Page 133 of The Infernal Battalion

She slipped out through the narrow door. Winter looked at her companions.

“I don’t need to say that this feels suspicious, do I?” Abraham said.

“She’s not a red-​eye,” Alex said. “And neither is the demon here, I think. It doesn’t feel the same as the Beast.”

“If this is a trap,” Winter said, “it’s a very strange one. The Beast wants to kill me, so why lure us all the way here?” She hesitated, then added, “Sothe is an assassin, and a damned good one. If she wanted us dead, she’s chosen a very roundabout method.”

“Just because she’s not working for the Beast doesn’t mean she’s on our side,” Abraham said. “Be careful.”

Alex flexed her fingers ostentatiously, and Winter nodded.

“If it comes to that,” she whispered, “I’ll take the demon. Don’t take your eyes off Sothe.”

She straightened at the sound of footsteps in the hall. Sothe reappeared, followed by a slender young woman in a long gray robe. She was thin to the point of illness, sallow and hollow-​cheeked, with dark hair cut boyishly short. A fading bruise colored one side of her face an ugly yellow-​green. Old knife scars surrounded her eyes, and her eyelids hung slack over empty sockets. Sothe held her wrist and guided her forward until her outstretched hand found the back of a chair.

“This is Ennika,” Sothe said, shutting the door behind them. “She’s a Penitent Damned.”

Winter tensed. Deep in her mind, Infernivore thrashed and strained. But this sick-​looking blind girl was a far cry from the masked killers of the Church she’d faced before, and she forced the demon down. “I assume she’s not dangerous?”

“I’m not dangerous,” Ennika said in fluent Murnskai. “I’m broken. Useless.” She felt her way around the chair and sat down. Winter did likewise, and the others followed suit. Sothe patted Ennika’s shoulder gently as she went by.

“I’m going to assume,” Sothe said, “that you don’t have much information about what happened to the army after you left.”

Winter shook her head. “I know there was some kind of peace, and then Janus declared himself emperor, but that’s about it.”

“The full story will have to wait for another time,” Sothe said. “Suffice to say, we came to an accommodation with the Borelgai after the weather forced us to retreat. Certain elements in the Borelgai camp were unhappy about this, most especially Duke Orlanko.”

Alex’s hands clenched into fists. “Orlanko was there?”

“He was a guest of the King of Borel,” Sothe said. “The faction in their court that wanted war saw him as a potential candidate for a puppet ruler of Vordan. When the other faction won out, Orlanko attempted to stop them with his usual subtlety.”

“He tried to murder everyone,” Winter guessed.

“Precisely. Fortunately, Marcus d’Ivoire and I were able to thwart him. Duke Dorsay’s faction won out, and Orlanko fled.”

“Damn,” Alex muttered. “Damn, damn, damn.”

Abraham touched her shoulder. “There’ll be another chance,” he said.

“Orlanko hurt you?” Winter said.

“His thug Andreas killed the closest thing I had to a father,” Alex grated. “Then he handed me over to the Penitent Damned, and they kept me drugged and chained to a fucking cart for a thousand miles.”

Ennika bowed her head, her shoulders hunched.

Sothe cleared her throat. “If it helps,” she said, “Andreas is dead. I trapped and killed him during the revolution. And I was just as determined to make sure Orlanko did not escape justice for his crimes. I followed him when he fled from his Borelgai protectors and I cornered him and the last of his minions in Vorsk.” Her face was perfectly calm. “I killed them all.”

“He’s dead?” Winter said. “Orlanko’s dead?”

Sothe nodded. “For certain.”

Alex let out her breath with a hiss, her hands still clenched tight.

“I found Ennika among Orlanko’s entourage,” Sothe said. “She was his link to the Black Priests.”

“What do you mean, link?” Winter said.

“Paired demons,” Ennika said in a low voice. “My sister and I both intoned their names, and our minds were linked. What one of us thought, felt, or heard could be known instantly by the other. There are many such demons, and we who bear them serve the pontifex and the Church by passing on their words in secret.” Her lip twisted. “Orlanko was never worthy of such trust.”