Page 46 of The Unweaver

“Oh.” Anita seemed to remember Cora was there. “Sorry. About your brother and all.”

Cora let the condolences slide off her like rain on an oilskin. All anyone could seem to say about Teddy’s death was sorry. It didn’t change anything. “Please. Can you help him?”

Following Bane’s nod, the Sanguimancer knelt beside Teddy and passed her hands over his body. His blue-tinged skin paled as the blood froze in his veins. He looked even more lifeless. Anita shot Bane a worried look. “This what I think it is? Goddamn. The Profane Arts. This gotta do with the gang war?”

“I think not.”

“Can you sense what cursed him?” Cora asked, desperate.

The Sanguimancer closed her eyes and touched the corpse. Nothing happened. Her brows pinched together. “Huh. I can’t. Real powerful magic block all over the body. I can’t lift it or sense what’s under it. I preserved his blood, though, so he should keep for a few days. Best put him on ice. Oi, Dimitri!” Anita called out. “Dimi, we need you in here!”

Footsteps thudded nearer. A giant filled the doorway. His massive body was banded with muscles that strained against his aquamarine tunic. A heavy brow brooded over the slits of his eyes as he skimmed the room with the stoicism of an experienced killer.

“Dimitri Bocharov, this is— what’s your name, love? Right.Cora. She’s Teddy’s twin.”

“Er, hello.”

Dimitri’s large head swiveled to her. Dispassionate eyes flicked over her and away. “What happen?” he asked Bane in a thick Slavic accent, the tenor of his voice contrasting with his considerable bulk.

“We were attacked in a graveyard while— recovering Teddy’s body.”

“Who attack? Verek gang?”

“No one I recognized. Not mages. They would’ve— used magic to defend themselves. They were human.”

“They seemed bewitched,” Cora said, cautious in a room full of mages. “Like they were in a trance.”

Dimitri and Anita exchanged a look. The mages didn’t want to discuss business in front of the presumed human.

Bane tilted back his head and expelled a pained breath. “Human attackers, but unmistakable taint of the Profane. Not in Verek’s or— Edwina’s style.”

“But the crow—” Cora cut herself off with a glance at the others. A crow in a wintry cemetery might not be suspicious, but she knew it had been Owens. Conveying that would reveal too much, however.

“Who could’ve done it, Mal?” Anita said.

“I’ll entertain theories after I stop bleeding.”

“Savvy. I’ll fetch my kit. Dimi, freeze Teddy well and good, eh? Don’t worry, Teddy’s sister knows about us. Then you mind stuffing the stiff in the walk-in icebox? The one with the special lock.”

Water vapor shimmered into ice over Dimitri’s ham-sized fists. A Hydromancer. Bane must have stolen him from Tomas Ryba’s gang of water and air mages. Enormous hands crustedTeddy’s body in ice. While Cora couldn’t watch, she couldn’t help but hear the hiss and crackle of freezing flesh.

The giant scooped up Teddy’s body as if he weighed nothing and carried him away.

The bitter taste of loss rose in her throat. Cora wanted to chase after him. She’d only just gotten Teddy back. Part of him, at least. And now he was being taken away again. Taken into safety, she told herself, not quite believing it.

“Help me get Mal’s coat off, would you, love? Unless you got a weak constitution. Not gonna faint at a little blood, are you?”

Blood from the living was a pleasant change for a Necromancer. Not that Cora would admit that out loud. So far, Bane’s gang didn’t think she was a freak. Best not to spoil the illusion.

She stood beside them, towering over the Sanguimancer and twisting her hands. All that remained of the gloves she always wore were flecks of black fabric on graveyard dirt and drying blood. She felt like she was missing her skin. At least the necrotic veins had retreated.

“Blimey, you’ve got gams a mile long.” Anita whistled. “Some blokes at the Gilded Lily would’ve paid good bees and honey to have a go between ‘em.”

“Thanks?” Cora’s eyes dropped to her flower tattoo.

“Oh, I don’t do that kind of work no more. Not since Mal brought me on before the war. But I’ve been known to still throw an artery party.” Anita flashed a vulpine smile. “Got me a big bed upstairs with a handsome bloke tied to it. You as fun as your brother was, love?”

Cora stiffened. “Afraid not.”

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