Dagger and Scythe

by Emilie Knight

  “Why did you choose to become an Incruentus Ferrum?”

  “To gloat over him.” Cross kicked her husband’s coffin. “For spite, I think. My life wasn’t kind, so I thought life-in-death would be. It’s not.”

  “You’re one of the happiest people I know,” he said, approaching her. “Is that all an act?”

  “No, no it isn’t.” Her eyes seemed to plead for understanding. “I am happy, but that need to be with my son has never left. I am happy on the surface, but deeper it’s…cold. I’m sorry if that doesn’t make sense.”

  “It’s fine,” Dagger said, staying by her. “If things were to change, say if Maniodes wasn’t in charge, would you still go grey?”

  “If seeing my son wasn’t enough, yes.” There was no hesitation in her voice.

  He wasn’t sure how to respond, so he let the moment hang.

  “Cross?” he said then.

  She looked up from her husband’s coffin.

  “Can I talk to you about Scythe?” he asked.

  “Of course,” she said surprised. “Are you two alright?”

  “I don’t know,” he confessed. “Things seemed to be fine. A little on edge, getting used to the whole idea of this, but we were managing.”

  “So what’s the problem?” she asked.

  “Well, at one point things were…getting exciting.” He looked up from his hands to see that she understood.

  She nodded for him to go on.

  “But then she pushed me away.”

  Cross took a moment to think, then said slowly, “When you say ‘exciting,’ do you mean for both of you or just you?”

  “Both of us,” he insisted. “She was passionate, seemed to pause, then panicked.”

  Cross sighed. “Scythe and I haven’t really talked much. She usually keeps to herself. The only thing I can think of is you frightened her, or reminded her of something frightening. I was always afraid of my husband, but he never let me push him off. Do you know anything about her mortal life?”

  “She never talks about it. I know her father was never kind. Don’t tell her we talked, okay? This doesn’t leave the crypt,” he said.

  “Of course, I’ll keep it secret. My only thoughts are she must have been attacked by her father. Maybe even raped.” Her eyes darkened at the thought.

  “She told me that didn’t happen, actually,” he clarified.

  “What, did you ask her?” Cross asked, taken aback.

  “Well, yes. She looked uneasy when we spent the night together in a mausoleum. I wanted to know she was okay. I was subtle about it,” he defended.

  “That’s good, I suppose,” Cross said, “but she could have been lying.”

  He hadn’t considered that. Given her actions, it made sense.

  “She seemed fine the next day. We had a whole conversation, and she was normal,” he added.

  “She could have been acting, though.” Cross grew quiet, as if not wanting to prove him wrong. “I always had to act like I was fine.”

  Dagger sighed. “Well, what do I do?’

  “Give her space to think,” Cross said. “See where things grow naturally, then go from there. Just don’t push her into anything she’s uncomfortable with.”

  Chapter 19

  Dagger and Cross shared opposite corners of the crypt for the day. Neither of them spoke much after dealing with the emotions from the last conversation. Cross had seemed to sleep well, but Dagger was restless.

  Pitch had run straight to him when he needed help, and now Cross confided her past to him. Both of them needed something from him, a kind of security. If he took over Skiachora, it would get worse. Comfort after a conversation was one thing, but once he was their king their expectations would rise.

  Scythe hadn’t seemed to recognize this. They were both tired of being overlooked, but Scythe wanted to cause anarchy. She was reckless to begin with, so what kind of queen would she be?

  They weren’t the only ones being overlooked by Maniodes, either. He wondered if there were others like Cross and Pitch. Would doing something as extreme as becoming king help them?

  He would listen to the others, like Cross, and take their well-being into account. They would work together to find a compromise. With a request like Cross’s though, she would choose death again in a heartbeat. Seeing her dead grey child wouldn’t stop her from wanting that. It would make her want to be with her son even more.

  Cross was still curled up asleep next to her crossbow when Dagger left. Being unable to sleep much the previous day let him wake up early to finish his job. The sun was only half set when he strode out of the spider goddess’s temple. The sky was a beautiful crimson as before, but Dagger had to shield his eyes from the light.

