Page 15 of A Steeping of Blood (Blood and Tea #2)

“You’re right,” Arthie said. “We can’t leave them.

But whether we’ll return them to White Roaring too—or simply free them from whatever confines they may be in—remains to be seen.

We need to be open to the possibility that they may not be as receptive as you think.

We don’t know what state they’re in.” She rose to her feet and pocketed the invitation.

“But if we’re to make it back in time for the tribute, we need to move quickly. We’ll need provisions, supplies—”

“And a ship?” Reni asked, his eyes as doleful as ever.

Arthie nodded. “A large one at that, if we might possibly bring the vampires back with us.”

“An EJC ship,” Matteo said with dark glee. “That fleet is full of the largest ships there are, and it’ll be the most poetic.”

“We’re not trying to make a statement,” Arthie said.

“Oh, we are,” Matteo countered. “She’s making plenty of her own, is she not?”

Arthie didn’t argue with that.

“An adventure!” Chester exclaimed. “Oh, I’m chuffed.”

“Save your chuffing. You’re not going,” Arthie said. “Ceylan is too far away, and as crucial as it is to bring back the Siwangs and the vampires, we’ll need to do far more to take down the Ram. Some of us will need to stay here.”

“That won’t be me,” Jin said, eager to see his parents.

“Or me,” Arthie said.

Jin didn’t look too happy about that, but he didn’t voice a protest. He knew Arthie needed to be there.

“I’ll stay,” Matteo said. “I never did grow sea legs.”

Flick crossed her arms. “Neither Arthie nor Jin have been vampires for very long. You’re going with them.”

“Are you ordering me, Flick?” Matteo asked in surprise. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

Flick ducked her head before straightening again.

She was ordering him. She didn’t yet know who she was, but she was getting there.

It felt as though she’d been running a jagged blade along the roots connecting her to her mother ever since she’d left, and until she was free of them, she wouldn’t be able to be herself.

“Which leaves me,” she said finally. “I’ll stay.”

Jin’s eyes snapped to hers, and it gave Flick a little thrill. I’ll miss you , she wanted to say, but didn’t know how in front of the others, so she kept her lips closed, breaking away from his gaze first.

“Oh, but Jin doesn’t like that,” Chester pointed out for them both.

Jin cracked a smile. “You’re breaking my heart, Felicity.”

“Good thing it doesn’t beat anymore,” Matteo quipped, wrinkling his nose when Opal tore at the fish and a piece landed beside his shiny shoes.

“Is that true?” Chester asked, aghast.

“Not if I drink some of his blood,” Jin said darkly. “Vampires can have a pulse if they drink enough.”

“Is that a threat, Casimir?” Matteo asked.

He was toying with Jin, Flick knew, but she’d seen them fight on the steps of Matteo’s house and wasn’t eager to witness that again.

She stepped closer to Arthie, as discreetly as she could.

The last thing Flick wanted was to make Matteo feel as though she was scared of him because she’d learned his secret.

She wasn’t scared of that in the slightest, but caution was a good thing, wasn’t it?

Not counting Chester and Felix, Flick was the only human among them.

Her pulse spiked, sending a rush of fear through her veins.

Did the others smell it in her blood? It was a startling thought, even if she wasn’t afraid of them.

How far she’d come, from having never seen a vampire to being involved in their affairs.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Arthie said over them, riffling through the ledger. “If we’re taking an EJC ship, Flick will need to stay regardless.”

“Why?” Reni asked, reaching carefully for the kitten’s tail as she thumped it on the floorboards.

“ Because it’s an EJC ship. They’ll know where their ships are at all times.

Flick will need to forge documents to make sure we don’t get caught,” Arthie said, shutting the ledger again.

“According to this, they send a particular line of ships for Ceylani routes, and several had departure dates as little as four days apart, which means it’s no more than a two-day journey each way, possibly shorter if the ship remains at port for maintenance.

” She made a face. “Or longer if we hit stormy waters. There’s no telling how long we’ll need on Ceylan itself, but here in Ettenia, the Ram will need to believe everything is running without a hitch. ”

“How will a piece of paper make up for a missing ship?” Chester asked, brow pinched.

“We’ve been importing tea for years,” Arthie said.

“We rarely saw superiors getting their shoes dirty at port. The laborers report to the foremen, the foremen report to the dockmasters, and on and on until the boss finally catches wind of it. Flick will only need to intercept messages before they get that far.”

“I can forge documents,” Flick said, “but if she’s storing vampires to ship them, she’s bound to notice they’re not being shipped.”

“Not unless she thinks they’re being shipped, while her dockworkers think she wants them to stay put,” Arthie said. “Again, a letter to each will do the trick.”

Flick released a careful breath. She hadn’t forged anything without the company of the Casimirs since the signet ring that resulted in her life falling apart.

This time, the Casimirs wouldn’t even be in the same country as her.

Opal bounded over and leaped into her lap again, smelling like a basket of fresh laundry, despite having chomped on a fish the past hour.

