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There would be no mercy.

CHAPTER 36

Melodie leanedback against the wall of Marchant’s house and dozed.

She had spent a half hour working through his papers, but she was bruised and exhausted. She refused to stay in the house to sleep, though. The smell of ingrained decay, as well as the blood Theo had spilled, chased her out into the cool air, and she’d eventually found a spot on the porch to rest for a bit.

“Do you want me to find you a blanket?”

She opened her eyes and saw Theo standing on the bottom step, looking up at her. He had washed himself off somewhere, perhaps at the water pump she’d noticed beside the stables, and his hair was spiky and wet.

She shook her head. “I don’t think anything here will smell clean enough.”

“I found some of your things in his workshop.” He lifted her pack, as well as a small cloak. “I think this is Vivi’s cloak. He must have stolen it from her.”

“It’s full of spell work,” Melodie said, voice a little husky with sleep. “It glows.”

“It does?” He jogged up the steps lightly and sat down shoulder to shoulder with her, handing her her things as he spread the cloak over them both.

“Hmm.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “It’s the same glow that’s on the shirt sleeves or collars of Kassia and Cervantes soldiers in the Illoa market square.” She closed her eyes again.

“It’s best you don’t mention that to anyone else,” he said, shifting to bring her closer against him.

“To protect the queen?” She nodded her head. “I know about keeping magical secrets.”

“Maybe you and the queen can have a chat,” Theo said.

“Mmm.” She barely registered his words.

He tightened his hold and she thought he might have kissed the top of her head as she drifted off.

It wasn’t a comfortable night, but she was warm under the cloak and with Theo’s body heat, and when the sun rose, she refused to move, enjoying the warmth of the first rays of light on her outstretched legs.

“I don’t want to go back in there.” She stretched out the kinks, and then looked over at Theo.

“The sooner we get Marchant’s things sorted, the sooner we can leave.” Theo lifted her up with him as he stood, and she had to stamp her feet to ease the pins and needles.

She hated the thought of going back inside, but he was right. And if the people Marchant had taken through the years could be found, she had a duty to get that information.

They made tea in Marchant’s kitchen and ate what they had left in their packs, then went back into the study to look it over more carefully in the light of day.

A tiny box on Marchant’s desk suddenly gave a light ting of sound, and Melodie was about to pick it up to study it, when Theo made a sound of outrage.

“Here’s a ledger.” He held up a big, hardbound book which he’d opened to a neat row of names and numbers.

Melodie studied it. “First name, age, type of magic, amount, destination.” She lifted her head. “He only gives the general area, not an exact address, or even who he sold the person to.”

“Covering himself and them, no doubt. I can’t think there would be a large number of people who had the funds or the inclination to enslave another, so he probably didn’t need to detail their name and address. The general area told him exactly who he meant.”

“There are over fifty names in this ledger.” Melodie’s hands shook as she set the book down. “Fifty people taken and sold.”

Theo looked down and pointed to the first date. “It goes back more than thirty years.”

Her father had tried to impress on her the horror of being forced to work for someone against her will, to keep her from exposing herself to danger, so she had imagined it many times. She didn’t need to think about the terrible life every name on this list endured.

“I wishIcould have killed him,” she said.

“You helped,” he said, brushing her cheek with his thumb.