  The streets were more active at sunset, and Chalcis’s people traveled home after a productive day or left their homes to explore the city’s night life. Dagger avoided a horse drawing a white carriage as he crossed the cobblestone street. At the next corner, he turned toward Lapis Street, where Basil Paavo lived. He had no other leads. Dagger hoped the first person he asked directions for was kind, was in no mood to argue.

  The power of being hidden in plain sight was useful in a crowd, but it didn’t make him invisible or any less solid. As he turned the corner there was a gap in the buildings, allowing the last of the sun to surprise him. Shielding his eyes from its rays, he turned the last corner onto Lapis and barreled over another person.

  “Shit, I’m—” he was about to apologize when the shade let him see whom he’d knocked over. Marella sat on the ground with a small blue hat askew.

  “You!” She shouted, more surprised at seeing him than being almost run down, it seemed.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, trying to act casual. “The sun hit my eyes and I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you hurt?”

  He reached out a hand to help her up, but she refused it. She got to her feet, brushing her blue skirts aside angrily. Her eyes bored into him with rage hot enough to burn.

  “I thought you were going over the western mountains, Mr. Jason,” she accused.

  Dagger’s hand itched for his knife, but he stayed the urge to fix this problem the easy way.

  “I had to take a detour,” he said.

  Marella crossed her arms. “Chalcis is a long detour. Why not stop at the mountain border? Or the town just below it. That was closer.”

  “My horse was growing sick,” he lied. “I thought a larger city would have an animal physician.”

  “There happens to be a good one in that town; she’s a good friend of mine. I would refer you to her, but she might end up dead.”

  Dagger had to give the woman credit for bravery. Not many would confront someone they thought was a killer. He called it bravery, but stupidity was just as likely.

  “Look,” he sighed. “I’m sorry for knocking you over, but I am tired of your accusations.”

  He ignored whatever she was about to say and walked past her. She wasn’t having it. Marella grabbed his arm as he passed. He stopped more out of shock than from the physical force of it.

  “You murdered my sister, you fucking piece of—”

  Dagger cut off her words with a hand to her throat and pinned her back to the wall. He let up enough to allow her to breathe and leaned in. The fear showed behind the bravery now.

  “You stay away from me,” he said smoothly, making sure she heard every word. “Or you’ll end up like your precious sister.”

  He let her go, and she coughed. Marella stayed quiet, finally feeling the threat. He turned his back and left.

  “Guard!”

  Dagger turned back at her shout, knife in hand. He couldn’t remember when he’d unsheathed it.

  Marella had shouted to a man in green city armor on the other side of the street. Dagger hadn’t realized he was there.

  “Arrest that man for murder,” she pointed at Dagger, breaking the shadow trick for the guard. “He threatened me as well.”

  The guard saw Dagger and shouted for hi
m to stay put as the guard hurried across the street. Instead, Dagger ducked into the nearest alley. The sun had set now, casting perfect shadows into an alcove that held a door. It was only a stride away from the alley’s entrance, but Dagger stepped into it, pulling his cloak around him. He waited.

  The guard appeared in the entrance, and saw nothing but an empty alley. The shadow trick wasn’t completely broken, like it was for Marella, because Dagger hadn’t revealed himself directly to the guard. The guard glanced right over Dagger’s shadow and saw nothing.

  Marella appeared at the guard’s side. Dagger quickly hid behind the stone and listened. If she took one step into the alley she’d see him.

  “Lady Paavo, yes?” the guard asked Marella.

  “Yes,” she acknowledged, sounding distracted.

  Dagger cursed silently. Marella was probably related to his victim—again! He wondered if Maniodes had known this when he assigned the job, to make it more difficult for him.

  “Do you remember what the man looked like?” the guard asked.

  “He’s tall with black hair, black eyes as well. He was just here.”

  Dagger saw her foot stop just before his hiding place.

