Zahra frowned at me. “Lila, you’re not mixed up with Finn’s Free Men bollocks, are you? Because those people are dodgy as fuck.”
I looked between the two of them. I wasn’t about to tell Ernald about the bomb, or about Alice. If I could get a moment alone with Zahra, I’d tell her everything. But not with Ernald here.
I was heading for the door. “I have to go.”
“Wait!” Ernald shouted. “Did Finn get you mixed up in the resistance?”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about that.” I remembered his key, and pulled it out of my pocket. I handed it to Zahra. “Can you make sure he gets this?”
Ernald blew a smoke ring. “Lila, this is important. You met the Free Men on the Merry Cauldron. You’re a sensible girl. What was your impression of them? Did they seem like the kind of men who are actually saving our country?”
“Absolutely not.” They seemed like wankers, honestly, but that was neither here nor there. We had a common goal. “But Finn isn’t like them. And sometimes, you have to work with people you don’t like to achieve the goals you want.”
“Wait!” Ernald pounded his desk. “Lila. They’re not on our side. Do you understand? They’re not bloody on our side. Finn’s putting on an accent around them. He’s not who you think he is.”
I knew what he meant—they were rich, we were not. The aristocrats treated us with contempt, which was why we lived in slums and didn’t learn to read. But I wasn’t looking to be one of them. I just wanted to get rid of Samael, and they happened to have a bomb I could use. “Ernald, why did you fire Finn?”
“He’s been lying to me,” said Ernald. “I came into my office today to find five Free Men in here, in their black shirts, buttoned all the way up like a bunch of pricks. He’s been meeting with them here. Bringing the Free Men into my establishment after I forbade it. My office. I know Count Saklas didn’t want them here. I don’t want nothing to do with them. Not to mention I found chemicals in here. Don’t know what he was doing with them, but I doubt it was good.”
“Chemicals?” What was he talking about? “But why would he meet with them here?”
“No idea,” said Ernald.
“Do you know what Annie saw?” said Zahra. “In Cobbler’s Row. Two men in the black shirts the Free Men wear, strangling a woman. Those women murdered in alleys? She said that’s the Free Men, punishing women who had sex with angels. They’re trying to start a war with the angels. An uprising.”
I stared at her, feeling sicker by the moment. “Zahra, Finn wouldn’t do that. You know he wouldn’t. Annie must be confused. Look—I’ve seen photographic evidence of what the angels have done. I found Alice’s locket in the servant’s room at the castle. Alice worked there, just like Finn said. And all the servants were murdered. And I’ve seen the proof.” I hadn’t meant to divulge this much, but it was just coming out now. “I’ve seen the proof with my own eyes. The count killed Alice. I saw the picture. Maybe the Free Men are first rate wankers, but a photo doesn’t lie. It was Alice, unmistakably. Her platinum hair and dark eyebrows. And Samael had killed her. He was holding up her severed head, smiling. If I stayed there any longer, I’d meet the same fate. I’m sorry the Free Men are rich, but Samael has to go.”
Ernald dropped his head into his hands. “If you’ve done something, Lila, I suppose you need to get the fuck out of here before you drag me into it. I’m not having any part of this war between the angels and the Free Men.”
My jaw clenched, and I turned to the door. “Fine. I’m leaving anyway.” But when I took a step, something snagged in my mind. It was the hollow sound of my footstep.
Something about that sounded an alarm in the recesses of my mind. It was, after all, a sound I’d heard earlier today. And when I sniffed the air, I smelled an unfamiliar chemical scent.
I glanced down. Beneath my foot was a slightly raised floorboard.
Just like I’d seen in Finn’s room.
I stepped back and crouched down.
“What are you doing?” Ernald shouted.
“Hang on.” I reached down and pried the board up. Horror washed over me. Paints, photographs lay beneath. Film