Page 58 of The Unweaver

“Erik fuckin’ Verek.”

A laugh burst out of her, firing off like a gunshot. Laughter swelled and bubbled up like Verek’s cancer, rising into near hysterical cackling until her eyes leaked and her ribs spasmed and she couldn’t tell whether she was laughing or crying anymore. She cut off when Bane did something that shocked her.

He laughed.

A devious chuckle, ripe with dark humor, rumbled deep from his chest. The sound curled into her ears and around her heart. His own laugh cut off with a grimace as he clutched his bleeding side.

“You’re hurt.” She clambered to her knees and reached out to inspect the wound. “Should I bandage it?”

“Any excuse to take my shirt off again, eh?” The bastard actually grinned.

She sat back on her haunches with an unamused expression. “Fine. Bleed to death.”

Smiling, he offered her a cigarette. She placed it between her lips with a shaking, tarry hand. When the lighter’s flame leapt between their locked gazes, his irises were like spilled ink. Her eyes widened and he looked away.

They smoked in a silence too tense to be companionable and too charged to be awkward. Right now, killing Verek was a bitter triumph. But Cora knew that crippling regret waited around the corner.

Bane was watching her in dark wonder. “That was—”

“Monstrous?”

“Magnificent. How’d you do it?”

“I…” The awful energy spiked, and the cigarette unraveled in her hand. Seams splitting and paper decomposing, the tobacco fell to the floor like rotten snow. “I killed him with his death.”

He gazed at her, black tendrils retreating from the whites of his eyes. “Did you know you could do that?”

She glanced away, clenching her vile hands. “Yes.”

“With training, you’ll be an unstoppable force.”

“That’s a funny way of pronouncing abomination.”

“Cora—”

“Something was off about Verek, don’t you think?” Avoiding his heavy stare, she wrapped her arms around her knees. “He acted like those humans in the cemetery.”

Bane blew out a breath. “Aye. Something is definitely afoot.”

She slumped back. Her tired mind couldn’t begin to process any of it. “What do we do now?”

“First thing is getting someone to clean up those bodies before curious eyes see them. What a morning, eh?” His blood-splattered face broke into an almost boyish grin. “When I said I’d be running Verek’s gang within a year, I didn’t think it’d be this one. And all thanks to you, my darling Necromancer.”

Warmth pooled in her belly at his soft words and softer smile. Catching herself before she fell into his endless eyes,she dropped her gaze, tracing the hard line of his jaw as his expression sobered.

“Well. There are plans to speed up. No time to waste.” He rose to his feet and swayed, grabbing the wall.

Cora rushed up to steady him. “Maybe stop bleeding first, scheming second?”

“But—”

“Don’t be a fucking idiot,” she said, and he huffed a laugh. “I’ll fetch the bandages.”

He sagged against the wall. “That’d be grand.”

Chapter 16. Bottomless Well of Horrors

In the span of a few days, Cora had been shot at, choked, and ambushed several times over. But waking in a soft bed to a new view of London each morning, she had to admit that working for the Realmwalker had its perks.

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