Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) - Leigh Bardugo Page 0,142

or Inferni to manipulate.

She squinted. “Where are we?”

“The old treasury. The vault was moved years ago. This was converted into a laboratory.”

Laboratory. The word formed a cold knot beneath Nina’s ribs. “Why?”

“Such an inquisitive little thing.”

I’m nearly as tall as you, she thought.

“The treasury was already secure and well-positioned on the White Island, so it was a logical choice for such a facility.”

The words were innocuous, but that knot of fear tightened, a cold fist now, pressing against her chest. She matched Brum’s steps down the vaulted hall, past smooth white doors, each with a small glass window set into it.

“Here we are,” Brum said, stopping in front of a door that seemed identical to the others.

Nina peered through the glass. The cell was just like the ones on the top level of the prison, but the observation panel was on the other side—a large mirror that took up half of the opposite wall. Inside, she saw a young boy in a bedraggled blue kefta pacing restlessly, gabbling to himself, scratching at his arms. His eyes were hollows, his hair lank. He looked just like Nestor before he’d died. Grisha don’t get sick, she thought. But this was a different kind of sickness.

“He doesn’t look very menacing.”

Brum moved up behind her. His breath brushed against her ear when he said, “Oh, believe me, he is.”

Nina’s skin crawled, but she made herself lean into him slightly. “What is he here for?”

“The future.”

Nina turned and laid her hands on his chest.

“Are there more?”

He blew out an impatient breath and led her to the next door. A girl lay on her side, her tangled hair covering her face. She was dressed in a dirty shift, and she had bruises all over her arms. Brum gave a sharp rap on the little window, startling Nina.

“Look alive,” Brum taunted, but the girl didn’t move. Brum’s finger hovered over a brass button embedded next to the window. “If you really want a show, I could press this button.”

“What does it do?”

“Beautiful things. Miraculous, really.”

Nina thought she knew; the button would dose the girl with jurda parem somehow. For Nina’s entertainment. She tugged Brum away. “It’s all right.”

“I thought you wanted to see a Grisha use her powers.”

“Oh, I do, but she doesn’t look like much fun. Are there more?”

“Close to thirty.”

Nina flinched. The Second Army had been nearly obliterated in Ravka’s civil war. She couldn’t bear to think that there were thirty Grisha here. “And are they all in that state?”

He shrugged and steered her down a corridor. “Some are better. Some are worse. If I find you a lively one, what will be my reward?”

“It would be easier to show you,” she purred.

Nina had had enough of seeing starving, frightened Grisha. She needed Yul-Bayur. Brum must know where he was. The treasury was nearly deserted. They hadn’t seen a single guard inside. If she could get Brum into an empty corridor far enough from the entrance that the guards couldn’t hear them … Could she torture a hardened drüskelle? Could she make him talk? She thought she just might be able to. She’d seal his nose, put pressure on his larynx. A few minutes gasping for breath might soften him up.

“Maybe we could find a quiet corner?” Nina suggested.

Brum preened, his chest puffing out. “This way, dirre,” he said using the Kaelish word for sweetheart.

He led her down a deserted hall, unlocking the door with his circular key.

“This should do,” he said with a bow. “A bit of privacy and a bit of charm.”

Nina winked and sashayed past him. She’d expected some kind of office or retiring room for the guards. But there was no desk, no cot. The room was completely bare—except for the drain at the center of the floor.

She whirled in time to see the cell door slam shut.

“No!” she shouted, hands scrabbling over the surface of the door. It had no handle.

Brum’s face appeared in the window. His expression was smug, his eyes cold. “I may have exaggerated the charm, but there is plenty of privacy, Nina.”

She recoiled.

“That is your name, isn’t it?” he said. “Did you really think I wouldn’t recognize you? I remember your stubborn little face from the slaving ship, and we have files on every one of Ravka’s active Grisha. I make it my business to know them all—even the ones I hope have been swallowed by the sea.”

Nina lifted her hands.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Burst my eyes in their sockets. Crush my heart in my chest.