Chapter 24

I grinned, showing him my small sharp teeth. Human, at least so far. The colonel looked at me carefully, as if he had never seen a human. Or maybe he really hadn’t, at least one such as myself.

“What are you suggesting, Alex?”

“You’re going to do your job. I’ll go with you and learn. Then I leave for the capital, alive, and you remain here—”

“And go back to the prison.”

“Not necessarily. Could we discuss that? Yes, just not here. They’ve found a house for me. I suggest we talk over there.”

Farne stared at me, and I looked back. Usually, people believed me because I wasn’t lying, and I believed people because I knew when they told me the truth. This was another case. He believed me because he had nothing else to believe. A desperate ally? Good enough. It would only make him care more about the opportunity I gave him.

Two hours later, the three of us settled in. I, Colonel Farne, and Count Torne. We laid the count’s half-dead body onto the bed and poured another dose of moonshine into h