If only they knew,I think again, this time regarding Rirth. He doesn’t know my past history with Father Cullard. No one alive really does, except Cullard himself and a few others who are now lost to me, such as Sister Cyprilis.
A disarming thought rides that notion shortly after, as I barrel into another district of Nuhav away from the tumult I’ve just left.
I should have killed Father Cullard when I had the chance.
Chapter 21
Sephania
I’m in a dour mood when I go to retrieve the Chained Sisters. There’s no talking to me without me snapping, and it’s not the Sisters’ fault.
First, it’s my mother, when she asks where they’ll be sleeping.
“Somewhere safe,” I say curtly. “That’s all you need, isn’t it?”
She’s taken aback at my surly tone.
Then it’s Keffa, who asks what specific amenities they’ll be receiving from the Grimsons. She has only heard vile things about the orphans and slavers in the Firehold, after all.
“Ask Antones. He’ll give you whatever you want. Anything is better than this, isn’t it?”
I finish every repugnant response with a rhetorical question. Keffa asks if I’m all right, what’s happened on the Floorboards, and I tell her to mind her business.
It’s a shameful response to my mother and her lover, and they don’t deserve it. I can’t feel awful about it in the moment, however, because Father Cullard’s words still hang in my mind like creeping vines. Blinding me to everything around me—even to the goodness of my recent frolicking with Vallan and Garroway that had lifted my spirits so nicely.
There’s nothing like an awful memory to spiral you back into the pits of despair.Cullard is the worst offender of them all, and he has a growing flock of new parishioners eating out of his palm, ready to wage war on other humans to meet whatever sick purposes he has.
My awful mood isn’t just reserved for Jinneth and Iron Sister Keffa. The entire Chained Sisters gets my wrath, however undeserving of it they are. As the girls hurry to pack what little things they have to make the trek across the city, I chide them. “We must be on the streets while it’s still light out so the vampires don’t get you! Hurry up and let’s get going!”
They run to and fro in the basement, and still I don’t think they’re moving fast enough.
It isn’t until I feel a cold hand on my shoulder, making me hiss and my body stiffen, that I look over and see Sister Cyprilis frowning at me. “Do you wish to make an enemy of the very girls who have always been on your side, Sister Sephania?” she asks in her whispery voice.
“No,” I snap. “Of course not.”
“Then perhaps you should give them some grace?”
Grace? “What would you know about grace, Cy? It’syour kindI’m trying to protect them from.”
Her shoulders slump and she nods slowly before shuffling away.
Finally, my wretchedness dawns on me, realizing that if this madwoman vampiress is the voice of reason here, showing me the error of my ways, then I am truly in the wrong and acting like a stone-cold bitch.
I open my mouth to try and apologize, but all that comes out is a croak, and then she’s gone.
We finally leave Kep’s underground hovel as the sun is beginning to set. I’m angry it’s taken so long, trying to contain my resentment because I know the Chained Sisters aren’t the cause of my rage. Not by a long shot.
We emerge out of the den in a flurry of rustling robes, long sloshing hair, and hurrying feet. Bystanders on the streets gawk as two dozen girls and women flood out of the residence beneath Kep’s storage facility. I can only assume what the citizens think,that we’re sex slaves on the loose, and Kep is the biggest demon in Nuhav.
I cringe, noticing the eyes turn from widened aspects to narrowed, angry visages. Not at us, but what we potentially represent.
Then the first words fly in the night from a stranger, “These poor lasses! Archpriest Cullard was right, we can’t trust our own people! Someone help them.”
A crowd descends on us.
Fuck.I take to the front, Jinneth beside me, Keffa using a cane to prevent people from getting too close.
“No, it’s not what you think!” I yell as the onlookers ambush us with niceties and proffered alms. I need to put a stop to it before the rumors can fly around the town. “Kep isn’t the bad guy!”