Page 58 of House of Dusk
“You can tell me what you do for the Heron.”
Melita leaned back against the couch, folding her hands together in her lap. “That is a dangerous question.”
“As dangerous as an assassination attempt?”
The Queen of Swarms was silent for a long moment. “Mm. Quite possibly.” She narrowed her gaze at Sinoe. “What do you plan to do with this information?”
Sinoe hesitated, glancing to Yeneris. A questioning look, as if she actually wanted her opinion. Or her help. As if they were...partners.
Yeneris took a breath to quiet the thrum of her pulse. Best not to commit. “That depends on what it is.”
Melita gave a wry smile. “I see. In that case...” She pursed her lips, then gave a small nod. “Bodies.”
“Bodies?” Sinoe repeated. “You mean you kill people for him?”
“No.” A strange look passed over Melita’s face. “He wants bodies. Dead bodies.”
Prickles flickered over Yeneris’s skin. “Why?”
Melita shrugged. “I didn’t ask. It’s not my business.”
“But acquiring dead bodies is?” asked Sinoe. “Where did you get them?”
“In my line of work, we do occasionally find ourselves in the possession of corpses,” said Melita. “And there are always folk who die with no kin to pay the grave-tenders for proper funerary rites.”
“So you step in and pay the grave-tenders for their bodies. And then what?”
“I have someone deliver them.”
“What, like a load of cabbages to market?” Sinoe’s lip curled. “How many?”
“Roughly four dozen in the past year.” Melita took a sip of tea. The scent of honey was thick in the air. It had been sweet, before, but now it turned Yeneris’s stomach. She thought of the ghouls in the necropolis. If the grave-tenders were holding bodies for Lacheron, if they had not been given proper rites, it might explain why they had become ghouls. Yeneris was no expert, but from the stories she’d heard, that was how ghouls came to be. If a demon from the underworld found a spirit that was weak enough—as one deprived of the rites would be—they could consume it, opening a sort of doorway into the spirit’s corpse and allowing the demon to inhabit it.
Which meant there might be four dozen other ghouls out there, somewhere.
“Where?” Yeneris asked. “Where do you deliver them?”
Melita tapped a finger against her cup. “I’m afraid I can’t share that. It’s risk enough to tell you this much.”
“Somewhere in the city?” Sinoe uncurled her legs, leaning forward beseechingly. “I know you’re a thief lord, I know you’ve probably done all sorts of wicked things, so maybe this is just all part of a normal day’s work for you, but this is...very important. You must have heard about the skotoi at the city necropolis?”
Melita nodded grudgingly. “Yes.”
“The Fates are trying to warn us,” said Sinoe. “Something terrible is coming. If Lacheron is part of it—if he’s using it for his own gain—then I need to know.”
Silence. A lump filled Yeneris’s throat. Then finally Melita spoke. “Six went to the Heron’s workshop, in the palace. The rest were to be taken north, into the mountains. My people left them at the drop-off, and that’s all I know.”
Sinoe sat back, her brow furrowed. “Thank you.”
Melita shrugged. “I owed you a debt. That debt is now repaid.”
“Then we should go,” said Yeneris. She was itchy to get Sinoe out of this place. Melita had treated them fairly so far, but best not to press the limits of the woman’s sense of honor. She was still a criminal who had been willing to steal corpses. And to create them.
“Indeed.” Melita smiled. “I’m sure Hierax would be...displeased to discover his sibyl was missing. He must value you highly.”
Sinoe’s jaw tightened. “He values his sibyl, yes.”
“A shame,” said Melita, taking another of the cakes. “I could use such wisdom to guide my business. And I would pay quite handsomely for it.”
