"What do you have for us, Tehea?" Mel asked, sitting down opposite her as she took her seat on her bed, Leej on her left and Kehel on her right, Otian on Mel's right and Terry on Mel's left.
"Bad tidings, cubs," she said, drawing from her night table a case filled with bloody rags displayed in a glass box. Within it was something the boys winced to see. Otian looked at her, appalled, clearly struggling to keep his stomach down.
"Words may lie, but blood knows naught but what runs with it," she told her pack, no pity in her eyes at all but cold, deep rage. "This is bigger than us, my pups, much bigger. It is up to us to figure out just how big it is. The boys were after me to try and slay me—I was too close.
But not close enough, cubs of mine, not close enough. You all know the rules—I know the odds. We need to get the Lower City immediately and find out what exactly this is about and why—because I will hang any man who tells me it is about the king—this disgusting bit of frakhel messed with my pack.
They were originally just trying out weapons on the pages, I found out from the filth whose balls lie in that box. That was bad enough. I left a note to the King's Own in sawdust telling them to stop this. But we all know how their lot works—not at all till it's big and outta their hands. I aint sitting around waiting for them to realize this is bigger than they think.
Boys, this is not about mindless hits. It aint about trying out stupid weapons. This is gangs if I've ever seen 'em at work. Something's a-brewing, and I am going to find out what it is. Can't have the palace finding it out, mind. This is sommat I work alone in, I thought to myself. Y'all know you can trust your Tehea. But here be the complication: this is big. If it's a revolution, we tell the Own and butt out. But if it aint—
"If it aint?" asked Mel tensely.
"If it aint, we follow the rule of the hunt," she said quietly, shooting a glare at Mel that, if the world was of its own mind and rightful within its rules, would have turned him to stone. "We watch and wait, my pack. This is a mindless gang squabble—now. If it develops against the Crown, we tell the Own. This is impersonal, we take it so. We are pages, cubs. We find trouble and tell superiors."
"What about that," said Terry, motioning fearlessly at the case. Shang were trained against skittishness because of disembowelment. "Can't they track it back to us?
Ty's evil grin flooded her face as the boys fought shivers. "They will try," she purred, a guttural tone behind her speech. "I'm counting on it."