Page 40 of The Deathless One (The Gravesinger #1)

She stood there and watched them all leave, hardly able to believe that they were so willing to give up.

They had been so excited just moments before and then…

gone. Heart heavy, she waited until there were only a few people left, including the blonde who’d clambered down from the crate.

She stood there, her back to the leaving crowd, as she stared at the message on the wall.

Jessamine couldn’t help it.

She walked up to the woman and asked, “So you really believe she’s not dead?”

The woman was taller than her by quite a bit, and significantly more muscular.

Broad and strong, she glanced down at Jessamine and scoffed.

“Oh, this nonsense? No, don’t believe it for a second.

We wouldn’t have a new rush of infected every day if the princess were alive.

There’s hundreds of them down in the pits below the city where they’ve been dumping ’em.

The princess and her mother used to take care of us.

If she was still alive, one message wouldn’t be the only thing that was left.

I just had to keep everyone distracted while my boys pickpocketed the lot of those fools. Best check your pockets, dove.”

Her jaw dropping open, Jessamine quickly patted herself down and then swung her backpack around to look inside it. The bag of coins she kept near the top was missing.

“Wait,” she said, throwing the backpack over her shoulder and trailing after the woman. “My coins! You can’t just take them and leave like that. Give them back.”

“Not gonna happen. You best keep a better eye on them, yeah?”

“You just admitted to robbing me!” A dark rage rippled through her body, and for a moment she felt powerful, almost hungry for revenge.

But in a flash the woman whirled on her, grabbed her by the biceps, and tossed her against the wall.

Jessamine hit her head hard, and the cracking sound echoed in her skull for a few moments before she slid down onto her butt in the dirt.

The muscular blonde crouched in front of her with an expression that looked almost like pity.

“Listen, you seem new here. I know it’s hard to get used to the Factory District.

You’re going to get stolen from, roughed up, and someone as delicate as you is probably gonna die here.

Toughen up, or someone will take you out.

That’s the reality of living here. So no, you’re not getting your money back.

A pretty little thing like you will do well enough in a brothel, and you’ll make it back in a couple months.

” She tilted her head to the side and added, “Just make sure his cock isn’t too big. You’re a small one, dove.”

Jessamine watched the woman walk away, horrified at what had just happened.

But then again, before she’d been robbed and thrown against a wall, the woman had said kind things about Jessamine and her mother. The people still trusted her family to do the right thing.

One message wasn’t enough. She had to do more.

After getting to her feet, she wandered through the city until she could find another spot to write, somewhere others would see when they were walking home from the factories, but not as public as this one. No crowd would gather in front of this message, but word would still spread fast.

The same as last time, she found herself a bucket of rainwater and left a new message. A better one.

This city still breathes, and so do I , with the messy sketch of a butterfly at the end.

Stepping back, she eyed it with pleasure. Yes, this was perfect. There was no questioning who left this message. Who else would say such a thing?

She was the queen they were missing, and she was coming for them.

She would save this kingdom from the clutches of a man who wished he were worthy of the throne.

And if they didn’t see that, then she would force him to his knees.

Perhaps if they saw Leon begging at her feet, they would finally believe her.

She gathered her belongings and started down another alleyway. She just had to find Callum. That was all. Someone had to know something.

A group of men stood at the end of a nearby alley, smoking cigars that left plumes of white that clung to their massive forms. Glinting knives at their waists caught in the light.

They seemed a mite more clean than most of the people she’d seen thus far, as well.

She’d already learned this city was ruled by powerful people, so perhaps they would know enough.

Pulling her cloak up tight to her neck, she rounded her eyes and tried to look lost. Innocent.

She wasn’t threatening at all. If anything, she was a little girl who desperately needed their help.

She walked up and blurted, “Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you.

I’m looking for Callum Quen? Would you happen to know him?

He was born in the Factory District. I know it was likely a long time ago, but I’m hoping to find someone who might have known him then. ”

Then she blinked, because it almost didn’t appear like they’d even heard her. They all looked at her with hungry gazes. Eyes that saw too much, and with sneers on their lips that made her rock back a step.

Had she said something wrong?

“Why you looking for Callum?” the largest man said, blowing out a lungful of smoke in her direction.

She coughed, waving her hand in front of her face. “I need to talk with him.”

“I don’t think you want to talk with him, lovey. You’re too small of a thing for Callum to have any interest in you.”

“So you do know him?” She was a little shocked at that.

“Oh, no one really knows Callum.”

Another man joined them, his booming voice interrupting the others. “What did I tell you, witch? I see you making magic and I won’t give you a warning.”

Suddenly all their eyes narrowed, and their hungry gazes turned to fear. She saw the way they recoiled from her, the hesitancy to even look at her, and the bone-deep trembling of their hands, which drifted to the handles of their knives.

Swallowing hard, she held her hands up and took a step away from all of them. “I’m not using magic. Just asking around for an old friend.”

“A friend?” The largest man in the group chuckled. “Callum doesn’t have friends. Definitely not friends like the castle.”

The castle? How did he know she was from the castle?

Regardless, she couldn’t leave now. They clearly knew Callum, and she needed to learn where he was. If she could just speak with him, maybe all this would make sense. Maybe he had been blackmailed, or didn’t think Leon would actually kill her mother. There had to be an explanation.

Hesitantly, she said, “I just need to speak with him.”

The man she’d seen before loomed above her. “Ain’t no place for witches in the Factory District.”

“I’m not a witch.”

He sneered. “Sure look like one to me. Don’t you remember what I said about what we do to witches here? Poor little thing. I wonder what your screams sound like.”