Aidan, now dressed, crouched beside one of the men. He pulled the hood back and yanked down the cloth that covered the man’s face.

Frowning, Aidan shook his head at Brannie. “They’re not Zealots.”

Surprised by that, Brannie quickly pulled on her chain mail shirt and stepped back into the bedroom, close to the other male. She also pulled back the hood and removed the black cloth around his face.

Aidan was right. These men weren’t Zealots.

“They could have been hired by them,” she suggested. “Keita said Salebiri had been hiring troops. That’s why he needed the gold.”

“Either way,” Keita said. “They came for me, trying to stop me if they thought I could get the Empress’s armies on our side.”

“Do not worry about danger, tiny female,” Zoya told her, pulling poor Keita in close and holding her against her ample chest. “I will protect you.”

Then they were both gone.

“It will not be long before Keita kills her,” Aidan said with a sigh.

“I know. I know.” Brannie stood, took a moment to get her boots on, then grabbed all her weapons, putting her “stick” into a small holder on her belt.

Brannie went out into the hallway, with Aidan behind her. A hung-over Caswyn and Uther were trying their best to appear intimidating, even though they looked more like they were about to pass out.

She was heading over to ask them how they were when Nina Chechneva rushed back up the stairs.

“There are more men outside,” she warned. “I think they wait for us.”

“Do it,” Kachka ordered, and Nina ran back down.

“What’s she going to do?”

“Take their souls.”

And Kachka said it so matter-of-factly that Brannie didn’t really think about it until Aidan asked, “Pardon?”

“That is what Nina Chechneva does. She takes the souls of men and uses them to increase her power. We let her as long as she does not betray us. If she betrays us, then we let Zoya Kolesova tear her arms off.”

Aidan nodded at that. “So you have all formed a nice . . . bond, I see.”

“No. We loathe her and she loathes us, but we work well together to defeat the Zealots.”

“Okay, then,” Brannie said with a smile, refusing to ask any more. Because she honestly didn’t want to know.

* * *

By the time they made it outside, Nina Chechneva was nearly done devouring the last soul.

Her slim body was covered in dark light and she seemed to be in the throes of passion, her head thrown back, gasps rising from her throat, her body undulating.

It was disturbing to watch; Aidan couldn’t imagine how horrible it was to go through it. To be the one whose soul she was taking.

And what happened to those souls? Were they trapped inside her? Did they merely disappear, never moving on to the next level? Never seeing their ancestors on the other side?