” Sebastian gathered the photograph and manifest but left them on the desk. “He will adjust.”

Luca turned from the window. “You’re telling Gabriel at dawn.”

“Yes.”

“Everything?”

Sebastian’s gaze moved to the photograph. “Everything I can prove.”

Luca stepped closer until only the desk separated them. “That’s not what I asked.”

Sebastian let the question stand. Then he looked at the two men who had spent decades accepting whatever fraction of the truth he chose to offer.

“Everything,” he said.

Marcus reached for his coat. The map, the manifest, and the photograph could wait until dawn. Delphine couldn’t.

“Where are you going?” Luca asked.

“To tell Del that Arrow’s work isn’t finished.” Marcus put on his coat and opened the door. “Then I’m going to ask her to the ball.”

Luca blinked. “Those subjects seem poorly matched.”

“It has been a difficult month.”

Marcus left before either man could answer. Sebastian’s boots didn’t follow him into the corridor, and for the first time in several nights, the nest no longer sounded empty.

Epilogue

Three Nights Later

The Victorian on Maple Street had green shutters, a ballroom built for another century, and too many windows for Marcus’s comfort. Brass lanterns filled the room with warm light. Music came from a piano near the eastern wall, the same melody he had heard being practiced from the packhouse porch.

Marcus stood just inside the ballroom with Del’s hand resting on his arm. She wore a dark green dress that left her shoulders bare and made the brown of her eyes appear warmer. The faint line across her palm was the only visible evidence of what had happened in the clinic.

“You’re counting exits,” she said.

“Seven.”

“There are six.”

“The kitchen connects to an exterior service passage.”