Page 99 of The Silent
“There was a woman. One of the untouchables. Two of our kind brought her to our brothers in the north. She was to be a gift for our father. They were only there for two days when they moved on. The brothers there said she killed one of them. He was bleeding from his ears. They said his mindexploded.”
“Where did they take her?” Leoasked.
“Idon’tknow.”
Niran’s hand clenchedagain.
“I don’t! She… she’s dangerous. We don’t want her here. We have a good relationship with thevillage.”
“Your ‘relationship’ is nothing more than a front,” Niran spat out. “You fool them into trusting you, then take their energy without their knowledge. You disgust me. You are a demon and an offense toheaven.”
“Most of them come willingly,” the Grigori said. “The girls like ourattentions.”
A movement from the corner made Leo turn. It was Sura. He wore an expression that Leo had never seen before. It was utterly cold and looked alien on the gentle man’s face. They’d left Sura, Rith, and Alyah to explore the temple complex, searching for any women or children found there. As far as Leo knew, they’d foundnothing.
“Sura?” Leo asked. “Did you findsomething?”
Silently, Sura walked to the Grigori Niran held, yanked his head forward, and pierced his spine with the silver knife he carried. Then he bent and plunged his knife into the back of the Grigori atLeo’sfeet.
The Grigori began to dissolve, but Sura turned without a word, shaking the gold dust from the edges of his trousers as heleftthem.
Leo watched silently, his eyes wide. Sura was usually the last to resort to violence, but he’d executed Arindam’s sons without aflinch.
Niran dusted off his hands and stepped back. “We weren’t going to get anything more from himanyway.”
“What was that?”Leosaid.
“Sura?” Niran sheathed his silver knives. “They were using the appearance of holiness to seduce the vulnerable. Women. Children. The elderly. Sura will nottolerateit.”
“I’ve neverseenhim…”
“What? Violent?” Niran shook his head. “He’s the most dangerous of all of us precisely because he is the last one who will ever losecontrol.”
Leaving the topic of Sura alone, Leo asked about the fractured information they’d gathered. “Brothers in the north, he said. Do you think he meansMandalay?”
“Possibly.”
They’d been slowly working their way west, following the voices Kyra heard to the hidden outposts and enclaves of Grigori in Arindam’sterritory.
“Grigori are everywhere in Mandalay,” Niran said. “It’s a stronghold for Arindam’s people, but it’s too crowded for theangel.”
“Most don’t like that muchcompany.”
“No. Arindam himself will likely be somewhere more secluded, if he’s at all the way Suraremembershim.”
“So do we go to Mandalayornot?”
Niran paused. “How far is Kyra’srangenow?”
“With the infusion she received from Ginny and my help, nearly two hundred kilometers if she’s rested andfocused.”
“We don’t have to push her. We’re two hundred fifty kilometers fromMandalaynow?”
“Yes, but the Grigori here said she was only at this place ‘in the north’ fortwodays.”
“Then we keep going west,” Niran said. “West and northfornow.”
“Fine.” Leo felt like they were on a wild-goose chase, but he didn’t know what other options they had. There was little to no Irin presence in Myanmar, and the Irin scribes in northern India had no interest in the place. They didn’t have intelligence on the region other than what they could glean from the Grigori theyencountered.