  “Let me walk you home, my lady,” the guard offered. “It’s growing late.”

  “But—”

  “We’ll find that man, I promise.”

  The guard sounded sincere. Dagger almost felt bad that he would fail in the promise. Luckily, Dagger’s features were too generic to be of any use to the guard.

  “But where the fuck did he go?!”

  “There are many places to hide in a city this big. He will be found and questioned.”

  “You don’t need to question him. I outright saw him.”

  Marella’s words faded in the distance, but her anger didn’t.

  Dagger waited a full fifteen minutes in the shadows. He would have to be careful around that guard now. If he was in a large-enough crowd, the guard would probably overlook him. if they crossed paths alone in the street, Dagger couldn’t be sure he would be dismissed.

  The sky was pleasantly dark when Dagger peeked out of the alley. The street wasn’t completely empty, but no one paid him any mind when he left the alley.

  A different guard was kind enough to point him in the right direction. Dagger had made up a story that Basil was a friend of his and Dagger wanted to surprise him. The guard was happy to help describe what the Paavo house looked like. Dagger followed the guard’s directions to the opposite end of Lapis Street.

  The Paavo house was grand. It towered three stories of white walls with a long courtyard. There was a tall stone fence ringing the property as well.

  Scythe stood against the stone wall. Dagger paused, surprised but grateful for the sight. He approached her, finally enjoying the night. Scythe looked up at the sound of his footsteps and smiled. It seemed genuine.

  “What are you doing here? I’m glad, given the night I’ve had so far,” he said. “How did you find me? And how did you find the Paavos’ house so fast? I couldn’t find it yesterday.”

  “I knew you were in Chalcis,” she shrugged. “Then I used your list of victims to narrow it down. I heard people talking about two murders last night. It wasn’t this man’s, so I knew you’d be here eventually.”

  “So, when you got bored with the research you came to visit?” He was only half-joking. Dagger wanted to talk more about their failed passions in the experiments chamber, but he followed Cross’s advice and didn’t.

  “Well, I did get bored, but that’s not why I left the library,” she explained. “Maniodes almost caught me.”

  “What?!”

  “He doesn’t know why I was really there,” she said quickly. “He walked in while I was reading, then ordered me to leave so he could meet with Phaos. I told him I was just reading old stories while I waited for you to come home,” she said.

  “So he didn’t suspect a thing?” he asked.

  “He thought it was odd that I was there in the first place, but no, he didn’t suspect anything.”

  “Thank the gods,” Dagger sighed.

  “Whom we’re trying to overthrow,” Scythe added.

  That raised a laugh out of Dagger, which he was thankful for. Pretty soon, people might be thanking or cursing their names in the same manner.

  “It is too risky, though,” Scythe said, bringing down the mood. “If he finds out what we’re trying to do, we’re dead. Looking for ideas right in front of him draws too much attention.”

  “You’re right, but there’s no other option.”

  “There might be,” Scythe said.

  Dagger waited for her to go on.

  “I met someone in the library when I first went there. His name is Axe, and he’s fed up with Maniodes’s way of doing things too.”

  “How so?”

  Before Scythe could answer, Dagger spotted the guard who was looking for him leave the Paavo house. The two of them stood by the gate that opened the courtyard to the street, and the guard was heading straight for them.

  “Hold on,” Dagger cut her off.

  “What?”

  Dagger took Scythe’s arm and hurried down the street, around the corner of the stone wall. Just as they were out of sight, the guard opened the gate and stepped through. Dagger leaned around the stone, watching as the guard walked away from their hiding place.

  “Who was that?” Scythe whispered, though she didn’t have to. She had peeked around Dagger’s shoulder to watch the guard as well.

  “A woman pointed me out to him,” Dagger explained. “Apparently, the girl I killed at the wedding was the sister of a woman who lives here. That woman saw me talking to her sister before she died and made the connection that I did it.”

  “And she lives here? What, do you have to kill her father now?”

