Page 20 of A Steeping of Blood (Blood and Tea #2)

ARTHIE

A fortress . Arthie could think of nothing else since Jin and Flick told her of their findings the night before. There was no such monstrosity here in Ettenia, in a place the Ram truly had dominion over.

“Are you sure you don’t want several more?

” Sidharth asked, dragging her back to the situation at hand.

They were nearing the docks. He’d lent them a carriage, making their long trek from the Athereum to the port easier without the fear of eyes tracking them.

“Athereum members are snobs, but they can hold their own in a fight.”

“The less people to account for, the better,” Matteo said with a shake of his head. “We’re trying to save enough vampires as it is. Just make sure your men are here to take the rescued vampires in when we arrive.”

A gloom drifted across the skies. Seagulls called in the distance, dockworkers shouted over the breeze, and the waves crashed against the shore with a zeal Arthie felt in her bones as she and the others neared.

She’d brought Chester and the boys too, in case they needed a distraction from the Horned Guard squadrons stationed at every bend, yawning and looking as though they wanted to be anywhere but near the chill of the sea.

“Once we’re through here, I want you back in the carriage with Sidharth, understood?” Arthie asked Chester, Reni, and Felix.

“I might—”

Arthie cut Chester off. “ Yes is the only appropriate answer when the Ram’s kidnapping humans off the streets and doing who knows what.”

Chester dropped his head, and Felix did the same beside him. “Yes, boss.”

The port was quieter than usual, with the bulk of people either huddled in their homes or rioting outside the Athereum. But business never stopped, crates shuffling to and fro, bills fluttering as they were rushed from hand to hand.

Arthie glanced at her pocket watch—it was nearing ten bells. The inspector would be arriving soon.

“Are you certain you don’t want to take the ledger with you?” Flick asked.

No, Arthie was not. She wanted to keep it close because her instinct, as always, was to trust no one but herself to keep anything safe.

But at some point in the past decade, Ceylan had become foreign and Ettenia her home.

She didn’t know what lay beyond these shores and didn’t want to risk taking it with them.

“You and Jin found everything you could on the trip ahead, didn’t you?”

“As much as we could,” Jin said. “Flick’s fast. I’m the one who needs to reference the cipher every three minutes.”

It wouldn’t be hard to find an entire fortress, or even a sanatorium within it. Flick had scoured the rest of the pages for more relating to it but found nothing.

“You know her words better than we do; keep at it. The ledger might not have anything on the tribute, but the vicennial has to have been in the works for longer,” Arthie said. “Find what you can. Every little bit will help.”

The Ram’s tribute was in seven days, and Arthie could only hope this voyage wouldn’t take that long. She wanted them back with enough time to form a plan, Jin’s parents in tow.

The pier was full of EJC ships readying to sail to every colony the Ram had her horns in, a reminder of how large and far her reach had become.

A reminder of what Arthie and the others were up against, with vastly fewer resources at hand.

She wasn’t wide-eyed and green. She knew putting an end to colonization was well-nigh impossible.

It was a monster in motion, gaining momentum for longer than she’d been alive, but that was it, wasn’t it?

She was alive now, alive forever, and she would tear down every pillar hoisting up that monster. She would watch it come crashing down, and let them struggle to rebuild with the fear that she might tear it down again. And she would. Gladly.

That began with rescuing Jin’s parents.

For Jin, of course. But like the ledger, snatching the Siwangs from the Ram’s clutches would be severing another limb from the masked monarch, and the EJC too, really. The vampires, her sleeping army, would be next. Soon, only Lady Linden would remain.

The five of them meandered through the hubbub. Jin waved away a newsboy. Arthie turned her nose from the vendors selling fresh fish to a sparse crowd, her gaze set on the ship in the distance, the one they’d sail to Ceylan. It loomed, almost ominous in front of the storm-battered sky.

“I hope we’re not intending to sail that beast on our own,” Matteo said.

“I thought you were a man of many talents,” Arthie said as the salty breeze greeted her.

Matteo’s jaw dropped open. “Are you flirting with me, darling?”

Jin flicked a brow. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Oh, they’re up all right.”

“That better not mean what I think it means.”

Matteo gave him a wink, green eyes dazzling in the meager light. Jin growled, and Arthie thought it was sweet that he believed she needed protecting. For someone dedicated to ignoring her, he still clutched his status as “elder brother” tight.

