Page 81 of Obsidian Prince

John shoved Zoe aside, swung his gun toward Liliana, but froze as sawdust snowed down on them.

“Whoa, um …” John looked at Liliana. “So, yeah. I guess that wasn’t the Colonel after all.”

Liliana glared at the insignia on his collar, not bothering to say, I told you so, but thinking it very loudly.

Zoe said it for her. “She told you it wasn’t him. Pete says you can trust what she sees is accurate. I trust Pete, so …” She shrugged.

John gave her a fast grin. “Welcome back, Sergeant.”

Zoe’s cheeks flushed a little. “I said some things, and…”

John gripped her shoulder. “What you do is so loud, I couldn’t hear what you said.”

“Damnit,” Detective Jackson said. She dropped to her knees next to Liliana. She grabbed Alexander’s slashed shirt off the floor, shook off the sawdust and pressed the white cloth against the spider seer’s bleeding leg. “I’m an idiot.”

Liliana felt an odd sort of mixed affection for the detective, despite the bullet wound in her calf. “You thought you were protecting Alexander, and you still did not shoot to kill.”

“Yeah, well, I was wrong, and I’m an idiot.” She wrapped the sleeves of the shirt around to press the wad of the shirt over the larger exit hole in her calf, putting pressure on the wound. It would stop the bleeding.

Liliana felt woozy for a moment from pain. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Detective Jackson said. “I’m the idiot who shot you. Did I mention that I’m an idiot?”

Liliana chuckled in spite of her panic for Alexander. “You did mention that.”

John kicked the pile of sawdust, twigs and leaves. “What the hell?”

“It is a simulacrum,” Liliana said. “Like the Fae who stole children used to leave in their place.”

“What that is doesn’t matter.” Detective Jackson focused on Liliana. “The important question is, where is the real Colonel Bennett?”

Chapter22

Rizki

Zoe,John, Detective Jackson, and the other soldiers who had rushed to the door all looked at Liliana.

Everyone was staring at her again. She hated that, but right now, she was far too worried about Alexander to care. “I do not know where Alexander is, but Officer West is hitting him. He is tied to a chair in a room like this, but with a window behind him with no glass.”

“West?” Detective Jackson shook her head. “He was on protection detail with the rest of us, but I haven’t seen him since before the fake Bennett and I were sealed in this room. Why would he turn against the Colonel?”

Why would Officer West hurt Alexander?

The big police officer who had tried to comfort Liliana when she shut down from so many people staring at her at the police station grabbed the blood-splattered shirt of her lover and yelled into his face, spittle flying from his lips. “Where is it? What did you do with the sword?”

Alexander smiled. There was blood on his teeth. “I ate it. I was feeling iron deficient.”

A heavy fist hit his stomach, making him double over and gasp for breath.

Liliana flinched. “He seems to want information from Alexander.” She didn’t mention the sword since that was a secret. “But Officer West isn’t acting like … like Officer West.”

Detective Jackson pressed her lips together. “So, I was guarding the wrong body. And I shot the one person who can tell who is really who.”

“Charlie Foxtrot without doubt.” John brushed his hand across his short black hair, scattering sawdust. “Are the rest of us actually us?”

Liliana looked around the room with her third eyes. Everyone’s aura was the normal myriad vibrant colors of Fae or beast-kin with the exception of Zoe and Detective Jackson who had the slightly less bright souls of Normals. “Yes, the rest of you are who you appear to be.”

Detective Jackson used the long sleeves wrapped around the bulk of the shirt to tie off the makeshift bandage and sat back. “But the person you’re seeing isn’t West, though?”

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