Queen (The Blackcoat Rebellion #3)(56)

“Oh.” His face fell. “I’m sorry. That must be hard.”

“He’s still my best friend. He always will be,” I said quickly. “But—yeah. It isn’t fun. And being here where Knox grew up...”

I trailed off, and neither of us had to say anything. We both missed Knox. As hard as it was for me, being here without him, I couldn’t imagine how difficult it was for Greyson, who had real memories of this place. Of Knox here,in his home. No doubt it felt empty without him.

“What do you think Benjy wants?” said Greyson at last, and I toyed with a loose thread on the sofa.

“He wants to help us kill Daxton,” I said. “We can trust him. He would never betray us.”

Greyson frowned, and he spun the hologram around again. “Maybe not on purpose, but he’s going to be with him every day now, and Daxton’s listening.”

“Benjy’s too smart for that,” I said firmly. “He’s a VI. Victor Mercer was only a V, remember?”

A ghost of a smile replaced his frown. “I thought the ranks were unfair and meant nothing.”

“They don’t, but—” I stopped and sighed. “Just let me have this, all right?”

“All right. Just this once,” he teased. “Only because it’s Daxton.”

I watched him work that evening as we both waited for ten o’clock to come around. It was incredible, seeing what he could do with only a few tools and his hands. Bit by bit, he began to create his bug.

Even if this didn’t work, I was confident the three of us would be able to come up with some kind of plan. We might not have had the resources and the manpower of the full Blackcoat Rebellion, but sometimes all it took was onesmall ripple to change the course of fate. And we were all determined to do exactly that.

At last, at the stroke of ten, a soft knock sounded on the door. While Greyson hastily hid his bug from sight, even though I’d insisted Benjy wouldn’t tell, I stood and opened the door. Benjy stood on the other side, his lips pressed together anxiously, and I recoiled as soon as I saw why.

Minister Bradley hovered over his shoulder, his brow sweaty and his paunch heaving from the long walk.

“Can I help you, Benjamin? Minister Bradley?” I said stiffly, exactly the way Lila would had she been faced with the same pair. Behind me, I could hear Greyson scramble to clear the last evidence of his bug from the room.

“Don’t worry, he’s here to help,” said Benjy, and I scowled.

“Help with what?”

“Killing the Prime Minister, of course,” said Minister Bradley. I groaned inwardly. Of all the people to trust— Benjy must have known this was a trap.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if you say it any louder, I’m sure Daxton would be more than happy to torture the truth out of you,” I said, starting to close the door. Benjy stuck his foot in the way, however, stopping it with his boot.

“Lila. Think about it. He wants to stop him as much as we do,” said Benjy in a hushed voice. “He came to me, not the other way around.”

Lila, not Kitty. So Benjy hadn’t trusted him with everything. That was a small comfort in the face of the rest of it, though, and I gritted my teeth. “Did it ever occur to you how simple it would be for Daxton to tell him to do exactly that?”

“But he didn’t,” said Minister Bradley. I could hear Greyson approach, and he stopped directly behind me.

“Prove it,” said Greyson simply, and as if this was what he’d been waiting for, Minister Bradley opened his jacket, revealing a silver gun.

“This is for you, my dear Lila.” Pulling it from the holster, he took it by the barrel and handed it to me grip-first. If I’d wanted to, I could have easily pulled the trigger. “I thought it might come in handy.”

I stared at the weapon in my hand, my mind whirling. It had to be a trap. There was no reason for a greedy, selfish, disgusting pig of a man like Bradley to help us. If anything, he had every reason to betray us to prove his loyalty to Daxton, thus securing a position in the new government.

But here was a chance—a real chance—warm and heavy in my hand. No matter what tricks Daxton might have been willing to pull, he never would have given us a way to kill him.

My grip on the pistol tightened, and I pointed it directly at Bradley. “Should I see if it’s a fake?”

“Oh, it isn’t,” he said, ducking his head with such speed that I knew it had to be genuine. I’d never seen him move so fast before. “It’s very, very real, and very, very loaded. If you wouldn’t mind, my dear Lila...”

“The safety’s on anyway,” I said, lowering it. To Greyson, I added, “What do you think?”

He shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt to see what he has to say.”

With the gun securely in my hand, I stepped aside, and finally Benjy and Minister Bradley entered. Neither of them made a move to sit down in the living area, and instead we lingered in a circle near the doorway. More beads ofsweat formed on Bradley’s forehead, and he dabbed his face with a handkerchief. No one could fake that kind of anxiety.

“I won’t stay long,” he began. “I’d like to help in any way I can. There’s a great deal of information out there regarding the remaining Blackcoats, and if you’d like me to pass it along—”