Page 13 of Javier

I studied his face closely. “Who?”

“Dashiell Dagger, for example.”

My jaw dropped. “You know Dash?”

“Do I know Dash, she asks me.” He tsked, teasing me and the nuns with another spectacular grin.

“Who is this Dash person?” Sister Elsa furrowed her forehead.

“And how do yerself know him at all?” Sister Janet demanded, squinting at him.

“Dashiell Dagger is Missy’s brother’s best friend and her sister Thena’s main squeeze,” Javier answered accurately. “I work for him.” He shifted his gaze to me. “I also know your sister Thena. She sent me to find you.”

I gaped. “Thenasent you?”

“Affirmative.”

The brick stuck in my throat made it impossible for me to articulate the hundreds of questions suddenly assailing my brain. My sister’s beautiful face flashed before my eyes and a deep sense of longing tugged at me. I so wanted to believe the man before me.

“We need to hustle.” Javier motioned impatiently. “The shit’s about to get hot.”

It struck me that, even though the situation was dire, he wasaskingme to go with him instead of just snatching me by force like others had tried to do when I first ran from Father. I knew Javier—sort of—from my dreams. Not that I would ever admit that to anyone. Perhaps most importantly, he’d said Dash and Thena had sent him to find me.

Could it be true?

Before I left the Astor world, Thena had broken up with Dash. After my brother Nix died, their relationship—and our family—had gone to crap. Could it be true that they’d reunited and sent this man to search for me?

“I need to talk to Thena.” I pointed at the earpiece hanging from his vest. “Call her.”

“Sorry.” He shrugged his big shoulders. “No signal at themoment. Enemy territory, danger of being tracked, blah, blah, blah. But your sister did say that, if I came across you, you might need proof.” He unzipped one of the pockets of his cargo pants, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it to me. “Thena had to keep this anonymous, in case it fell into hostile hands. I hope you’re a fast reader. It’s either chop, chop or bang, bang, so I suggest chop, chop.”

I sideswiped Javier with a surly glance, unfolded the paper, and skimmed the small paragraph. The four lines written in my sister’s perfect calligraphy punched straight through my heart.

We’re the merry sisters,

Berry merry sisters.

Hang on, hold on,

And don’t let go.

I lifted my eyes to his face, blinking off the burn of tears. My childhood’s beloved rhyme. The rose-hued linen paper. The discreet scent of Thena’s jasmine perfume wafting from the page. Everything pointed to one fact.

“She wrote this,” I breathed. “It’s true.”

“Of course it is.” He shifted on his boots impatiently. “Can we go now?”

I had to ask. “Is Thena okay?”

“She’s fine,” he said. “More on that later.”

“You blockhead.” I waved the paper in the air. “Why didn’t you show me this upfront?”

“’Cause we’re in a fucking hurry and I thought you’d have the fucking good sense of fucking trusting me. I also assumed you’d accept that we’re sitting ducks and should be hoofing it outta here, stat. I had no reason to think you’d be this stubborn,” he added. “They told me you were the easy sister.”

My face ignited, and I aimed the full power of my glowerat him. “What the heck?”

“No, no, I didn’t mean inthatway.” He waved a hand in the air. “I meant that I was told you were the baby of the lot. You were supposed to be the young, sweet, agreeable sister.”

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