The Marionettes by Katie Wismer

Author:Katie Wismer [Wismer, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ahimsa Press
Published: 2021-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

The kitchen is empty when we slip inside, and I prop myself on the edge of the counter and swing my legs over the edge as Reginald rummages around in the cabinets. I wonder if Connor is done with his shift yet, or if they’ll have him cleaning dishes in here all night again. My eyelids strain to keep open as my body continues to burn off the spell—the biggest one I’ve done in weeks.

“Here.” Reginald pushes a banana into my hand, then pulls out a pan from the cabinet beside me.

“You don’t have to cook for me,” I mumble, half of the banana already inhaled.

“You think the poison is coming from your food?” he asks as he rolls up his sleeves, sets the pan on the stove, and digs around in the fridge for some eggs. It strikes me as odd that he knows how to cook at all. Vampires can eat regular food, but they don’t need it. And they certainly don’t have to make it themselves if they grew up in an estate.

“I don’t know,” I admit.

He quirks an eyebrow at me over his shoulder. “So your plan was to just…what? Never eat again? Brilliant.”

I scowl, but my mouth is already watering at the smell of the eggs as they sizzle in the pan. “What would you rather have me do? At least I figured out what kind of poison it is. I just don’t know where it is.”

He shakes the pan and flips the eggs like he’s done this a million times before, then sprinkles in some salt and pepper. “What kind is it?”

“Vexillium.”

He frowns, dumps the eggs on a plate, and slides it toward me. “Odd choice.”

We fall into silence as I quickly devour the food and barely hold back from licking the plate clean. When I glance up, he’s already back at the cabinets, pulling out a loaf of bread, this time to make toast. That, too, I demolish immediately. I swallow it in three bites, barely tasting it.

“Why are you helping me?”

He shrugs, takes the empty plate from me, and sets it in the sink. “You’re my partner. Isn’t that the point of all this?”

“I don’t think it works that way. I’m supposed to be the one helping you.”

He leans against the counter across from me, arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t see why it can’t work both ways.”

I narrow my eyes, trying to figure out why he’s being forthcoming all of a sudden. Either way, it would be a missed opportunity if I didn’t take advantage of it. “Do you know who killed those witches?”

He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “We have some…visitors from the royal family at the Russian estate. They’ve never been known for their discretion. My mother is negotiating new peace treaty terms with them—it’s thin ice.”

I look down at my hands in my lap, digging through my memory from royal history classes. The Russians were the group most recently added to the peace treaty, and the alliance that’s the most unstable.

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