Void Domain, Book 02 полностью

“Suit yourself.”

The three walked across the compound. Eva didn’t walk, carried in Arachne’s arms instead. It was slow going. Not only was the compound huge, but Nel didn’t have shoes either.

“So, augur, tell me about yourself. I’d like to know just who you are, if you’re going to be hanging around my compound.”

“I–Yes, of course. Um,” she stalled, drawing out a long hum. “I don’t know what else to say. I’m an augur. I was made into one last May.”

“Made? Were you human before?”

She glared for a brief moment before seeming to realize what she was doing. In a very neutral tone, Nel said, “I am still human.”

Arachne turned her head, grinning at her. “Most humans I’ve met only have two eyes.”

The nun stumbled and immediately patted herself down. Eva couldn’t see her clothes clearly as they moved away from the women’s ward, but she assumed the nun was checking to see if any of her eyes were visible. “I did–There’s not–How?”

“When you were cowering on the ground like a pathetic–”

“Arachne, be polite for now.”

The demon gave a light growl, almost playful. “Your robe flipped up and I saw at least three on your leg.”

“She’s got far more than three. Maybe around fifty?” Eva hadn’t tried to count them all. “Some you wouldn’t see even if she was naked.”

Another stream of sputtering came out of the nun’s mouth. The last word was, once again, “how?”

“You’ve been watching me since November and you don’t know how I see?” Eva chuckled.

“You spread blood around in the air.”

“Half right.”

Zoe sped up to bring her in line with Arachne. “Half right?”

“I can see circulatory systems. And her system,” Eva pointed at the nun, “is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” There was a slight pause before Eva added, “and I’ve seen Arachne’s circulatory system.

“The eyes all move around while her capillaries, veins, and arteries all disconnect and reconnect to keep them constantly attached. The way I see the skin split in front of and form up behind an eye as it moves is very disturbing.”

The nun hung her head. All of her eyes took on what Eva would consider to be a sad look. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to.”

“Why do you smell like incense?” Arachne asked.

“Incense, specifically frankincense, is a key component in helping to activate my far sight.”

“The real question you should be asking,” Zoe Baxter said, “is why is Sister Cross trying to kill one of her own nuns?”

The nun drooped her head to her chest. In doing so, she stumbled and almost completely fell to the ground.

She had better watch herself if she doesn’t want to fall down Ylva’s pit. Eva still had no idea what, if anything, was down there.

“I don’t know. Things just didn’t add up. She seemed to be using me as bait for the necromancers. She isolated me from the other sisters. I don’t think she wants word getting around about her daughter, or even about the ab–” All of her eyes flicked up to Eva before returning to their general scan of the prison walkways. “I mean, she wants to keep all the demon business quiet.

“Knowing everything I knew, I was a liability.”

“That seems cutthroat and underhanded for a member of the Elysium Sisters.”

“We get praise from the public for going after dangers like liches, necromancers, vampires, ghosts, and the like. No one really sees the inner workings of the order.”

“Why,” Eva asked, “does she want to keep ‘all the demon business’ quiet? I assume that refers to me and Arachne.”

At that, the nun shrugged. “Maybe she thinks it is the least she can do. You did save her daughter.”

Eva wanted to scoff at that and dismiss it. If that was all there was to it, Sister Cross should have considered that debt paid a long time ago. Eva knew she would have.

Instead, she went silent. The others followed suit until they reached the heavy iron doors leading into cell house two. Zoe decided to throw her two cents in.

“Be polite. Introduce yourself.”

The nun glanced up at the professor. “I’m Nel Stirling. I already–”

“Not to me,” Zoe said. She tilted her head towards the door. “To her.”

Nel threw a confused look towards Eva before nodding at Zoe.

“That reminds me,” Eva said, “don’t agree to anything you cannot personally deliver.”

“What?”

“Like land. You can’t give her land. Nothing around here is yours to give and I doubt a nun owns property. Just be careful about what you offer to do in exchange for staying. Anyway,” Eva clapped her hands together, “let’s meet Ylva.”

Without being asked, Arachne pulled open the door and prodded Nel inside with a few rapidly sprouted extra limbs. The nun gave a high-pitched shriek as she crossed the threshold, hopefully without any real time to consider what Eva just said.

If nothing else, Eva wanted the one who had been spying on her and nearly got her killed to put on a good show. That show would be watched closely. She didn’t want to accidentally give Ylva anything that Devon would object to.

“Sure you don’t want to come?” Eva asked Zoe.