Page 134 of To Catch A Rogue

"Anton, he gives me this for you."Sofia pressed a small piece of parchment into her hand."The Silent, we hear things. The Blood forget we are in the room. They think us deaf and blind because we cannot speak, but we listen to everything. The dawn is rising, and we will have our time again, as you said."

"What is it?" She opened the small scroll of parchment. There was an address listed on it.

"This is where they have taken your friend. The blonde woman."

A chill ran down Lark's spine. "Ava? You know where they've taken Ava?"

"This is a bad house. The Silent avoid it, but we see all."Sofia squeezed her hand."There is a man there too. Sometimes you can hear him screaming. They have Upyr. A bad house. You would be unwise to enter there, but the blonde woman..., she was kind to me too."

Lark curled the paper in her fist. "Thank you so much, Sofia. You don't know what this means."

"You should be wary of the Crippled King. He knows more than he claims he does."

"I thought you said he wasn't dangerous."

"Very dangerous."Sofia backed toward the door."Most dangerous of all, I think. But he will not touch Nadezhda. Thank you."

"No, thank you." Lark looked down at the address once more. "You've given me more than you can imagine."

The words echoed in the empty room.

Sofia had vanished, and when Lark strode to the door, there was no sign of her in the hallway.

Chapter 25

"Ithink I know where Ava and Malloryn are!" Lark said, bursting into the dining room.

Charlie looked at her sharply. "What do you mean?"

She hurriedly explained her meeting with one of the servants, and thrust the address at him. "This is the house we broke into that first night, when Dido lured us in the carriage. We didn't get a chance to search the entire house, thanks to the vampire, but Sofia said there are cellars. He's been there all along."

Kincaid snatched the piece of parchment from Charlie and smoothed it out as if it held the most precious information in the world. "And Ava? She's all right?"

"I don't know. Sofia didn't say."

The burly mech pushed away from the table. "We need to rescue her."

"Easy, Kincaid." Gemma circled the table, stirring her cup of tea. The rest of the Company of Rogues had stayed there the night before. "We cannot afford to rush in."

"It could be another trap," Obsidian added.

"Do you think she's tellin' the truth?" Blade asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I believe her," Lark replied, pressing both hands flat on the table.

"And it ain't as if we've got any other fuckin' leads," Kincaid snarled. "The Wolf you questioned last night don't know naught. Just that he were paid to attack your carriage."

"It seems a little convenient," Obsidian murmured. "Every time we make a move, Balfour seems to be two steps ahead of us."

Lark took a step back. "You said yourself Balfour must have corrupted one of Malloryn's Russian spies."

"He must have," Gemma murmured. "Because the alternative is unthinkable."

The alternative…?

"If Balfour hasn’t corrupted one of our agents," Obsidian murmured, "then someone within the Company of Rogues is feeding him information."

The heat drained out of Lark's face.