King Among the Dead (Hell Theory Book 1) by Lauren Gilley

Author:Lauren Gilley [Gilley, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HP Press
Published: 2020-06-04T18:30:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Rose woke the next morning in her own bed, all tucked in. She’d slept so soundly that she hadn’t felt Beck carry her there.

She dressed in a hurry, and went down to breakfast. A tray of berries and a dish of yogurt were already at the table, and Beck turned sausage links in a pan at the stove.

Kay sat on her usual stool, chain-smoking, and Rose met Beck’s gaze, briefly, as she approached the woman from behind. He offered a quick, upward tick with one corner of his mouth, wry but patient. Rose was ready, then, for Kay’s closed-off expression when she drew up alongside her.

“Good morning.”

Kay didn’t respond. Didn’t even glance toward her.

“Would you get the plates, Rose?” Beck asked, and she was glad of an excuse to turn away from Kay’s cold indifference.

“She’ll come around,” Beck said an hour later, when they were closeted in the library together. “She’s very tolerant of my – lifestyle – ordinarily. It was once her lifestyle, too. That’s how we first met. But then she’ll have a spell where she wants me to give it up. It’s too dangerous, she says, and not worth it.” He crossed from the shelves to the table and set down a stack of books. Lifted a single brow with faint amusement. “I think she’d hoped you would be a good influence on me, rather than the other way around.”

“I’m not being influenced,” Rose said, reaching for the topmost book. It was a thick, joyless tome about the Atmospheric Rift, the kind with tiny print and grainy black-and-white photos.

He chuckled. “Perhaps not.” He took his usual seat across from her. Folded his hands together. Cocked his head to the side. “Now. You were eavesdropping last week outside my bedroom.”

She stilled.

“When Kay was questioning what I’d seen the night I was hurt.” His head tipped a fraction more, hair sliding over his shoulder. “You heard all or part of that exchange, yes?”

She bit her lip – but he didn’t sound accusing. And he’d told her his real name; had killed with her, buried bodies with her. She squared up her shoulders and said, “Yes.”

He nodded, and looked pleased. “What do you know of conduits?”

“Only what they told us in school. Most of my teachers thought they were urban legends. Something made up to scare people into going along with the governmental takeovers.”

He nodded again, and flicked a tiny smile. “They’ve become more mythic the farther we get away from the Rift. Start there.” He motioned toward the book, and she opened to the early chapters; to the grainy photos of a shape like a fixed jagged lightning bolt in the sky, and security camera footage of men and women glowing.

“The first reports of the Atmospheric Rift – before it was called that – came from a pair of British airline pilots flying over the Atlantic,” he said, voice taking on a melodic, professorial tone. He was a good teacher; he would have been a wonder at a college, she thought.

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