“I don’t know what that means,” Flick said, an innocent babe.

Nor did Arthie think she could explain it to her without Matteo’s smug smile spreading wider and Arthie’s recently acquired reserve curling her into a ball.

It was Sidharth who saved her the unease, nodding at a group of men waiting in the distance. “An undead crew, at Arthie’s behest.”

“Vampire sailors,” Jin said. Each of them carried an umbrella by their side. It was a droll look entirely.

Arthie nodded. “I’m not risking it with a ship full of starved vampires.”

She was aware she spoke of the starved vampires as though certain of their rescue. From the way Flick glanced at her, she could tell she thought the same.

“The crew belongs to that dignified fellow in the middle with the tricorn, goes by Silas Vane. Once a naval captain, now an Athereum official,” Sidharth said, his dark eyes on the man. “You can trust him.”

“I never knew the ships were so large,” Flick said as they drew closer.

“No better way to transport her stolen goods,” Jin said, grim.

Flick made a face as though she’d swallowed something sour.

The girl had been on her way to separating herself from her mother quite well, until they’d learned Lady Linden was the Ram.

In Arthie’s eyes, that should have only deepened the divide between them, but she supposed it would take time.

Arthie’s own parents had been dead for ten years and she still thought of them.

As promised, Willard was waiting near his office. He tipped his head when Arthie approached with Flick’s forged letter. He read it, and Arthie saw his lips purse as he did. He was impressed.

“The dockmaster’s just arrived,” he said, making no mention of the forged letter and assessing the others as he spoke. “I’ll hand this to him, convey that the ship is due for inspection, and clear the deck. Then you and I are finished.”

“I want the ship emptied too, if you recall. You’ll also put a hold on any and all documents pertaining to the vessel,” Arthie reminded him. “Send word to my colleague here, and do as she asks.”

He looked at Flick. “Her?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Arthie saw Jin stir, about to blow the entire operation to the sea before Matteo held him back with a subtle shift of his shoulder in front of him.

“Yes, her ,” Arthie said, surprising herself with the confidence she had in Flick.

“Very well,” Willard said, and nodded to his men who were waiting just out of earshot. They leaped to attention, quickly unwinding a length of bright rope to cordon off the pier.

Arthie pulled the others off to the shaded cover of freshly netted shipping crates.

“How did you get an inspector in your pocket?” Matteo asked. “They’re typically as clean as they come.”

“He is,” Arthie admitted. “But his son isn’t.”

“No one we need to take care of, is there?” Matteo asked, a flash of darkness zipping through his green gaze. He traced down her form with concern. And Arthie, well, Arthie looked away because she didn’t hate it.

“Shh,” Jin hissed. “The dockmaster.”

Arthie leaned close to the edge of the crates as the dockmaster shook Willard’s hand and gestured to the ship. “Apologies, inspector. This one’s already checked and approved.”

Willard nodded, touching the brim of his hat. “It’s dated a month ago, good sir. Policies are changing, and I’ve begun a series of exhaustive inspections after certain hooligans ran amuck a few weeks ago.”

The dockmaster laughed. “This is an EJC vessel, sir. I can assure you no one runs amuck.”

“I’m aware,” Willard replied, pulling out the folded document. The dockmaster scanned it, and Arthie saw his gaze drop to the bottom, where Flick’s forged signature burned bold with instructions to vacate the ship and berth until further notice. “By order of the Ram.”

The dockmaster scratched his scruff. “I’ll need to write to the head office.”

Willard paused and wet his lips. Arthie waited, jaw set. She was more than happy to expose the junior Otis, but she needed that ship.

“No need,” Willard finally said. “As part of the reworked policies, I will reach out to the EJC offices directly. Oh, and if you can sign here for me, that will cover it.”

“What am I signing?” the dockmaster asked, barely reading it over.

“Simply a disclosure saying that I informed you of the inspection and the next steps in the process.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the man scribbled his signature. It was a sham, more so Flick had his signature to add to her records, but also in part so the dockmaster would sleep easier knowing he’d signed away the responsibilities.

He gave Willard a tight smile. “Right, I’ll clear it out.”

“Much obliged,” said the inspector, and it wasn’t long before the dockmaster cleared both the ship and the pier, not noticing when one of Sidharth’s runners trailed the cargo route, scratching his scruff again when the inspector told him he would berth the ship elsewhere for the duration of the inspection.