  “No, I think it’s her uncle or grandfather. I met her father on the road too, and he has a different name. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

  “Don’t be so glum,” Scythe said. “It will be a challenge. More fun that way.”

  “Not if our lives are on the line. When that woman’s relative dies again, she’ll suspect me.”

  “But as long as she doesn’t see you we’re fine,” she argued.

  “I suppose.”

  “You worry too much.” Scythe stroked his arm. Heat trailed after her fingers like she was stoking a fire in him.

  “Come on,” she said, taking his hand. “I already know a way in.”

  Dagger followed Scythe to a smaller gate in the back of the property used by the servants.

  “These are usually locked,” Dagger said.

  “I stuck a rock in the way to keep it from closing behind the last person,” she said, opening the gate.

  “You wouldn’t happen to know which one is Basil, would you?” Dagger asked hopefully as they walked up the path to the house. “I still don’t know what he looks like.”

  “I don’t either,” Scythe admitted.

  “That’s alright,” he said. “More of a challenge.”

  Scythe’s smile was wicked.

  The servant’s door to the house was unlocked as well. Dagger went first, keeping an eye out for Marella. The kitchen they entered through was empty, but voices could be heard down the corridor. Dagger and Scythe passed through the kitchen and saw an archway on the left side of the corridor that opened to a parlor. A young serving girl holding an empty tray hurried past them back to the kitchens. The girl didn’t notice either of them as they kept close to the wall.

  Dagger moved to peer inside the archway. The voices were louder now, joined by the tapping of utensils on plates. The Paavo family was enjoying a late dinner, it seemed.

  “Wait.” Scythe caught Dagger before he could peek around the corner. “Let me look. That woman you mentioned won’t see me.”

  Dagger hadn’t thought of that and cursed himself. The two of them switched positions so Scythe was closer to the archway. She peered inside, and Dagger couldn’t help b
ut touch the small of her back as he waited. Scythe turned back at him briefly, a little surprised. He let go. He wanted to kiss her, hell he wanted more, but he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He did note that she didn’t look angry anymore.

  “What do you see?” he asked.

  “There’s four people eating,” she answered, “two men and two women.”

  “Is one of the women in a blue dress?”

  “The younger one is.”

  “That’s Marella, the woman who knows me. One of the men is probably her father, Thomas.”

  “She’s sitting with her back to us,” Scythe said. “The man she’s facing, then, might be her father, so he’s facing us.”

  “Does he have a beard with graying hair? He’s a stonemason, so his arms looked strong.”

  Scythe regarded him again, distracted. “Were you admiring a man’s biceps?”

  “Not as much as I’m admiring your backside right now. It was just a feature I noticed.”

  Scythe turned back into the dining room. “That is Thomas, then; the other man doesn’t have a beard. You know, now that you mention it, Thomas’s arms are impressive, along with those broad shoulders.”

  She was playing as they had before. He had to step lightly. Leaning this close to her, he noticed the scent of blood and jasmine. It made it harder to focus on the job.

  “You getting bored of me already?” he asked.

  “Don’t be jealous, dear. You’re the one who brought up the man’s biceps.” That lustful gleam was back.

  “Keep in mind,” he leaned in closer, his lips at her ear. “If we weren’t on probation, Thomas would be dead for drawing your eye.”

  “You are jealous.”

  “And you wouldn’t slaughter any woman who drew my eye?”

  “I probably would,” Scythe admitted.

  She was flirting again. He risked touching the small of her back.

  The scrape of chairs distracted them. The family had finished dinner and were about to come this way.

  “Back to the kitchen,” Scythe whispered.

  Dagger let Scythe go, and they hurried back.

  As Dagger watched from the kitchen, mostly hidden behind the door, Marella and a tall woman with pinned-up blond hair left the dining room and disappeared into the parlor. Once they were out of sight, Dagger and Scythe crept to the dining room archway again. Scythe watched the conversation between the men as Dagger kept watch outside as before. He listened to the conversation between the men, waiting for his moment.