The Rebels of Gold (Loom Saga #3)(82)
“Is she alive?” Arianna snapped. She was going to lose Cvareh and Florence; she had accepted that. But she would lose them to their choices and watch them thrive from her place in the shadows. She pushed the small-framed Fenthri against the door. His head banged dully against the metal. “Louie, do not play games with me.”
“Then do not play games with me,” he growled. “You went to Nova. You conspired to cut me out of the equation. You have yet to produce the schematics for the box . . . And after all I’ve done for you? After all I am willing to risk to secure your flowers, when Dragons would see them systematically destroyed?”
There was a moment of clarity that cut through the confusion and anger. “What did you say?”
“I will gladly secure the flowers for you.” Louie smiled his wretched little grin, thinking he had a leg up on her, not knowing what she carried in her bag.
Arianna’s hands loosened their hold, smoothing over the wrinkles thoughtfully, almost gently. She had not told him, or anyone on Loom, about the flowers being destroyed. “How far does your influence reach?”
“Straight to the Dragon Queen.”
Those five words sent her into a blind rage. Coletta’Ryu, the woman who had drugged Arianna with her dagger, who had put her under the claws of Yveun—this was who Louie had been in bed with. Leave it to worthless slime like him to deal with such a revolting creature.
With a shout, Arianna swung the frail man to the ground, hoping she broke him. Her ears twitched eagerly at the sound of his body breaking and tearing. Arianna was on him, her knees pinning down his arms—as if he needed to be pinned. Louie couldn’t put up a fight even if he tried. She felt his bones snap like twigs under her weight.
But Louie didn’t cry. He didn’t beg for mercy. He didn’t even grimace. Instead he grinned like a fool, his crooked yellow teeth winking up at her like dying stars.
“Yes, yes, White Wraith, show me your claws,” he urged. “Kill me, go ahead, and never know what I have told her.”
“How dare you!” Arianna was glad they were far from the guild, because she was screaming now. There was no reason not to let the dam break, because the only person who could see this jagged, destroyed side of her would be a dead man. “I always knew you were the worst of the worst but this, this? You have sold out our world for profit!”
“Indeed,” he replied with equal fervor, managing to keep his voice strong despite his position. “And I will do it again, time after time. I’m loyal to the highest bidder. So, you better make your offering more appealing, Arianna, for all of Loom.”
“How long?” She couldn’t even look at him straight. “How long have you been working with her?”
“Years.” It made so much sense. The king of the underworld, the man who could seemingly get anything, who always happened to have organs to trade. Of course he did! He had sold his soul to a queen of death for them. “She trusts me, Arianna, and we can use this to our advantage. We can use this to save Loom if—”
“If what?”
“If you do not dare undercut me again,” Louie finished.
Arianna reeled back, rolling from the balls of her feet to standing.
“I offered you an opportunity to work together. You went back on that deal.”
“We make a new deal, right now. I don’t kill you—”
His laughter interrupted her. “You think I care about death? You think I have people I love whom you can threaten? Arianna, you are the most idealistic fool of them all.” Arianna watched with disdain as the man continued to lay there, his magic slowly re-growing his muscles and bones, popping his sagging flesh back into place. “If you kill me, you won’t have the organs the Alchemists need for the Perfect Chimera. You won’t have a means to get those precious flowers off Nova.”
Arianna tilted her head to the side. How the tides shifted . . .
“Oh, Louie, that’s your bargaining chip?” She drew her dagger. She didn’t want to do this with Dragon claws. She wanted the tool that took Louie’s life to be Fenthri-made. “That queen you so adore has betrayed you. She failed to inform you that her plans have been thwarted and her minions have been killed. That Xin has saved some of the flowers for themselves.” Arianna crouched down as Louie’s eyes widened with surprise. “Yes, my sweet King of Mercury Town. My friends have not sold me out, unlike yours. And they just so happen to be able to provide organs as well as any other Dragon.”
Arianna pointed her dagger at his throat again, thinking back to Cvareh. She wondered if he had killed Finnyr yet. “You know, for most of my life, I’ve wanted to kill a king. You weren’t the man I had in mind, but I think your death may be just as satisfying. Let’s find out, shall we?”
“Wait, Arianna, let’s not be hasty, I can still—”
“Still what?” She nearly purred with delight. He’d really come alone, thinking his contacts could protect him. He was an old knife, one that would snap if she even tried to put it to whetstone. Only one solution for such a worthless thing. “Be useful? I think there are a few Ravens who have just as much use as you, and they happen to know most of your network.”
Arianna leaned forward, sliding a hand around his shoulder. It was an odd sort of embrace. She could feel the pistol he carried in his vest, but he didn’t reach for it. He must’ve known it’d do nothing against her. Even if it alerted someone, he’d be dead before they arrived.