Page 84 of Crown of Tides and Fury

Wickham let out a resigned sigh. “Right, then. We have a traitor among us. And there is only one way to ken who it is.” He looked at me. “I must take a gander inside yer memories. All of ye. One-on-one in the dining room. Then I’ll move to Alwyn, Meral, and Reem. By supper, I’ll be a wrung clootie, but we’ll ken for certain.” He stood and tilted his head to the side. “Kitch, ye’re first.”

* * *

My head started shakingon its own. I forced it to stop so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself, then folded my arms and did my best to look bored. But in my head, alarms blared and lights flashed.

He can’t do this! He promised!

If I refused to take my turn, everyone would assume I was the mole. If I so much as left the room, I might raise suspicion. Obviously, any spy would be looking for a way out. In fact,I’dsuspect anyone squirming in their seats—Urban, Everly, Persi or the brothers. If it had to be one of us, it would be the one freaking out right about now.

From where I sat, I could see every face and reflection in one of two mirrors. The only one freaking out was me.

I can’t be a spy, can I?When I met Orion in that police station, had he planted something on me?

I shook my head, carefully this time. We would have found anything like that when we’d searched for a tracking device. But could Orion read my thoughts? Hear what I hear?

If so, we’d have been screwed a long time ago. He would have gotten to Rinky and Felicity while we were in Ukraine and found a way to get his hands on Persi.

My only hope of keeping Wickham out of my head and out of my memories was if he found the spy before he got to me. But that would mean one of my friends was working for Big Bad, and I just couldn’t believe that! And it couldn’t be Alwyn, or Meral or Reem either! It just couldn’t!

My sweaty hands started to tingle and go numb. My body knew something was wrong. I could feel sweat building at my hairline and my heart thumped loud in my ears. I forced myself to take deep breaths, to suck air silently and slowly, so the others wouldn’t know…

Leaving the room was impossible at the moment. My limbs were heavy, weak, like they assumed I was headed to the gallows.

More air. More air.

Someone needed to lighten the mood, so I joked, “First guy to run out the door is the spy, right?” I turned to Rinky. “Is this what prison feels like?”

“Nah. If this were prison, he would have taken a woman first, and not to the dining room.” A dark shadow passed over her face, but she chased it away with a grin. “And I’d have already bolted. Probably would have taken Alwyn with me, though, to be sure I never ate a shitty meal again. But now that you mention it, I suppose Felicity and I can skip the interrogation part of today’s schedule. Don’t you think?”

“Aye,” Urban said. “Those new to the household are above suspicion.” He smiled kindly and ushered the two of them out the door, but as soon as they’d gone, he returned to sit beside his wife. With his smile gone, he took Everly’s hand and went back to staring into the cold fireplace, his thoughts obvious—he couldn’t believe it was any of us either.

Urban wore jeans and a t-shirt—he wouldn’t run out the door and leave his kilt behind.

Everly’s shoes were more sensible than usual—good for running.

Persi never took her gaze off the window—was she planning an escape route? Really, all she had to do was flip to invisible and she would be impossible to catch.

I’d seen Brian and Flann move pretty fast when they were excited. One or both could bolt for the front door and maybe get away. They were so kind and honest, however, that if one of them was a spy for Orion, he would have confessed a long time ago.

A ten-inch gold clock hung on the wall beside the front window. A little gold tassel swung back and forth from the bottom of it, marking the seconds. I checked it a couple of times a minute until I finally grabbed a book and stared at the pages instead.

Kitch returned after ten minutes, his expression sober, unreadable. “Persi,” he said, then disappeared.

Persi was gone for fifteen, came back with a tear-stained face. “Everly.” She, too, disappeared without saying another word. I wondered if they were just playing a joke on me, trying to freak me out so we could have a good laugh later. When Everly came back, though, she gave me a kind smile and a wink. She’d only been gone seven minutes.

I felt better, but only slightly.

“Urban,” she sang, then took his hand and went with him across the foyer, leaving the door open, probably on purpose. It was Everly who came back, twelve minutes later, to summon Brian. Flann moved to sit beside me and reached for my hand, to console us both. I could tell by the way his sun-spotted hand shook that he was considering the possibility his twin was keeping something from him.

Either that, or he knew he was about to be exposed…

After twenty minutes, Brian came back looking green around the gills. He avoided eye contact, gestured for his brother, then escorted him down the hall. Just five minutes later, it was Wickham who stood in the doorway. He looked exhausted. He’d been at it just over an hour.

“I had to get up and move a bit,” he said, then closed the doors before lowering himself into a chair across from my seat on the couch, moving like an old man himself. “I’ll do ye here, shall I? Then ye can send Alwyn to me and explain to the lasses what’s going on. I’ve already had a go at Ivy, just before Brian, so she willnae be speakin’ to me for the rest of the day.”

“Wickham…”

He gave me that strange look he reserved only for me.

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