“Won’t there be vampires on the ship?” Reni asked.

“If the ship’s stocked, I’ll have it cleared,” Arthie said, as if she’d already considered the possibility and had figured out a way to avoid it.

“If they’re being treated like cargo, they’ll be returned to a warehouse.

We’ll tail them to whatever new warehouse they’ve been relocated to, and free all of them. ”

“That easy, eh?” Jin asked. “How are you going to have a stocked EJC ship cleared?”

Arthie prickled. “I’ll do my job; you do yours.” Before Jin could counter her, she continued. “But the EJC vampires will need to remain there until our return. I’m not risking our element of surprise.”

“Sidharth can handle it,” Matteo suggested. “We’ll put him in charge of them and tell him no movement until we return.”

“Good,” Arthie said. “Moving on. Chester, you and the boys will intercept the messages. Give them to Flick for the appropriate response. Flick, make sure you track down the foreman’s penmanship too.

Keep the ruse going for as long as you can, understand?

If you have to write letters yourself, do it. ”

“You trust me to?” Flick asked, surprised. She’d only ever forged and written what Arthie had dictated.

“Of course. In the meantime, keep studying the ledger for anything that might help us. On the tribute, other secrets, further plans.”

“Maybe even the real reason why she might be kidnapping humans off the streets,” Matteo suggested.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s solely for the reason of creating more chaos,” Jin said.

Arthie didn’t look so certain, and Flick marveled at how quickly Arthie had learned Flick’s mother.

“She’s desperate, but she’s not typically one to waste a resource.

Once we bring back Jin’s parents, the show will have only just begun.

Treat the Ram and Lady Linden as two separate people.

We’re going to bury them both so she has no way of clawing her way back up again. ”

Flick held back a smile. She was well aware Arthie was talking of her mother’s demise, but she sounded like herself again. Passionate. Whip-smart.

Alive.

“Make that three,” Arthie corrected with narrowed eyes. “The Ram has three parts: monarch, businesswoman, and lady. Each needs stifling, or she’ll assume duties as the other. Take down the Ram, and the EJC will still flourish. Take down the EJC, and the Ram will still rule.”

“How can we do that?” Matteo asked.

Arthie drummed her fingers on the crate.

“Ceylan is a centralized refueling port for much of the colonies. To get from Ettenia to wherever else, ships need to stop in Ceylan. I don’t yet know how we’ll smother EJC operations, but I’ll know it when I see it.

I’ll make sure I leave my mark. On the other hand, simply by removing the Siwangs from the island, we’ll put a dent in the Ram’s plans for weaponizing the vampires and expanding her colonies.

We also have her ledger, which we know she’s been fairly cross about since we stole it. ”

“That leaves the lady,” Flick said. My mother . “The one who revels at events like the tribute.”

Arthie’s head snapped up. “The one who cares for her image. That’s it. The Ram is inviting people across high society for the tribute, a select list of people she wants there to see her carefully curated image.”

“You want to unmask her,” Jin said, catching on begrudgingly.

“Precisely,” Arthie said.

“If she’s inviting a select list of people, I can add to it,” Flick said. “I know of several lords and ladies she’s not fond of who are equally not fond of her. I can make sure personalized invitations get in their hands.”

“Clever girl,” Jin said, and Flick cracked a shy smile.

“I can also scope out the location of the tribute while you’re away,” Flick suggested, even though every part of her wanted to do no such thing. “See if I can find anything on what she might truly be planning?”

Arthie shook her head. “Keep the ship’s ruse going, first and foremost. Forge the invites. Stay safe. I don’t want you dealing with your mother, all right?”

Flick bit her lip and nodded, pretending a wave of relief hadn’t just washed through her.

“Or,” Jin began, “we could wait until a ship is stocked and ready for Ceylan and sneak aboard it. It might mean waiting an extra day until it can set sail, but we’ll avoid stealing an entire EJC ship, and leaving Flick to keep the ruse.”

“I would think Flick can hold a ruse if it means yet another ship of vampires doesn’t get sent over,” Matteo said.

“He’s right,” Arthie said. “We don’t need to transport another load of vampires when we’re aiming for the opposite, and the tribute is in eight days. We don’t have time to spare. Flick?”

“What?” she asked. “Oh, yes, I agree.”

“It’s settled. Flick will stay behind. Matteo, Jin, and I leave for Ceylan.”

“When?” Jin asked.

Arthie looked among them. “Tomorrow. Matteo, escort everyone back to the Athereum. Jin, Flick, see what more you can find in the ledger about what’s happening on Ceylan.

There’s bound to be clues that will help us.

I’ll head to the docks now and secure our ship”—she gave Jin a pointed look—“an empty one.”

Flick opened the ledger and picked up her cipher. Instead of an influx of sorrow this time, it calmed her nerves. She had a task, she was a part of something again, and she would give the Casimirs her fullest.